There are very specific things about that these open relationships that are monogamous — safe sex, emotional primacy … really, anything that’s been negotiated in advance. Indeed, monogamy often comes down to a matter of degrees, even in mutually exclusive relationships. Where one couple draws the line of innocent flirting is not where another couple would draw the line. I like that an open relationship allows freedom to design a long-term connection precisely the way it works best for those involved.

While this article is a commentary on research that is about to come out in the next couple of months. The author does a very good job in a short amount of space summing up many of the facts that support open relationships being yet another form of monogamy.