Context: I am a strong poly advocate and have given talks and written articles about polyamory.
Poly is about having the kind of relationship that suits the participants of those relationships.
Relationships are arbitrary constructs by definition. There’s a lot of default societal patterns that it’s possible to follow if one were to choose monogamous romance. With polyamory it’s a bit harder to make default choices and people end up having to talk and make up their own minds about what they want and what they have to offer.
If Alice only wants to ever get icecream and bob believes in not touching each other, there’s a happy place in the middle where they can form a relationship.
Some arbitrary opinions could describe this relationship as a friendship but it really depends on the subjective opinions of the participants. And potentially what they do/want/more arbitrary measures. Because these constructs are arbitrary, it’s hard to concretely advise on what poly is or is not.
Generally it might include:
sexual freedom and also non-sexual relationships, and also kink based relationships.
emotional freedom to form attachments to multiple people.
the intention to not place expectations on one another (relationship escalator style)
intentions for high communication about all things.
the opportunity to arrange unusual habitation agreements. (I. E. Not living with one’s wife)
inclusivity around gender fluid and sexuality fluidity.
nerds and lots of nerddom
compersion
life and relationships on hard-mode. With more to do and more to be done and never enough time.
Context: I am a strong poly advocate and have given talks and written articles about polyamory.
Poly is about having the kind of relationship that suits the participants of those relationships.
Relationships are arbitrary constructs by definition. There’s a lot of default societal patterns that it’s possible to follow if one were to choose monogamous romance. With polyamory it’s a bit harder to make default choices and people end up having to talk and make up their own minds about what they want and what they have to offer.
If Alice only wants to ever get icecream and bob believes in not touching each other, there’s a happy place in the middle where they can form a relationship.
Some arbitrary opinions could describe this relationship as a friendship but it really depends on the subjective opinions of the participants. And potentially what they do/want/more arbitrary measures. Because these constructs are arbitrary, it’s hard to concretely advise on what poly is or is not.
Generally it might include:
sexual freedom and also non-sexual relationships, and also kink based relationships.
emotional freedom to form attachments to multiple people.
the intention to not place expectations on one another (relationship escalator style)
intentions for high communication about all things.
the opportunity to arrange unusual habitation agreements. (I. E. Not living with one’s wife)
inclusivity around gender fluid and sexuality fluidity.
nerds and lots of nerddom
compersion
life and relationships on hard-mode. With more to do and more to be done and never enough time.
Hope this helps.