Thornapple Press

A practical, accessible primer on using parts work to transform shame and self-criticism to authenticity and integrity.Trauma, attachment wounds and external criticism can leave us battling a sense of shame and inadequacy that can keep us from thriving personally and in relationships. In Transforming the Shame Triangle, integrative therapist Jessica Fern and restorative justice facilitator David Cooley use a synthesis of Internal Family Systems and Narrative Process to identify the three parts that they see as the greatest barriers to achieving the life we want.The Inner Critic, Shame and the Escaper are players in an internalized drama triangle, acting as perpetrator, victim and rescuer. Together, they create the Shame Triangle, which can trap us in ineffective survival strategies that prevent us from embracing and expressing our true selves.Through practical exercises and accessible explanations, readers are guided to shift from a state of self-critique to one of self-support-transforming the Shame Triangle to a love triangle. Using parts work, Fern and Cooley open a path to healing and transformation, building a foundation of authenticity and integrity in self and connections, and ultimately creating a more fulfilling life.

A practical guide to help make nonmonogamous events and communities more inclusive of all genders and sexualities.Heteronormativity and misconceptions around sexuality and gender expression persist even in nonmonogamous communities. Queer and gender-diverse people can find it intimidating to navigate dating and socializing in these scenes.In Nonmonogamy and Queer Inclusivity, Mx. Nillin Lore, author of the award-winning How Do I Sexy? A Guide for Trans and Nonbinary Queers, encourages cisgender and heterosexual nonmonogamous folks to consider their own preconceptions and provides them with practical advice on how to do better. By intentionally organizing more inclusive events, fostering respectful spaces and actively supporting marginalized community members, nonmonogamous folks of all genders and sexualities can create stronger, more diverse and safer nonmonogamous communities.Lore draws on their personal experience and observation as an educator, event planner and outreach worker to provide an introduction to queer identity, challenge some of the myths and misconceptions about gender diversity, and offer guidance on how to make nonmonogamous social gatherings a little less scary for all.

A practical guide to navigating romantic groups with respect and compassion for oneself and others.Romantic groups can face many of the same challenges as friend groups or professional circles, but these more common group structures are far better understood in the wider culture. Romantic groups that include multiple partners and metamours can be intimidating and initially appear tricker to navigate. Yet they can also provide more diverse support structures, allowing each person to provide according to their abilities while being supported according to their needs.Nonmonogamy and Group Dynamics explores how to navigate issues in romantic groups and how to come to a compassionate understanding of others and ourselves. A practical handbook founded in real-life experiences, it addresses shifts in group structure, comparisons among members and differences in prioritization, and offers communication strategies and tips for resolving tension. By encouraging the reader to consider their roles and responsibilities and to reflect on their own expectations, this helpful guide empowers the reader to work toward what they want and need from their romantic groups.

A practical guide to anal sex with a strap-on dildo, approached with humor and informed by the authors' experience as sex educators.In the beginning, there was no name for it. The act was lumped in with general anal sex and general strap-on sex. But perhaps seeing a hole that needed filling, an online contest was held to name the act. When the dust had settled, the word was clear and the world was changed. Pegging: A sex act in which the pegger anally penetrates the pegee with a strap-on dildo.Cooper S. Beckett and Lyndzi Miller tackle all you've ever wanted to know about pegging. How do we do it? What are the right tools for the job? Does it actually feel good? I'm a straight guy-will pegging make me gay? Beckett and Miller answer these questions and also talk about safety, male anatomy, and the health benefits of being pegged. They guide you through your experimentation with this most excellent act in a friendly and conversational fashion, showing you an in-depth look between the cheeks.

