Topic: Relationships. Andrew Mashiko and his primary partner, pictured, both date other people. Supplied: Andrew Mashiko. Melbourne's Andrew Mashiko works as a dating and sex coach, primarily helping men to become more successful with women.
It's something you could say Andrew needs to be particularly good at, given he has more than one girlfriend to keep happy. After marrying young "for all the wrong reasons" and feeling unable to express himself, Andrew got divorced and discovered the world of polyamory. Polyamory is defined as a non-monogamous relationship with the knowledge and consent of all partners involved.
Andrew Mashiko became poly after his marriage ended. We fool ourselves into thinking this is working for us, but for a majority of people in the world, it isn't. After first entering the world of open relationships, Andrew was at one point dating six people, but his focus gradually narrowed to two women β his current partners. He lives with his primary girlfriend who he says is "very much a left-brain person" β the opposite of his more "right-brain" lover.
There aren't a lot of stats available for polyamory in Australia, but research appearing in CSIRO Publishing found 1 per cent of 5, respondents were in an "open relationship". Anecdotally, open relationships in the LGBTI community are more common, and data from the Victorian Aids Council shows 32 per cent of gay men in Melbourne were in open relationships in Counselling psychotherapist Karen Philip says she often sees couples dealing with the fallout of such an arrangement, usually entered into after experiencing dissatisfaction in the partnership.
She says it is rare a couple can benefit from an open relationship long-term. Vanessa O'Brien, who also goes by Priestess Vanessa, identifies as a pansexual serial polyamorous woman. Supplied: Vanessa. The year-old is currently dating Mr J and Mr B, who is also poly. Vanessa is on the hunt for a woman to complete her relationship status.
