In today's world where gender dynamics change everyday, relationships are being redefined. There was a time when the only man/men a married woman knew outside of her husband were her brother-in-law/s but all that has changed. Men and women are increasingly meeting new people at their workplace, in social circles and at other informal interactions. How does this impact the man-woman relationship and more specifically, marriages?For a very long time I thought that open marriages were a totally western concept. So one lazy Sunday afternoon, I sift through this lifestyle magazine during my pedicure session and stumble upon this article on open marriages in India. Surprise, surprise! So-called taboo topics like open marriages and swingers clubs seemed to be the buzz word among urban young couples.
View: Couples in open marriages justify their choice as a more pragmatic approach to deal with infidelityand the shock and trauma that the significant other goes through.
Gone are the days when marriages were meant to be water-tight units that bound individuals together; notions of freedom, space and choice are increasingly gaining popularity.
We all perceive our married life to be a certain way and when it turns out to be quite different from what we expected, what do we do? Do we spend our entire life learning to live with what we have? Do we walk out of our marriage? Or do we accept our marriage the way it is and actively pursue what's missing outside?
Their argument is that when individuals in a marriage admit to being attracted to someone else at some point or the other in their relationship, then they might as well be open about it.
Marriage doesn't change basic human nature; there'll always be this conflict (momentary or persistent) when you might be attracted to someone else. Why curb your natural feelings rather than being open about it?
Some couples prefer to rather have the option of being in an open marriage than have their partner cheat on them without their knowledge.
Most men admit that at some point in their married lives, they seek sexual gratification elsewhere; in an open marriage, the women at least has the option of having an alternative choice rather than remaining in the dark about her spouse's sexcapades.
