Most social scientific work on intimate relationships has assumed a monogamous structure, or has considered anything other than monogamy only in the context of 'infidelity'. Yet, in recent years there has been a growing interest among researchers and the public in exploring various patterns of intimacy that involve open non-monogamy. This volume gathers contributions from academics, activists, and practitioners throughout the world to explore non-monogamous relationships. Featuring both empirical and theoretical pieces, contributors examine the history and cultural basis of various forms of non-monogamy, experiences of non-monogamous living, psychological understandings of relationship patterns, language and emotion, the discursive construction of mono-normativity as well as issues of race, class, disability, sexuality and gender. This volume will be of interest to academics and practitioners working in the social sciences and anyone who is seeking greater insight into the intricacies of non-monogamous relationships.

Contents

Section 1: Situating Non-monogamies 1. Introduction Meg Barker and Darren Langdridge 2. Deconstructing Monogamy: Boundaries, Identities, and Fluidities across Relationships Katherine Frank and John DeLamater Section 2: Representing Non-monogamies 3. Non-monogamy and Fiction Esther Saxey 4. ‘Science Says She’s Gotta Have it’: Reading for Racial Resonances in Woman-Centered Poly Literature Angela Willey 5. Discursive Constructions of Polyamory in Mono-normative Media Culture Ani Ritchie Section 3: Distinguishing Non-monogamies 6. Relationship Innovation in Male Couples Barry D. Adam 7. Swinging: Pushing the Boundaries of Monogamy? Dee McDonald 8. There Were Three in the Bed: Discursive Desire and the Sex Lives of Swingers Shalanda Phillips 9. Geeks, Goddesses, and Green Eggs: Political Mobilization and the Cultural Locus of the Polyamorous Community in the San Francisco Bay Area Hadar Aviram 10. Social Sex: Young Womarly Sexual Relationships Maya Lavie-Ajayi, Colette D.R. Jones and Lucy Russell Section 4: Intersecting Non-monogamies 11. Paradoxes in Gender Relations: [Post] Feminism and Bisexual Polyamory Christian Klesse 12. Trans and Non-Monogamies Christina Richards 13. ‘Many Partners, Many Friends’: Gay and Bisexual Mormon Men’s Views of Non-Monogamous Relationships José Miguel Montenegro 14. Non-Monogamy in Queer BDSM Communities: Putting the Sex back into Alternative Relationship Practices and Discourse Robin Bauer 15. Asexual Relationships: What Does Asexuality Have to Do with Polyamory? Kristin S. Scherrer 16. Disability And Polyamory: Exploring the Edges of Inter-Dependence, Gender and Queer Issues in Non-Monogamous Relationships Alessandra (Alex) Iantaffi Section 5: Extending Non-monogamies 17. Strategies in Polyamorous Parenting Elisabeth Sheff 18. ‘To Pass, Border or Pollute’: Polyfamilies Go to School Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli 19. Developing a &l...