Monogamy

In the early stages of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, there was a period when one of the questions raised by the whole affair had to do with monogamy. Around that time, Roy Romer, the Governor of Colorado and Chair of the Democratic Party, admitted that for 16 years he'd had a relationship with an aide that his wife and family knew about. We hear tape from Romer's remarkable press conference in which he urged people to talk more realistically about how they really live in their marriages, instead of pretending they are monogamous. Northwestern University scholar Laura Kipnis, author of an article in Critical Inquiry about fidelity and monogamy in public life, says we have to examine why so many couples are deserting monogamy. It's a social revolt, she says, like wildcat strikes. (7 minutes)

Writer and nationally syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage explains what actually happens in non-monogamous couples, how they make it work, and whether they're happy. (9 minutes)