Polyamory in the News
. . . by Alan M.



August 31, 2016

Says RT, "Right to 'free love': Activists fight for polyamory to be recognized as sexual orientation"


Here's a paste-up article of poly news bits that's interesting only for where it appeared: on the website of RT, a public-relations television project of the Russian government. RT and its news agency Ruptly try to be all over the internet making Russia look cool and with-it, while pushing Russia's version of world events and, at times, reportedly planting disruptive disinformation.

Needless to say (I hope), Russia under Vladimir Putin has become a horrible country for anything LGBT, queer, or having to do with freedom or liberalism in general.


Right to 'free love': Activists fight for polyamory to be recognized as sexual orientation

Wikimedia

The ever-growing acronym of LGBTQI might be adding a ‘P’ if polyamorous rights activists get their way and become officially recognized as a sexual orientation.

The term, which means ‘true love’ in Latin and has been described as “consensual non-monogamy,” describes those who have more than one sexual partner, but only if all those involved are aware and supportive.

The model of nuclear relationships involving cisgender men and women having a few children and settling down for life faces competition from the emergence of other orientations into the mainstream, prompting discrimination, intimidation, and violence from those threatened by the redefinition of what’s considered to be “normal.”

The polyamory community has experienced some of that backlash and, as a result, certain activists want to receive the protections offered to their gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer counterparts.

Speaking to Vice, polyamorist Melissa Marie Legge said she always knew she was different.

“Consensual non-monogamy gives me the freedom to involve people in my life on my own terms and to negotiate relationships individually and contextually without having to follow a social script,” she said. “It’s something that I value highly and that I would say is a big part of my sexual identity overall.”...

...Not all members of the LGBTQI community are comfortable with polyamory activists campaigning under their banner.

Some believe it would open the door to other kinds of sexual activities such as cosplayers or foot fetishists.

...Polyamory has not been extensively studied, but the Canadian Research Institute of Law and the Family released a study this month on the country’s perception of polyamory and dynamics of such relationships.

“The growing popularity of polyamory suggests that the meaning of ‘family’ continues to evolve in Canada,” the report says. “The traditional model of the Western nuclear family, consisting of married heterosexual parents and their legitimate offspring, has undergone enormous change in the last 200 hundred years - attaching family status to unmarried partnerships and legalizing same-sex marriage are only the most recent changes. Perhaps expectations as to exclusivity and the dyadic nature of committed relationships are next.”


The whole article (August 31, 2016).

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anton said...

It seems that the main message of this RT article is: "look on this perverts and be shocked". I think that queer-positive people don't tend to see RT (or Russian TV at all). Personally I living in Russia have no TV at home more than 10 years. And most of my friends don't have TV and don't see TV.
Yes, we have less freedom here every year. But while we can't have legal organizations, there are some alive grassroots movements. Feminists, LGBT, a small portion of poly. We have no support of out ideas from most "liberal" political parties, but we are exists. In other side we still have no laws prohibiting infidelity or cohabittion.
Last year there is a huge growth of mentioning of polyamory in Russian media. Most of them are less o more illiterate retelling from Western media, but not all. (Some examples: One, two, three)
And there is a fear of polyamory in conservative circles. Last year there was an article about polyamory on Saint-Peterburg's government site with Vitaly Milonov comments (Polyamorists and freelovers trys to get into comfort families of SPB). I've see how hundreds of people have read Franklin Veaux articles translations after reading that article ant think that it is a positive outcome ;-)

September 01, 2016 2:53 AM  
Anonymous Anton said...

A small addition:
I've read comments on article on SPB government site.
There are only 2 and both are poly-positive.
The last is: "If Milonov against it, than this is something good". ;-)

September 01, 2016 3:02 AM  

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