Open Relationship

1972, Literature

Mutually-tolerated infidelity and betrayal.

The concept is a staggeringly nonsensical: a relationship is predicated on its exclusivity. The origin of the term is undoubtedly New York Times bestseller “Open Marriage: A New Life Style for Couples” by anthropologists George and Nena O’Neill in 1972, who didn’t exactly intend for it to be used as a justification for swingers’ parties, but didn’t help themselves either (“Sexual fidelity is the false god of closed marriage”). Since marriage is “outdated”, the more fashionable and abstract word “relationship” is employed.

• https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?&year_start=1950&year_end=2019&content=open+relationship
• https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=open+relationship
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Marriage_(book)