A practical guide to navigating and surviving breakups in nonmonogamous relationships.Polyamory is not always easy. With multiple partners often come more complex relationships to navigate. This practical guide looks at the common causes of polyamorous breakups, identifies strategies to avoid ending relationships, and provides you with the toolkit to survive a breakup.Kathy Labriola uses real life examples and expert insight as a counselor and nurse. From how to handle jealousy to the practicalities of managing money and time with multiple partners, this book includes tips and insights from the polyamory community. It is inevitable that some relationships will end in a breakup. This book helps you maintain friendships and minimize the impact of a breakup on the rest of your polycule and wider community.Unlike traditional breakup guides, Labriola's book offers insight specific to the polyamory community and addresses the unique challenges that come with multiple partners.

A reflection on the many manifestations of broken trust in nonmonogamous relationships, and how to heal from them.Nonmonogamy can assume many shapes, none of which can claim to be a "safe" model of intimacy. The jet-setting passport paramour who fits the needs of many far-flung lovers into a single carryon has as many opportunities to do right or wrong by their partners as the members of a homebound triad who prefer raising a family to raising hell on the nightlife scene.Even the most casual of connections requires trust, and where there is trust, there is the potential for betrayal. As long as there have been love stories, there has been love lost through deception, abandonment, or callous disregard of intimate bonds. Intimacy, exclusive or otherwise, can be exploratory or confined, collaborative or autonomous, but one thing it can never be is risk free.Yes, there is cheating in nonmonogamous relationships. There are other forms of betrayal, too: the cliquish injustices of in-group bullying, the violation of having personal information shared by a trusted partner, the humiliation of seeing someone who claimed to love you "trade up" for a partner with more social, sexual or plain old economic capital. Trust can be broken, and in turn break people, in a great number of ways.In Nonmonogamy and Betrayal, Eve Rickert, co-author of More Than Two, Second Edition: Cultivating Nonmonogamous Relationships with Kindness and Integrity, explores a regrettable inclination among many who practise nonmonogamy: to downplay or minimize the destructive capacity of broken trust, both to the betrayed partner and to the larger community. Nonmonogamy and Betrayal not only unravels the varieties of betrayal that can occur in nonmonogamy, but explores pathways to recognition and healing.

An exploration of how to balance activism and relationships without burning out.Balancing a devotion to activism with personal relationships can be incredibly difficult. Kitty Stryker shares her experience as an activist, street medic and relationship educator to help others pursue the important work while maintaining healthy relationships and without burning out.In what is both a call to action and a candid memoir, Stryker is open about what she has learned and her perceived limitations. Recognizing that it can feel overwhelming to know how to effectively make change, she encourages readers to consider how they can best advocate for causes they believe in, presenting different types of activism and urging readers to honestly examine their own hesitations.She also emphasizes that without taking care of our interpersonal relationships, many people burn out of activism at the very time when we need more people on the ground, and she offers practical strategies to avoid this and to encourage healthy relationships.

A polyamorous black man explores the intersections of racism and polyamory and their impact on people of color navigating an already misunderstood lifestyle.The issues that make monogamous dating daunting for people of colorshaming and exclusion by white partners, being fetishized, having realities of everyday racism ignoredoccur in polyamorous relationships too, and trying not to see race only makes it worse. To make polyamorous communities inclusive, we must all acknowledge our part in perpetuating racism and listen to people of color. Love's Not Color Blind puts forward the frameworkthrough research, anecdotal testimony, and analogyfor understanding, identifying, and confronting racism within polyamorous communities.

Exploring nonmonogamy can require us to shift our worldview and deconstruct what we've been taught about relationship dynamics. However, it is difficult to defy paradigms while also existing within them-even as we strive to unlearn established norms, we can find ourselves unintentionally reproducing the principles of paradigms like mononormativity in our nonmonogamous relationships. In a society where monogamy is established as normal and reinforced through legal systems and cultural etiquette, this is not surprising. By examining prevalent cultural norms and values, and presenting real-life examples of mononormativity's impact, Marla Schreiber encourages readers to consider their own preconceptions and guides them towards effectively defying mononormativity and other intersecting paradigms.

