ABSTRACT
It is hard not to be interested in sex and intimacy, but it is almost impossible if one has a serious interest in communal living. Along with economic issues, sex and other aspects of intimate interpersonal relations are major causes of membership turnover and communal failure. At The Ranch, the relationship of nuclear couples is structurally fragile. Unlike the commune couples studied by Dennis Jaffe, couples at The Ranch are neither legally married, nor affluent, nor regularly employed outside of the commune. Early in the history of The Ranch, almost all of its members were coupled, and with perhaps one exception, this was largely by mutual choice. This chapter discusses the process of coupling, uncoupling, and re-coupling that occurs, it is likely that over a period of years most of the adult members will have had sexual relations with some or many of the other adult members.
