Polyamory

The romantic love that has been talked about for years and years is a concept that has dominated over time the relationships that occur between a couple. This concept makes love understood as a situation or feeling that can only be shared by a couple, which maintain close bonds with each other. However, in many countries around the world, mainly in Western countries, different ideas and movements have been emerging to explain in a different way what and how love is given between people, and have been increasing the opinions that say that affective relationships can be different, this is the case of polyamory.

Related topics

Bigamy, monogamy, polyandry, polygamy

What is polyamory?

Polyamory is a word that can be defined as a tendency, preference or habit of being able to maintain a loving relationship with more than one person at the same time and in a context in which all the people involved are aware of this situation.

Etymology

The word was invented by Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart in 1990 and since then it has become increasingly popular, emerged as an idea and as a philosophy of life in many Western countries.

Polyamory is a word that is formed by the Greek suffix “poli” which means a lot or multiple, and the word love, which speaks to us of the different emotional and erotic relationships that human beings share among themselves.

Origin

The men of ancient Egypt were free to marry as many women as they wished and many African countries today, particularly those of a predominantly Muslim faith, still practice a form of polygyny.

Types of polyamory

The way in which polyamory types are classified may vary depending on the criteria used to distinguish between categories, so we can say that the types are the following:

• Hierarchical polyamory: in this type of polyamory the original relationship is more intense, and the relationships established outside are seen as secondary. This situation means that the people who belong to the primary relationship can impose vetoes on the other, thus preventing, for example, romantic involvement with certain people. This type of polyamory is the most used in western countries.
• Poly fidelity: in this case the intimate relations are restricted to a certain group of people and have very limited limits. Outside this circle of members, sexual contact is not allowed.
• Relational anarchy, or free love: this is the least similar type to monogamous relationships. The people who practice it have no restrictions whatsoever and for this reason, they have all the freedom to choose how to relate to other people. There is no pressure to make the relationships established with others fit into a series of stereotypical norms, nor are there labels. It is very unstructured, although it requires a lot of commitment.
• Weighted networks of related relationships: in this type of relationship each person can have several relationships, to varying degrees of importance, with different people.
• Mono-polyamorous relations: it occurs when one of the members is monogamous but accepts that the other is not monogamous and maintains external relations.

Advantages of polyamory

One of its possible advantages, according to the data available through research, makes us think that it has the advantage that many of the problems experienced by couples and traditional marriages disappear in polyamory relationships.

Couples have the option of living a relationship in freedom without creating ties, so polyamory is considered to give us the benefit of avoiding possession. Enjoying free sex with other people, interposing sincerity, first and foremost, will cause many couples to solve each other’s problems.

Disadvantages

Many of the couples who practice it, despite showing a preference for the practice, may develop crises of jealousy or are afraid of being left out of the relationship. For many, sharing a social network with more than one person means that time is not enough to devote to one’s own partner or daily or shared activities. In addition, many of the problems that can affect a normal couple are also present in people who practice polyamory.

It can also lead to social disapproval and discrimination. There may be a shortage of appropriate and positive role models between partners.

Examples of polyamory

• Europe: this trend has gained a great boom in recent years and occurs in both homosexual and heterosexual people, based mainly on feelings rather than on sex. It is based on sharing different emotions and finding support from others outside the original couple.
• Mexico: in this country there is even a polyamory collective. The young people are mainly those who seek to live this experience. Despite the fact that in this country only monogamy is recognized, polyamory is widely practiced regardless of the marital status of those who use it, but they do so discreetly.