A modern topology of nonmonogamy's many possibilities-and consequences."Can you love more than one person?" A lot of conversations about nonmonogamy start this way. When we discuss "opening" relationships, contemplate whether we want to be exclusive with our partners, or introduce multiple partners to friends and family, we are asking the people in our lives, and ourselves, to contend with this question.The answer is obvious, and misleading. The love one feels in their heart and the love one expresses through daily acts of care and affection are both "love" in the true sense, but they have different requirements, present different options and produce different outcomes.More Than Two, Second Edition, can't promise outcomes, but it is a guide to the paths-from anchor or nesting partnerships to relationship anarchy-possible within nonmonogamy. Drawing on the best of its predecessor while completely reimagining its approach, this entirely new work bridges emerging theories on attachment and relationship diversity with authors Eve Rickert and Andrea Zanin's insight and experience. The arcs of nonmonogamous partnerships bend towards complexity, introspection and compromise-or at least they can, if we work at it.

A practical guide to navigating death in nonmonogamous relationships, informed by first-hand experience.Rarely does the question of death come up in discussions of nonmonogamy. But whether it's sudden or expected, nonmonogamous people must face death like anyone elseas well as its consequences on those left behind after a loved one is gone.As nonmonogamous people, how can we plan ahead for our own and our loved ones' deaths? How can we best navigate a funeral industry that may not understand our relationships, a legal system that's not set up to recognize our commitments, and a social world that can be unfriendly to grieving partners outside the monogamous model? How do we take care of ourselves and each other in times of grief and loss?In Nonmonogamy and Death, Kayden Abley leads us through these difficult and tender questions with compassion and care, providing guidance to help you find your own answers.

A practical, insightful and much-needed guidebook for people with depression and those who love them.Millions of people worldwide are coping with depression. Whether it's you, a family member, a friend or a partner-odds are depression affects your life. Even so, many of us don't know what to do when it hits someone we care about.JoEllen Notte challenges the preconceived ideas that keep us from showing up for each other in a meaningful way and offers strategies for supporting each other and ourselves when depression comes calling. Challenging the notions that tell us "that's not my business" or "they probably don't want to talk about that," In It Together equips readers to navigate depression alongside the people they care about.Informed by interviews with over 200 people coping with depression and featuring practical tips and real-life examples, In It Together is an insightful and much-needed guidebook for people with depression and those who love them.

A practical workbook based on the principles of attachment theory in nonmonogamous relationships.The Polysecure Workbook encourages examination of any attachment challenges you may have experienced in your opening up process and offers insights into how to build secure relationships.Through practical exercises, you will explore your own attachment history, examine your reasons for practicing nonmonogamy and the different styles of nonmonogamy that you relate to, and consider whether you rely on relationship structure for your attachment security. The Polysecure Workbook provides the tools needed to navigate the complexities of multiple loving relationships and to build personal security.

A practical guide to navigating sex and relationships for people with depression and their partners.Almost everyone has had some interaction with depression. Whether it's you, a family member, a friend, or a partner who is affected, depression has the potential to touch us all. Even so, many of us don't know how to handle depression becoming part of our love life and it can quickly become the monster under the bed. From "you have to love yourself first," to "don't stick it in the crazy," to dead silence, popular responses to the topic leave much to be desired. But you're not alone and you can have successful relationships and satisfying sex with depression.JoEllen Notte will help you understand how sexual function is affected by depression and what keeps us from effectively addressing it. Heavily informed by the author's research, including surveys of over 1,000 people and interviews with close to 200, this is the first book of its kind. With practical tips and real-life examples, this is both a guidebook for people with depression and the people who love them, as well as a reference tool for mental health professionals.

