Every person I’ve ever met who participated in an “open relationship” became the target of profound jealousy, or became jealous themselves.
I think it sounds appealing; 🌈my partner and I love each other but our hearts are too big to only enjoy one person’s company🌈 then their partner sleeps with someone else and they get all shitty and bitter.
My experience has always been “Are you sure your partner is ok with this?” --> “Yes definitely” --> The partner becomes a shitty rage machine. I had a guy corner me at dinner with my friends and yell in public because he was so jealous. He agreed to the open relationship. He was a hypocrite. All three of us suffered because he couldn’t handle it. He should not have been in an open relationship.
That was the worst one but I think it applies to most people. It’s a pipe dream that they don’t have the emotional maturity to actualize.
Your last sentence is the way I have seen this play out most of the time. Man is restless, wants variety. Says “let’s try open” Cannot find a date but wife has multiple choices of dates. Husband gets mad because wife is living the life he wanted and even if it makes her more into her husband, he doesn’t see that benefit, it’s not what he was after.