Ryan became a pop non-fiction celebrity in 2010 with “Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality” (co-authored with Cacilda Jethá, MD), a book arguing that monogamy is a learned behavior resulting from the rise of agricultural societies—not something coded into our DNA. As such he has become the Neil Degrasse Tyson of the polyamory world, lending credibility to a lifestyle based on sharing, where jealousy doesn’t play a major role. As India’s documentary subject, Ryan comes in at just the right time to help her understand her own issues with Kara and Eric.
“It never occurred to us that we may one day be asked to appear in a feature film, much less alongside Nina Hartley, India Summer, and other luminaries. If we’d had any idea, we’d have written Sex at Dawn years earlier!”