Romantic relationships without kissing aren’t normal in American society, insofar as normal means common. Sleeping in separate beds or living apart or swinging aren’t normal. All these choices face stigma because of the power of normal, but normal and widespread matter far more in relationships than they should. Normal is often treated as a moral judgment, when it is often simply a statistical matter. The question of what everyone else is doing is less important than the question of what works for the two people in the actual relationship. It matters that everyone’s needs are carefully
...more
