QuoteI don't think Barb lacked character or values. I think something just scared her. She saw herself getting older and lost sight of what was important. Maybe I let her down and didn't comfort her enough, but I always tried to be there whenever I knew something was bothering her. The thing is, you can't be responsible for what a person keeps inside themselves.

https://literotica.com/s/witness-david-and-barb

QuoteI see two kinds of people in the world. I see builders and collectors. Builders try to create something that didn't exist before and to do it they put a part of themselves into everything they build. In the process, they see their own worth in the worth of what they build. If you are a builder, then you are a builder in all aspects of your life; you are a builder in your relationships, in your work, in your play, and in how you view your role in society. Builders know that they cannot build two things in conflict with one another because each is a part of themselves and they know that it takes both time and commitment to build something of value. Collectors surround themselves with things that already have value. They may enhance the value of what they collect; but in the end, they draw their own worth from the value of the things they collect from the world around them. The irony is that many collectors think they are builders because they are building a collection, but that isn't what makes you a builder.

QuoteEighty-nine percent of participants reported monogamy, 4% reported open relationships, and 8% reported NCNM.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-018-1178-7

QuoteFor instance, results of a 36 study meta-analysis on CNM indicate a largely homogenous population of educated, white, middle- and upper-middle-class professionals, with the percent of people of color ranging from zero to a rare high of 48% (Sheff & Hammers, 2011). Specifically, within the context of polyamory communities, Sheff (2005) found race to be the most homogenous demographic characteristic, with the majority (89%) of 81 participants identifying as white.

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1133&context=psychology_articles

QuoteHalf of Americans say open marriages – a marriage where both spouses agree that they can date or have sex with other people – are somewhat or completely unacceptable. This includes 37% who say these marriages are completely unacceptable and 13% who say they're somewhat unacceptable.

https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/09/14/views-of-divorce-and-open-marriages/

QuoteAlthough we know of no representative research that has addressed the question of the prevalence of CNM in the population, it appears from samples that we have recruited generally (i.e., cases in which recruitment was not targeted for CNM individuals), that approximately 4% of participants identify themselves as CNM (Conley et al., unpublished data).

This percentage is comparable to the percentage of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals estimated in the population (Mosher, Chandra, & Jones, 2005) and also equivalent to the percentage of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals in those same samples.

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/102091/asap1286.pdf?sequence=1

QuoteThe percentage of wives having affairs rose almost 40 percent during the last two decades to 14.7 percent in 2010, while the number of men admitting to extramarital affairs held constant at 21 percent, according to the latest data from the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey.

Blacks, executives and managers, and Southerners were most likely to report extramarital affairs to the 40-year-old survey, the oldest continuous source of data on American behavior.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-02/cheating-wives-narrowed-infidelity-gap-over-two-decades

QuoteSome research suggests that open marriage has a 92 percent failure rate. Steve Brody, Ph.D., a psychologist in Cambria, California, explains that less than 1 percent of married people are in open marriages.

https://edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/personal/03/23/o.open.marriages.work/index.html

QuoteUnlike the goal of an open marriage, in which the focus is on meeting individual needs and desires at the expense of marital unity, a monogamous marriage focuses on individual growth within and not at the expense of the protected space of marriage.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-marital-labyrinth-series/202110/the-problem-open-marriage

QuoteIf a woman isn't attached to a friend or married to a colleague, then I'm afraid the sexual pizzazz just isn't there.

Sleeping with my brother's girlfriend gave me an added frisson because I was having sex with someone he — one of the golden boys who monopolised my parents' attention — cared for. At last, I was the one in control.

As I shake the hand of a new business acquaintance, I still find myself wondering what his wife is like. They all think their other halves are different and would never stray. But honestly, given the encouragement, they really aren't.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13315711/sleeping-friends-wives-enjoy-power-serial-adultery.html

QuoteThe prosecution say the pair hired an unknown killer to strike at Morgan's Food Fayre in Linslade, Bedfordshire, after realising divorcing their respective spouses would leave them in financial difficulties.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13319453/Cheating-husband-married-lover-paid-shopkeeper-murdered-brutal-1981-attack-trial-hears.html

QuoteNadine Arslanian left the lights on and TVs blaring at her Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home without even her children knowing where she was, The Post has learned.

And she left a "weird" typewritten note on the door for the man she was casually dating, that lover told The Post.

She then secretly flew for a week-long assignation with Menendez, the New Jersey Democratic senator, in the Dominican Republic in the spring of 2018.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/30/us-news/bob-menendezs-wife-was-declared-missing-by-her-other-lover/

QuoteA 24-year-old Wisconsin elementary school teacher was arrested Wednesday for allegedly "making out" with her fifth-grade student — less than three months before her wedding.

Inside her bag, police also found a folder with the victim's name on it containing many handwritten notes talking about how much they kissed one another, the charges allege.

In one of the letters, Bergmann allegedly wrote, "One of my cousins is in the 5th grade and I can't imagine a man talking to her how we talk. I know we have a special relationship and I do love you more than anyone in the world but I have to be the adult here and stop."

https://nypost.com/2024/05/03/us-news/wisconsin-elementary-school-teacher-madison-bergmann-arrested-for-making-out-with-student/