A Modern Marriage
A Memoir
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In this candid memoir about a marriage that risked everything to emerge stronger than ever, one couple takes us outside the bounds of monogamy and into one of the most fascinating and secretive subcultures in the nation—swinging.
With fifteen million strong worldwide, swingers are everywhere—a huge community, hiding in plain sight, whose erotic pastime has remained a complete mystery to the rest of us. Christy and Mark Kidd certainly had no idea what they were getting into when at one fateful New Year’s Eve party they decided to venture behind a mysterious velvet curtain and discovered a whole new world of sexuality they never thought possible.
The swinging lifestyle still remains largely taboo in our country. The Kidds were just as skeptical when they returned home. Could they ever take their relationship to that level? Would it ruin the strong marriage they had built for five years? How would their very different jealousies come into play? There was only one way to find out, so they decided to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, ultimately ending up in a more trustful and fulfilling relationship than either could have expected.
This stirring memoir takes an up-close and often lurid look at a private life that most of us would never entertain. Nonetheless, it’s a life Christy and Mark took seriously—including the same fears and doubts we all imagine would come into play—and emerged with a greater understanding of themselves as well as their unique bond. Deeply honest, A Modern Marriage pulls back the curtain on polyamory and sheds new light on the endless variety of forms and faces, pairings and possibilities found in modern love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A married couple from Texas, both accountants, are transplanted to New York City for their jobs, and plunge into the heady world of swinging as their way of "busting out of the status quo." In this self-justifying, self-congratulatory memoir of their evolving hedonistic experiences since 2005, Christy Kidd, who narrates, describes how the couple transformed themselves from babes in the woods to savvy, hardened swingers (a word she does not like but uses for lack of a better one). Bored and "stir-crazy" one New Year's Eve, they happened online upon a "password" party near their apartment in Manhattan and were astonished to find themselves in the middle of an orgy with a group of ecstatic, naked adults. What to do? As a loving, committed couple, they retreated and talked it out, writing up some "ground rules" to their sex dabbling with other couples, such as proceeding always step-by-step together; using protection; "pacing" themselves, meaning they would not indulge in a couples' hookup more than once a month; and "maintaining purity" that is, never having sex with each other in front of other people. The Kidds research sex parties, learn the lingo ("soft swap" vs. "full swap"), deal with the initial awkward meetings with other couples, and explore sex clubs like Trapeze. They attend full-throttle parties with sex toys and strippers in middle-class New Jersey neighborhoods, and chronicle it all unflinchingly, observing how other couples burn out, while their own marriage is strengthened.