Libertine Definitions

While googling the net for some blogging inspirations, I came upon a mammoth compendium of terms relating to intimate relationships of all kinds:

http://home.comcast.net/~walkswithastick/relationships.html#Introduction

So, naturally, I clicked on the “L” section to see what they had to say about libertinism, which is one of the most extensive definitions I’ve ever seen. Many of the “see also” terms at the end of the entry for libertinism were new to me and I expect I’ll be spending more time at this site looking them all up! This could take quite some time going through this site, as there appeared to be thousands of terms defined.

libertine:

A person who espouses or practices libertinism (q.v.).

Comment: The word "libertine" is often used pejoratively with a meaning roughly equivalent to "debauchee" or "voluptuary," a meaning which carries overtones of moral depravity. However, it is for some a gladly adopted label for a philosophical position and practice.
See also cooster, eleutherophilist, free agent, gslovertine.

libertinism:

1. Defiance in thought, word, or deed of the prevailing sexual mores (q.v.).

2. Sexual activity as such -- that is, without unwelcome admixtures such as the violation of another's freedom -- conducted in rejection of what others think is proper as expressed in laws, social mores, or codes of religious purity; licentious sexual behavior. The pejorative tag is "liberty without virtue," although that tag falsely implies that all people who practice libertinism in this sense lack virtue.

3. The view that sexual intercourse outside of marriage is okay.

4. The view that one is morally free to engage in sexual activity without incurring marital obligation, whether first or afterwards, with as many willing people as one wishes.

5. Polygamy (q.v.) or the approval of polygamy, as viewed from a stance that adheres to monogamy-only (q.v.).

6. The theological position that a human being who has been reborn spiritually can no longer incur guilt with the body, for instance, by engaging in sexual relations outside of monogamous marriage.

Comment: Among the Christian sects or elements thereof that have held to libertinism of one sort or another or that have been accused of doing so are the Nicolaitans (1st-2nd Century), the Borborians (2nd-5th Centuries), the Carpocratians (2nd-4th Century), the Brethren of the Free Spirit (13th Century), the Beghards and Beguines (late Middle Ages), and the Quintinists (16th Century).

Not to be confused with libertarianism (q.v.).
See also antinomianism, Casanova complex, Catherine the Great complex, Don Juanism, eleutherophilism, free love, libertine, Messalina complex, metasex, moral equivalence, new morality, pansexualism, polyeros, promiscuity, public character of sex, relationship freedom, serial philandering, sexual autonomy, sexual liberation, sexual revolution, sexual varietism, slut, spiritual husband, spiritual marriage, spiritual wife, universal permanent availability, zipless f***.

Concerning the first definition of “libertine”, I would most definitely say that identifying myself as a libertine is a “gladly adopted label for a philosophical position and practice.” And as far as the definition of “libertinism” goes, I’d say only the first four definitions apply to me, though I was aware of the religious sense of the word.

Though I've always known I was naturally non-monogamous, neither polyamorous nor swinger were totally accurate ways to define myself. When I discovered the word "libertine", however, this category fit. I'm supposing that if I were religious that the religious sense of libertinism might fit, too.