The Ethical Slut Workbook: An Adventurer's Companion to Joyous, Sustainable Relationships of All Kinds

by Janet W. Hardy, Dossie Easton

Discover the possibilities of joyous, sustainable relationships with yourself and others through this thoughtful and engaging workbook from the bestselling authors of the groundbreaking The Ethical Slut.

For more than two decades, The Ethical Slut—which has sold over half of a million copies since its original publication—has dispelled myths and showed curious readers of all orientations how to maintain successful nontraditional relationships through open communication, emotional honesty, and safer sex practices.

Whether you've read The Ethical Slut or not, whether you're new or well-versed in the spectrums of gender and sexuality, this is the perfect starting point. If you’re looking to offer love and support to yourself and the people you care about, discover your ideal style of loving yourself and others, or expand your understanding of what makes a relationship work, The Ethical Slut Workbook takes you on an exploration of the wonderful world of relationships. 

Sex experts Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy walk readers through the process of understanding relationships and how they can look through exercises and writing activities (to do solo, or with a partner)  
What do you want out of your relationships? How do you picture your romantic life? Describe your sex life as it is today. What would you change, if changing were easy? So you want to open up your relationship—write down the perfect way the conversation with your partner could go. What are some issues that may arise during that conversation?  What’s a healthy relationship you’ve seen? What was your criteria for a healthy relationship? Do you feel like there may be any downsides to this kind of relationship?
In The Ethical Slut Workbook, Dossie and Janet have distilled their combined decades of knowledge into this workbook of thoughtful questions, hypothetical scenarios, and list-making prompts for anyone who wants to break free from society’s standard for relationships. This guided journal is the ultimate tool to discover the possibilities of joyous, sustainable relationships outside of traditional monogamy.

Genres: Self Help, Counselling

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 23, 2025

About the author

Also published under pseudonyms Catherine A. Liszt and Lady Green.

Reviews

[Michael]

This was my first real introduction to the concept of polyamorous relationships, and I think the book offers a healthy and thoughtful perspective on non-traditional relationships and sexual lifestyles.

However, a couple of elements did not fully work for me. First, there is quite a bit of defensive language around polyamory that I don't think was necessary. The book opens with many “imagine if the world were like this” scenarios, which made the argument feel a bit oversold at times. Second, the book also tries to cover broader relationship and emotional guidance that felt somewhat off point and superficial. Topics like managing one’s emotions or building relationship skills may be important, but they are better handled by other books.

Overall, I think the book would have been stronger if it were more succinct and focused. There are parts of the authors’ argument for choosing polyamory that I agreed with and parts I did not, but I wish they had doubled down more on the “why” behind polyamory so that their central message could land more strongly. That said, it has broaden my understanding in different relationship, and I very much appreciate that.

[Nic A]

"Discover the possibilities of joyous, sustainable relationships with yourself and others through this thoughtful and engaging workbook from the bestselling authors of the groundbreaking The Ethical Slut.

For more than two decades, The Ethical Slut—which has sold over half of a million copies since its original publication—has dispelled myths and showed curious readers of all orientations how to maintain successful non traditional relationships through open communication, emotional honesty, and safer sex practices."

[Nikole]

Highly recommend if you’re new to poluyor ethical monogamy. I will say it is a little bit of a rough start so unless you’re using this proactively, it can be a boring read, especially at the beginning. Overall, I found it really helpful on beginning my journey and making sure that I was thinking about all of the important things so I could be respectful to all of my partners.

[Reader]

Not into polyamory necessarily, but enjoy my time when I’m single and non-monogamous. This book helped me work through some of my issues surrounding jealousy. I like the themes and ideas presented that can apply to my life. Even if you’re not polyamorous, you can learn something from this book.

[Razor Wasabi]

Kind of like a brainstorm of open relationship dilemmas. Almost an endurance test.

[M N]

Mycket som kändes common sense, men det kanske beror mycket på mitt umgänge. Hur som helst är det nog bra att påminna sig själv om olika sätt man kan ha relationer, lite såhär post breakup.

[Mathilde J]

a bit gaga gougou for my liking mais tsé c'est une bonne ref

[Danae Arroyos]

Good intro manual

[Jiles]

I disagree with alot of this but it was a good read anyway. Learned alot.