ETHICAL

C H APT E R E I G H T E E N
Couples
SLUTS RELATE in as many combinations and styles as you can possibly
imagine, and more. Is there a typology of relationships that could possibly
include every wonderful possibility? Obviously not. We believe
that every relationship is unique unto itself, and thus even an attempt
to think in types and forms is not going to express the essential truths
of what happens when we love people.
Here is one particular and fairly unusual relationship we cherish:
Your authors have been lovers, coauthors, and best friends for sixteen
years, and we have never lived together. We have both lived with other
partners during those sixteen years and have both been single together
for only a brief time. Our relationship is a treasure, and no other partner
gets to object-we've been doing this for a long time and we do not
intend to stop. Of course, if we wanted to live together we probably
would have by now, so we are also no threat to any life partner. (As
long as you don't get threatened by reading in extensive detail about
your partner's sexual adventures with her coauthor-this is a problem
only a few of you will ever face.) It is nothing short of a miracle to us
that our partnering has been so fruitful and so serene and so intimate
and so explorative over all this time. We both agree that to live together
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