An anthology of poetry, essays and artwork by sex workers.Sex work was once thought to be anathema to women's liberation. Now, to some, we represent the tenacity of women's struggles under patriarchy and capitalism-that is, at least, the white, straight, cis, able-bodied sex workers who don't engage in actual sex with clients. These are the workers who get the glossy media profiles and get touted as feminist icons.But the red umbrella is wide and covers so many: escorts, sugar babies, strippers, session wrestlers, cam performers, fetish models, DIY queer porn stars, and the full range of gender, race, and ability. Our work and our identities are as vast and variable as the spectrum of sexuality itself. We do the work. In the streets, in the clubs, in hotel rooms, and in play party dungeons. We make dreams come true so we can afford a place to sleep. We do business in a marketplace that politicians and police are constantly burning down for our "own safety and dignity." We have high heels and higher anxiety.This isn't a collection of sob stories of heartbroken whores. This is a testament of life at ground zero of sexual discourse, the songs of canaries in the coal mines of sex, gender, class, race, and disability. We may dance on the table, but we still demand our seat at it. Sex workers of the world unite. This is A Whore's Manifesto.

An insightful guidebook on bisexual identity interwoven with fearless testimony of bisexual activities striving for self-realization in a society built on the reductive axis of "gay/straight."Even as the broader LGBT community enjoys political and societal advances in North America, the bisexual community still today contends with decades of misinformation stereotyping them as innately indecisive, self-loathing, and untrustworthy.Claiming the B in LGBT strives to give bisexuals a seat at the table. This guidebook to the history and future of the bisexual movement fuses a chronology of bisexual organizing with essays, poems, and articles detailing the lived experiences of bisexual activities struggling against a dominant culture driven by norms of monosexual attraction, compulsory monogamy, and inflexible notions of gender expression and identity.Kate Harrad's anthology of a thriving identity yearning to realize itself provides a vision of bisexuality that is beyond gay and straight, rather than left to merely occupy the space between.

Kitty Stryker presents a collection of essays exploring the role of consent in confronting power structures in day-to-day life.Have you ever heard the phrase "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission?" Violating consent isn't limited to sexual relationships, and our discussions around consent shouldn't be, either.To resist rape culture, we need a consent culture-and one that is more than just reactionary. Left confined to intimate spaces, consent will atrophy as theory that is never put into practice. The multi-layered power disparities of today's world require a response sensitive to a wide range of lived experiences.In Ask, Kitty Stryker assembles a retinue of writers, journalists, and activists to examine how a cultural politic centered on consent can empower us outside the bedroom, whether it's at the doctor's office, interacting with law enforcement, or calling out financial abuse within radical communities. More than a collection of essays, Ask is a testimony and guide on the role that negated consent plays in our lives, examining how we can take those first steps to reclaim it from institutionalized power.

A practical guide to nonmonogamy for men into women, helping them to achieve their nonmonogamous dreams.Good news! You can leave the constraints of monogamy behind, and step into the delightful possibilities of polyamory and open relationships. By understanding and practicing nonmonogamy, you can live to the limits of your romantic and erotic desires, while building networks of relationships that nourish and challenge you.But it's a lot harder than it looks, and living openly will test you. Are you able to navigate discussions of jealousy with responsibility and care? Can you reject self-sabotaging patterns of selfishness and deceit? Will you employ your strength and confidence to meet the emotional needs of multiple connections.If you're looking to rise to the occasion, then this is the book for you! Within, you'll learn the skills and tools you'll need to navigate conscientious nonmonogamy and find your way to your fantasies.

A hilarious and touching comic about polyamory, queer, and genderqueer issues from Tikva Wolf.A hilarious and touching comic about polyamory, queer, and genderqueer issues. If your relationships or your gender are unconventional, you'll find useful advice and plenty of laughs in this compilation of the wildly popular webcomic Kimchi Cuddles.Quirky, endearing and charmingly (and sometimes painfully) realistic characters, many based on real people, explore polyamory, queer and genderqueer issues. Covering practical matters like time management and serious topics like discrimination, this book unites the best of two years of Kimchi Cuddles comics, organized into a practical and entertaining guide to the real world of alternative relationships.Kimchi Cuddles is a rare mix: fearlessly true to the lives of the people it depicts yet relatable enough to entertain and inform anyone (maybe even your parents). Dealing with both lighthearted and serious subject matter, it avoids clichés and easy answers, choosing instead to give examples of different schools of thought and show the humanity behind each one. Wolf's honesty and gift for clear explanation have made Kimchi Cuddles a hit with the most dedicated polyamorists as well as curious newcomers.

