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SUMMARY:Rewriting the Rules? Non-monogamies and other adventures in non-no
 rmative relationships - Dr. Meg Barker\, Open University
DTSTART:20111007T120000Z
DTEND:20111007T130000Z
UID:TALK33050@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Carissa Sharp
DESCRIPTION:Societal shifts\, particularly the increased recognition of sa
 me-sex relationships and moves towards gender equality\, have greatly alte
 red the ways in which people understand and experience their intimate rela
 tionships. Whilst best-selling self-help books continue to preach models o
 f monogamy\, and generally ‘opposite-sex’ relationships\, many people 
 are exploring alternative ways of relating. Distinctions between sexual an
 d emotional closeness and questions over where lines of exclusivity should
  be drawn have become of key significance\, with debates played out daily 
 in the mass media and the relationship-therapy room. Openly non-monogamous
  forms of relationship have been hailed\, by some\, as potentially feminis
 t\, socialist and/or queer ways of relating. However\, others have argued 
 that such relationships are apolitical\, reproducing and reinforcing vario
 us axes of oppression rather than challenging them.\nMy research1 focuses 
 on how non-monogamous people present and manage their relationships. An in
 itial survey of members of a large on-line polyamorous community revealed 
 a multiplicity of meanings and stories. Particularly there were tensions o
 ver whether polyamory was positioned within or separate to monogamy and wh
 ether it was supported by discourses of ‘naturalness’ or ‘choice’.
  Comparisons of polyamory to swinging and gay non-monogamy reveal hierarch
 ies of love and sex being constructed and drawn upon to justify and suppor
 t different relationship forms. Examination of polyamorous literature and 
 on-line discussions demonstrates that the ‘mononormative’ language of 
 relationship identities\, forms and emotions both constrains\, and is resi
 sted by\, non-monogamous people. In-depth research has examined how non-mo
 nogamous structures link with other experiments in power dynamics (SM) and
  gendered dynamics.\nRecently my research has come up against the limitati
 ons of what can be revealed about experiences in relationships by analysin
 g verbal data from questionnaires\, interviews and discussions. This paper
  will also present newer avenues employing visual methodologies and the an
 alysis of online comics and cartoons to get at the lived experience of dif
 ferent relationships\, and innovative ways in which normative relational a
 nd sexual scripts are challenged and resisted. The paper will also draw on
  the wider body of quantitative and qualitative psychological research on 
 openly non-monogamous relationships recently collected together by the aut
 hor for her edited book Understanding Non-monogamies (Routledge\, 2010).\n
LOCATION:PPSIS Seminar Room (Free School Lane)
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