In this funny, comforting yet controversial how-to volume, family therapist Dossie Easton and sex educator/writer Catherine A. Liszt (a pseudonym of Janet Hardy) provide a road map for exploring the sometimes difficult, often rewarding territory of non-traditional relationships.
It is credited with raising awareness of the possibility of consensual non-monogamy as a lifestyle, and providing practical guidance on how such long term relationships work and are put into practice.
In the context of the authors' writing, the term slut is reclaimed from its usual use as a pejorative and as a simple label for a promiscuous person. Instead, it is used to signify a person who is accepting of their enjoyment of sex and the pleasure of intimacy with others, and chooses to engage and accept these in an ethical and open way — rather than as cheating. The book's viewpoint is thus one that is culturally frowned upon by many religious and moral perspectives.
The Ethical Slut discusses how to live an active life with multiple concurrent sexual relationships in a fair and honest way. Discussion topics include how to deal with the practical difficulties and opportunities in finding and keeping partners, maintaining relationships with others, and strategies for personal growth.
Although the term used most frequently in the book, other than slut, is "consensual nonmonogamy", many practitioners of polyamory, swinging, open marriages, and other forms of open relationships consider The Ethical Slut to be a crucial guidebook to putting their lifestyle into practice. It contains chapters discussing how consensual nonmonogamy is handled in different subcultures such as the gay and lesbian communities, information on handling scheduling, jealousy, communication, conflict in relationships, and etiquette for group sexual encounters.
According to Minx, host of the Polyamory Weekly podcast, rumor has it that Easton is working on a sequel to The Ethical Slut.
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Catherine A. Liszt, Dossie Easton
USA
