Polyamorous Women, Sexual Subjectivity and Power

Abstract

This article explores polyamorous women’s potential to enlarge the concept of sexual subjectivity through their engagement in nontraditional relationships and their attempts to reject sexual objectification. Polyamorous people openly engage in romantic, sexual, and/or affective relationships with multiple people simultaneously. Polyamory differs from swinging with its emphasis on long-term, emotionally intimate relationships and from adultery with its focus on honesty and (ideally) full disclosure of the network of sexual relationships to all who participate in or are affected by them. Both men and women have access to additional partners in polyamorous relationships, distinguishing them from polygamy. This ethnographic analysis expands sociological understanding of women’s sexuality by investigating this previously unexamined area of sexual subjectivity. Specifically, the author analyzes some of the ways that polyamorous women expand so-called normal social roles, discusses their sexual lives and identities, and explores novel and traditional forms of power polyamorous practice engenders for these women’s relationships.

Beyond Sexual Orientation: Integrating Gender/Sex and Diverse Sexualities via Sexual Configurations Theory

“…There are many types of multipartner sexualities that are conflated orco-implicateddespitehavingaverydifferentsetofbehaviorsand livedexperiences(e.g., Barker,2005;Ritchie&Barker,2006;Rust, 2001Rust, , 2003Sheff, 2005). This is paralleled by the many identities used in polyamory and multiple partner discourse (Ritchie & Barker, 2006).…”

“…For example, polyamory, slut, 14 and asexuality are identities that I argue are organized in part around partner number. Empirical evidence also provides important support for including partner number sexuality (Barker & Langdridge, 2010;Bogaert, 2004;Brotto et al, 2010;Carrigan, 2011;Klesse, 2006;Scherrer, 2008;Sheff, 2005). And, logical considerationsalmost necessitateits inclusionbecause a person must be interested in at least one sexual partner before their gender/sex sexuality could even be a consideration.…”

“…I detail the structure of SCT, mapping out its general organization and parameters and outlining how sexual configurations are assembled. The theory is interdisciplinary and rooted in literatures on polyamory, asexuality, intimacies, and social neuroendocrinology that are themselves interdisciplinary (e.g., Barker & Langdridge, 2010;Bogaert, 2004Bogaert, , 2006Brotto, Knudson, Inskip, Rhodes, & Erksine, 2010;Brotto & Yule, 2011;Carrigan, 2011;DeLuzio Chasin, 2011;Diamond, 2003b;Klesse, 2006;Noël, 2006;Prause & Graham, 2007;Przybylo, 2012;Scherrer, 2008;Sheff, 2005; van Anders, Goldey, & Kuo, 2011).…”

Who's in Our Clients’ Bed? A Case Illustration of Sex Therapy With a Polyamorous Couple

“…Jackson and Scott (2004) found that women would be less likely to become dependent, isolated, and detached from their communities. Polyamorous women were able to expand their family, cultural, gender, and sexual roles as they felt empowered by their greater freedom to make their own sexual choices, create new roles for themselves, and express themselves sexually (Sheff, 2005). Furthermore, nonmonogamies can be potentially liberating, cooperative and empowering alternatives to the ownership, possession, and even violence located within traditional monogamy for women (Mint, 2010).…”

The Problem with Polygamy

“…One nonmonogamous family structure that may appear more preferable is polyamorous relationships, sometimes referred to as "the postmodern polygamy" (Gher 2008, 572;Sheff 2005). "Polyamory" is a relationship of multiple men and women.…”