A practical guide to help make nonmonogamous events and communities more inclusive of all genders and sexualities.Heteronormativity and misconceptions around sexuality and gender expression persist even in nonmonogamous communities. Queer and gender-diverse people can find it intimidating to navigate dating and socializing in these scenes.In Nonmonogamy and Queer Inclusivity, Mx. Nillin Lore, author of the award-winning How Do I Sexy? A Guide for Trans and Nonbinary Queers, encourages cisgender and heterosexual nonmonogamous folks to consider their own preconceptions and provides them with practical advice on how to do better. By intentionally organizing more inclusive events, fostering respectful spaces and actively supporting marginalized community members, nonmonogamous folks of all genders and sexualities can create stronger, more diverse and safer nonmonogamous communities.Lore draws on their personal experience and observation as an educator, event planner and outreach worker to provide an introduction to queer identity, challenge some of the myths and misconceptions about gender diversity, and offer guidance on how to make nonmonogamous social gatherings a little less scary for all.

A manual for loving justly in a complex, power-laden world. A decade after the celebrated but controversial 2014 book, The New More Than Two is More Than Two for the post-#MeToo era. The entirely rewritten The New More Than Two represents a complete conceptual reorientation focused on care, mutual accountability and empathy. It rejects hyper-autonomy as a distortion of earlier polyamory discourse, introduces explicit material on abuse in a nonmonogamous context, and situates its ethical analysis within a context of systemic power structures such as gender, colonialism and race.In this transformative collaboration, Eve Rickert and Andrea Zanin bring together decades-deep lived experience, research on attachment and relationship diversity, and a justice-inflected approach to love, ethics and boundaries. You'll find practical tools for communicating when jealousy or fear shows up, frameworks for crafting agreements that evolve, and a relational lens on power, consent, autonomy and integrity. Whether you're solo, coupled, nested or embedded in an anarchic web of connections, this book meets you where you are. It's also thoroughly inclusive of queer, kinky, ace, trans and nonbinary readers, and it addresses aspects of nonmonogamy that stretch well beyond romantic or sexual relationships.Drawing on the best of the original while reimagining it for a changed world, The New More Than Two is a guide for anyone seeking love that is both brave and kind.

A deeply personal, provocative portrait of how race, culture and sexuality intersect to reshape what it means to be an Asian man in North America today. What does it mean to be an Asian man in North America? In this timely and insightful memoir, Ryan Cho unpacks ideas about masculinity and Asian men in a world of stereotypes and social expectations. Drawing from his own experiences and interviews with other Asian men and nonbinary people, Cho explores how culture, sexuality and race combine to influence identity. Along the way, he meets people redefining what masculinity means to them and discusses what we can do to steward a version of masculinity that is inclusive, progressive and authentic.Candid, challenging and personal, Brotherhood is a Constant Possibility invites readers to question the roles Asian men have been "allowed" to play and to imagine broader and more nuanced ways of thinking about masculinity and men.

A deeply personal, provocative portrait of how race, culture and sexuality intersect to reshape what it means to be an Asian man in North America today. What does it mean to be an Asian man in North America? In this timely and insightful memoir, Ryan Cho unpacks ideas about masculinity and Asian men in a world of stereotypes and social expectations. Drawing from his own experiences and interviews with other Asian men and nonbinary people, Cho explores how culture, sexuality and race combine to influence identity. Along the way, he meets people redefining what masculinity means to them and discusses what we can do to steward a version of masculinity that is inclusive, progressive and authentic.Candid, challenging and personal, Brotherhood is a Constant Possibility invites readers to question the roles Asian men have been "allowed" to play and to imagine broader and more nuanced ways of thinking about masculinity and men.

