Vol, I can see your degrees of "wrong" in Joe and Mable Public's perception, but in my experience
any deviancy from Joe and Mable's perception of "normal" is looked upon with similar levels of disgust. One of the things I hear over and over is the focus on the sex. That is all they seem to hear. "You let your spouse have sex with others?!" Regardless if it is swinging or polyamory. Most Joe and Mables out there don't even know the difference or have even heard the term
polyamory. To them it's all just "cheating with permission", which like you pointed-out, seems to be less acceptable than cheating
without permission.
Case in point. Here's some snippets from an article quoting the Washington Post article and rebutting it:
Quote:
As you have perhaps guessed, Hesse’s story was intellectually shallow. Beyond some glancing criticisms of polyamory, it failed to address the practice’s moral and theological aspects...
Hesse should have asked her subjects at least a few intellectually rigorous questions. Imagine a partner is sick or dying: Is it permissible to ditch that person for a partner who’s healthy?...
Since the sexual revolution began four decades ago, newspaper reporters have sought to normalize practices once deemed sinful and evil. Think of divorce, cohabitation, homosexuality...
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Here's another one:
Quote:
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In what can only be described as a Valentine to immorality and provocative behavior, the Post ran a 2554-word feature on polyamory that describes a practice most readers - even the liberal fans of the Post - would find disturbing. Sometimes called "swinging" or "wife swapping," polyamory is the practice of openly having several sexual partners, regardless and sometimes in spite of, marital status.
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The whole editorial is here, it's too much to quote:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kristen...ive-lifestyles
Unfortunately, this is mainstream society's view of anything but one man/one woman relationships. Even with 2554 words (why the hell did Fyfe count them?) she, and those that added comments to her column, still think it's nothing but "swinging and wifeswapping".