This is the story of Mary Crumpton. She is a woman who began to explore her sexuality at the very ripe age of 29. Later on, discovered that she was primarily attracted to the idea of polyamorous relationships – being in relationships with more than just one partner.
Polygamy is something that has existed in human civilization. Many people are probably very much familiar with the idea of polygamy at this point. However, polyamory isn’t as well-known. It didn’t show any signs of life in pop culture until around the 1990s.
Polyamory is defined as the desire to have intimate relationships with more than one person. However, it’s not the same as cheating on your partner. People in polyamorous relationships will always be upfront about who they are, what they like, and how they want their relationships to be carried out. They never hide their intentions and always come clean about their preferences.
Suppose you aren’t convinced that this kind of relationship arrangement can actually exist in this contemporary society. In that case, you should continue to read on. Mary Crumpton’s story will have you eating your own words.
Mary Crumpton is an ordinary girl who happens to be married to just one guy. But she also happens to be engaged to another man. And she has two other boyfriends as well. She says that she only started exploring her sexuality when she was 29, and that mature age allowed her to have a more open mind about what relationships should be like.
She said, “I was brought up in quite a traditional home. I had boyfriends and was monogamous. Having more than one partner never crossed my mind. In my twenties, I got married and settled down in Chorlton, fully intending to be with my husband for life.”
This often happens with individuals prohibited from breaking the limits brought about by monogamous structures at younger ages. Mary also says about her situation, “At the time, I didn’t question having just one partner. It was normal.”
Society has a way of dictating “norms” that is combative and ostracizing of those who don’t necessarily subscribe to the same kind of philosophy. As a result, anyone who breaks away from traditional norms is always at risk of being outcasted and ridiculed.
Mary Crumpton also confesses, “I did sometimes have feelings for other people, but I felt guilty and just took it as a sign that I didn’t love my husband enough. So when the marriage didn’t work out, I met someone else and started a monogamous relationship with him.”
So, how exactly did she go from that situation into one of polyamory?
It is often a very lonely and challenging position whenever you find yourself taking an unusual approach to something as serious as love and relationships. But Mary didn’t let that stop her from coming to terms with how she felt. “The idea that loving more than one person might not make me a terrible human being only dawned on me when, at a pub, I bumped into a person who had more than one partner,” said Crumpton.
“I had never come across it before, or the term ‘polyamory’ which means ‘more-than-one love.’ So I was quite shocked and curious about how it all worked for them.”
When she met this new person, she was already with her partner. And to her relief, he also happened to be curious about the practice of polyamory. But Mary Crumpton and her partner decided not to break away from the boundaries of their monogamous relationship just yet. So it was only a couple of years after that when Crumpton broached the idea with her partners.
She told him that she wanted to try out being in an open relationship with one another. He also agreed with it, and they both found additional partners for themselves. And it was then when Crumpton’s eyes were liberated. She was in a new and fascinating position, and she couldn’t get enough of it.
Mary Crumpton said, “I took to it immediately. I had a friend I was close to, and that friendship drifted very naturally into something more. My partner had a similar experience with a friend of his. It was a revelation to me. I quickly realized that I had been ‘wired up’ this way probably all my life – loving more than one person now seems like the most natural thing in the world, and I can’t imagine being any other way.”
Now, she is no longer with the person she had first explored polyamory with. She is currently married to Tim and has a fiancé as well. In addition to this, she is also in a relationship with two other men.