A practical guide to navigating romantic groups with respect and compassion for oneself and others.Romantic groups can face many of the same challenges as friend groups or professional circles, but these more common group structures are far better understood in the wider culture. Romantic groups that include multiple partners and metamours can be intimidating and initially appear tricker to navigate. Yet they can also provide more diverse support structures, allowing each person to provide according to their abilities while being supported according to their needs.Nonmonogamy and Group Dynamics explores how to navigate issues in romantic groups and how to come to a compassionate understanding of others and ourselves. A practical handbook founded in real-life experiences, it addresses shifts in group structure, comparisons among members and differences in prioritization, and offers communication strategies and tips for resolving tension. By encouraging the reader to consider their roles and responsibilities and to reflect on their own expectations, this helpful guide empowers the reader to work toward what they want and need from their romantic groups.

A former artist's model and muse reclaims her image and voice, dismantling the male gaze that once framed her.At 23, Theresa Kishkan met an artist who became obsessed with her. She was young, she was flattered, and the situation quickly overwhelmed her. He drew and painted her for a few months, after which she went away for a year. When she returned, she was determined not to resume the relationship. But the artist made contact with her after the birth of her first child and became a family friend, bringing gifts of paintings. Those images hung in Theresa's home, and one in particular reminded her almost daily of her younger self, in ways both positive and not so much. She avoided looking too closely at his images of her and at his long, passionate and often troubling letters.Decades later, while sorting old correspondence, she was taken back to those early days and began, at last, to write about her relationship with the now-deceased artist. The Art of Looking Back is a meditation on the male gaze, on reclaiming one's younger self, and on agency: how we lose it, how we find it again. This poetic memoir asks questions about older men and younger women and girls, and the persistence of that dynamic in art.

A former artist's model and muse reclaims her image and voice, dismantling the male gaze that once framed her.At 23, Theresa Kishkan met an artist who became obsessed with her. She was young, she was flattered, and the situation quickly overwhelmed her. He drew and painted her for a few months, after which she went away for a year. When she returned, she was determined not to resume the relationship.But the artist made contact with her after the birth of her first child and became a family friend, bringing gifts of paintings. Those images hung in Theresa's home, and one in particular reminded her almost daily of her younger self, in ways both positive and not so much. She avoided looking too closely at his images of her and at his long, passionate and often troubling letters.Decades later, while sorting old correspondence, she was taken back to those early days and began, at last, to write about her relationship with the now-deceased artist. The Art of Looking Back is a meditation on the male gaze, on reclaiming one's younger self, and on agency: how we lose it, how we find it again. This poetic memoir asks questions about older men and younger women and girls, and the persistence of that dynamic in art.

An exploration of the messy but liberating process of defining and decentring inner narratives of shame, fear and regret for one's own queer identity.Queerphobic and transphobic messaging can arrive from nearly any direction, and once queer and trans people are exposed to the fear, disgust and judgement people have for otherness, it can easily fester into internalized oppression. In a society that promotes the narrative of self-loathing queers, loving and accepting ourselves can be hard to imagine, let alone achieve. Author and activist Mx. Nillin Lore has first-hand insight into the complex inner journey of decluttering the guilt, shame and anxiety that can feed our inner discriminator, and in Carry On, they provide a guided expedition through the source material of our own erasure. A self-reflective journey and a toolset for dismantling inflammatory inner frameworks, this is a practical and encouraging guide for those ready and willing to unpack their internalized queerphobic and transphobic baggage.

An exploration of the messy but liberating process of defining and decentring inner narratives of shame, fear and regret for one's own queer identity.Queerphobic and transphobic messaging can arrive from nearly any direction, and once queer and trans people are exposed to the fear, disgust and judgement people have for otherness, it can easily fester into internalized oppression. In a society that promotes the narrative of self-loathing queers, loving and accepting ourselves can be hard to imagine, let alone achieve. Author and activist Mx. Nillin Lore has first-hand insight into the complex inner journey of decluttering the guilt, shame and anxiety that can feed our inner discriminator, and in Carry On, they provide a guided expedition through the source material of our own erasure. A self-reflective journey and a toolset for dismantling inflammatory inner frameworks, this is a practical and encouraging guide for those ready and willing to unpack their internalized queerphobic and transphobic baggage.

