"The Ethical Slut" - 3rd Edition - Now available

Al99

Al99

Well-known member
FYI -
Minx reported on her Poly Weekly podcast today that the 3rd Edition of the "Ethical Slut" was just released (August 15, 2017, according to the Amazon "product details"). A Google search shows that it is available from the major online booksellers.

Here is the blurb from Amazon:
For 20 years The Ethical Slut has dispelled myths and showed curious readers how to maintain a successful polyamorous lifestyle through open communication, emotional honesty, and safer sex practices. The third edition of this timeless guide to communication and sex has been revised to include interviews with poly millennials (young people who have grown up without the prejudices their elders encountered regarding gender, orientation, sexuality, and relationships), tributes to poly pioneers, and new sidebars on topics such as asexuality, sex workers, and ways polys can connect and thrive. The authors also include new content addressing nontraditional relationships beyond the polyamorous paradigm of "more than two": couples who don't live together, couples who don't have sex with each other, nonparallel arrangements, couples with widely divergent sex styles, power disparities, and cross-orientation relationships, while utilizing nonbinary gender language and new terms that have come into common usage since the last edition.
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I read the first edition and I don't read much these days, so I don't think I'd read this edition, but it does sound promising and I appreciate the info.
 
IMHO, yes, it was. It definitely touched upon open relationships too but was really more poly focused. More so than 'Opening Up' by Taoramino which discussed a variety of ethical non-monogamy forms. I often suggest Ethical Slut to people curious about poly and Opening up for folks who are interested in poly but want an introduction to the thrilling, wide world of ethical non-monogamy.
 
Alan M. of "Polyamory in the News" ran the following article a couple of weeks before the release:

http://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/2017/07/new-third-edition-of-ethical-slut.html

A classic of the polyamory literature is being reissued in a new, modern edition for 2017.

The Ethical Slut, first published in 1997, introduced poly relationships to audiences far beyond the movement's New Age and Pagan wellsprings — although the word "polyamory" barely appeared in it. Authors Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy (as "Catherine A. Liszt") gathered up much poly and sex-positive wisdom, won by many people's hard experience, and the book helped to establish much of this as standard poly doctrine. But it spoke mostly to people of the "independent agent" variety, who might now call themselves solopoly.

The first edition read like a romp and became a runaway word-of-mouth hit. Enough so that in 2009, Random House took it on and reissued it through Ten Speed Press in a second edition, revised and expanded 35% by the authors, with the new subtitle "A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships & Other Adventures." To me, the second edition seemed to have a toned-down style for a wider audience. It also, for the first time, spoke directly to established couples seeking to open up. By that time these had become the most abundant form of poly newbies.
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I've read the second edition within the last year and will probably read the third edition as well. I have not read the first edition, so I cannot speak from personal knowledge, but the above quote seems to reflect what I've picked up in discussions that I've seen in various places - that while the book was not explicitly about polyamory (and "barely used the word"), it did advocate many of the principles and practices that were to become an integral part of the poly culture. Among some, it was apparently sanctified as the "poly bible". From my reading of the second edition (which was re-subtitled to explicitly include polyamory), I would tend to agree with one Amazon reviewer who thought of it more as a book on "poly sexuality rather than polyamory" - nevertheless, I do think it is an important read for poly folks. I also found it to be a reasonably engaging and enjoyable read as well.
 
More so than 'Opening Up' by Taoramino which discussed a variety of ethical non-monogamy forms. I often suggest Ethical Slut to people curious about poly and Opening up for folks who are interested in poly but want an introduction to the thrilling, wide world of ethical non-monogamy.
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I really enjoyed "Opening Up", despite its becoming a bit dated. I absolutely agree that it does a very nice job of also introducing the wider world of ethical non-monogamy beyond poly - and I also thought that by doing so, the author also did a very good job of placing polyamory within that larger world of ethical non-monogamy. And then, once placed, she goes on to lay out the basics of poly in an engaging fashion. This is definitely a book I would recommend to someone coming into poly or ethical non-monogamy in general - would really enjoy seeing an updated version of this book as well. Al
 
Someday I'd like to see Polyamory.com appear in a book's list of resources ...
 
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