By Marian Daniells, News Staff & Lana Lagomarsini, News Staff

According to a recent non-scientific study by Cosmopolitan magazine, 40 percent of relationships are successful long-term. For some, long-term relationships are not only for the monogamous, and are still just as successful.

Polyamory, literally meaning “loving many,” is the practice of having more than one open relationship at a time. However, polyamorist groups like Loving More, a non profit website-based organization who’s main purpose is to be a resource and a support for polyamorists, clarifies that the unconventional lifestyles are characterized by open communication and consent between all participants.

Though modern human culture is normally defined as monogamous, throughout American history, polygamist groups and religious sects practiced polygamy for a variety of reasons. In the counter-culture revolution, the Free Love movement rejected marriage as an overbearing and sexist social institution. Even on Facebook, there’s an option to select and advertise that one is in an “Open Relationship.”

Thomas Amaroso, a member and a list administrator for the local polyamorist group PolyBoston, said he is in a loving relationship with one woman and one other man.

Polyamorous relationships can range from single individuals who are involved in many relationships to complex networks of adults committed to one or more consenting partners. As with conventional relationships, all polyamorous relationships are different.

“The point of our relationship is that we all seem to care for one another and work well with one another,” said Amaroso, who joined the polyamorist lifestyle in 1999 and has been a member of PolyBoston ever since. He also organized PolyBoston’s first participation in the annual Boston Pride Week, held annually in June.

Pride Week, which consists of a parade, pageant, rally, film festival and other activities, is an opportunity for Boston’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and allied community to promote awareness of and understanding for alternative lifestyles.

Boston has two established polyamorist organizations: PolyBoston and Family Tree. PolyBoston hosts events including discussions and support groups and they welcome poly-curious individuals. Amoroso clarifies that PolyBoston is largely just that: a means of community and communication between members.

Family Tree is a paid membership organization that has monthly discussions and advocates increased public understanding and acceptance of all alternative lifestyles.

Dr. Dan Pollets, a sex therapist from Medford, argues that polyamorists are prompted by different intentions.

“People are motivated to have their cake and eat it, too,” he said.

But Amaroso said that “that’s very largely not the point…I would argue that sex is the least important part of polyamory. It’s a lot more about relationships.”

Pollets, who has more than 30 years of experience working with families and couples, advocates that conventional relationships are still most beneficial to all involved. The “pair bond,” as he calls it, “is the most adaptive, evolutionarily designed relationship.”

Some students around Northeastern, however, are still a bit skeptical.

“It just seems to defeat the purpose of having a girlfriend or boyfriend,” said Andrew Bates, a middler mechanical engineering major. “I don’t think I’d try it.”

While polyamorists advocate more love, Pollets claims that opening a relationship up to more parties inevitably complicates things.

“There are some underlining psychological issues that make it difficult to be truly intimate with more than one person,” said Pollets, “People tend to get attached; that’s our hardwiring.”

Joe Gonsalles, a middler mechanical engineering major, agrees.

“I wouldn’t consider [polyamory] because it’s against the culture we have been taught…to grow up and get married,” he said. “It just sounds outlandish.”

“It’s very difficult in our socially to untangle hardwiring from installed wiring,” Amaroso said. He claims that communication and honestly are the factors that make poly relationships work.

“It’s not as though there are no rules at all. It’s just that there are different rules,” he said.