A reflection on the many manifestations of broken trust in nonmonogamous relationships, and how to heal from them.Nonmonogamy can assume many shapes, none of which can claim to be a "safe" model of intimacy. The jet-setting passport paramour who fits the needs of many far-flung lovers into a single carryon has as many opportunities to do right or wrong by their partners as the members of a homebound triad who prefer raising a family to raising hell on the nightlife scene.Even the most casual of connections requires trust, and where there is trust, there is the potential for betrayal. As long as there have been love stories, there has been love lost through deception, abandonment, or callous disregard of intimate bonds. Intimacy, exclusive or otherwise, can be exploratory or confined, collaborative or autonomous, but one thing it can never be is risk free.Yes, there is cheating in nonmonogamous relationships. There are other forms of betrayal, too: the cliquish injustices of in-group bullying, the violation of having personal information shared by a trusted partner, the humiliation of seeing someone who claimed to love you "trade up" for a partner with more social, sexual or plain old economic capital. Trust can be broken, and in turn break people, in a great number of ways.In Nonmonogamy and Betrayal, Eve Rickert, co-author of More Than Two, Second Edition: Cultivating Nonmonogamous Relationships with Kindness and Integrity, explores a regrettable inclination among many who practise nonmonogamy: to downplay or minimize the destructive capacity of broken trust, both to the betrayed partner and to the larger community. Nonmonogamy and Betrayal not only unravels the varieties of betrayal that can occur in nonmonogamy, but explores pathways to recognition and healing.

A practical, accessible primer on using parts work to transform shame and self-criticism to authenticity and integrity.Trauma, attachment wounds and external criticism can leave us battling a sense of shame and inadequacy that can keep us from thriving personally and in relationships. In Transforming the Shame Triangle, integrative therapist Jessica Fern and restorative justice facilitator David Cooley use a synthesis of Internal Family Systems and Narrative Process to identify the three parts that they see as the greatest barriers to achieving the life we want.The Inner Critic, Shame and the Escaper are players in an internalized drama triangle, acting as perpetrator, victim and rescuer. Together, they create the Shame Triangle, which can trap us in ineffective survival strategies that prevent us from embracing and expressing our true selves.Through practical exercises and accessible explanations, readers are guided to shift from a state of self-critique to one of self-support-transforming the Shame Triangle to a love triangle. Using parts work, Fern and Cooley open a path to healing and transformation, building a foundation of authenticity and integrity in self and connections, and ultimately creating a more fulfilling life.

An exploration of how to balance activism and relationships without burning out.Balancing a devotion to activism with personal relationships can be incredibly difficult. Kitty Stryker shares her experience as an activist, street medic and relationship educator to help others pursue the important work while maintaining healthy relationships and without burning out.In what is both a call to action and a candid memoir, Stryker is open about what she has learned and her perceived limitations. Recognizing that it can feel overwhelming to know how to effectively make change, she encourages readers to consider how they can best advocate for causes they believe in, presenting different types of activism and urging readers to honestly examine their own hesitations.She also emphasizes that without taking care of our interpersonal relationships, many people burn out of activism at the very time when we need more people on the ground, and she offers practical strategies to avoid this and to encourage healthy relationships.

Exploring nonmonogamy can require us to shift our worldview and deconstruct what we've been taught about relationship dynamics. However, it is difficult to defy paradigms while also existing within them-even as we strive to unlearn established norms, we can find ourselves unintentionally reproducing the principles of paradigms like mononormativity in our nonmonogamous relationships. In a society where monogamy is established as normal and reinforced through legal systems and cultural etiquette, this is not surprising. By examining prevalent cultural norms and values, and presenting real-life examples of mononormativity's impact, Marla Schreiber encourages readers to consider their own preconceptions and guides them towards effectively defying mononormativity and other intersecting paradigms.