I see movies or series on TV or the internet exploring the nature of relationships and that leads me to wonder which one is better: monogamous or polygamous? I find monogamous relationships too old-fashioned while open relationships are too, well… open! I have tried both and finally came to my own conclusion, but I believe that others are struggling with this choice as well. The world is constantly changing and this change comes too fast for some of us. While I consider myself a  sexually open-minded person, I do have my reservations about some of the more extreme practices. These reservations have been brought about by my upbringing, personality, and decision-making process.Let’s take a somewhat pragmatic, unbiased approach to differentiating between the two while outlining some of the pros and cons of each. I believe that to each his own and have learned not to judge people based on their sexual convictions. This is a brief explanation of these sexual preferences, with emphasis on their most striking features: Monogamous relationships

• The baseline, bare-bones relationship
• The  most widespread of the two
• Stereotypical, easy to pick up, fun, anybody can do it(easy to learn, hard to master type of situation)
• There is a ridiculous amount of information about it both online and offline; almost everybody is or has been in a relationship and has an opinion on it
• Socially desirable, basically universally accepted concept; in today’s society you are supposed to be in a relationship after a certain age; a lack of a relationship over extended periods of time signal to the people who know you that there is something wrong with you(regardless of whether that is true or not)
• Partners rely on each other financially in varying degrees
• They are each other’s main emotional support
• They are expected to eventually marry and form a family
• If you want to be with somebody else, you are expected to end the current relationship before engaging in another
• Being with multiple sexual partners at the same time is a big No No, and has dire consequences on the relationship and your social standing(your partner will take care of that last part)
• When it works, it is beautiful; the grass is greener, you can hear the birds happily chirping away, the butterflies in your stomach right before you meet him or her are crazy, everything is alive, vibrating, beckoning you to take part in it, together with that special someone
• When it’s bad, it’s really bad; your one ray of hope, your silver lining, the person you let in more than anybody else(yes, you get poetic like that when you’re really in love, don’t even try to deny it) is taking a baseball bat to your fragile heart and really bashing it; you feel defenceless against the people you love, and in a monogamous relationship there is only one person effectively monopolizing your love, so they can do a lot of damage with minimal effort

Polygamous relationships

• Require open-mindedness
• Jealousy has no place in this relationship
• Has at least 3 people involved but can go up to an almost comical number; the sky is the limit
• It is very exciting to add a new partner; that automatically reinvigorates a monogamous relationship, transforming it and kicks a polygamous one, that is already much more active than your standard one, into high gear
• The partners are very active sexually, and also much more prone to exploring lesser traveled venues of the sexual spectrum; basically, more people means that there is a higher chance that something freaky will happen
• Sexual gratification is pretty much a given in this situation, seeing how more than one person pitches in to make sure you are satisfied at the end of the night
• The romance is not lost in a polygamous relationship; this is not a strictly sexual type of agreement between the partners; feelings of genuine love will arise together with the realization that one person can love more than one individual at a time
• As long as the partners understand that they need to share in order for the relationship to work, there are fewer of the typical problems that can be found in a “normal” relationship; the probability of cheating is greatly reduced; more people in the house means more money that can be pooled together to provide for the needs of each individual; everybody lends a hand to solve problems that can be a hassle with just two people
• Companionship is never far away even if one person is, for whatever reason, not available at the moment; there is at least one other person who may be willing and able to spend some quality time with you
• These relationships tend to be stronger against routine
• One person can ruin the relationship for the others as well
• Polygamy is usually publicly criticized
• More people can also mean more problems

The public opinion tends to sway in favor of the traditional relationship at the moment since we are familiar with it and fear the multi-layered consequences of engaging in a polygamous relationship that can bring a barrage of problems our way. Not everybody has what it takes to want and accept a second significant other. There are no right answers here. I believe that as long as it does no harm to anybody, people should be allowed to do whatever they want. Whether you like your relationships monogamous and intimate or you are “the more the merrier” kind, I think that you should do what makes you feel happy and fulfilled. This is a matter of personal preference and of great importance for you, so peer pressure should not be a variable in this equation.