The blog Modern Poly recently wrapped up a truly interesting and insightful series they called "Poly And." It is a really wonderful, in-depth look at the ways in which a person's poly identity intersects with their other identities -- gender, race, religion, and political views.
In their Call for Submissions post, the folks at Modern Poly explained why they launched the series. Amidst all the media coverage about Showtime's Polyamory: Married and Dating reality series and the three-person relationship in the blockbuster movie Savages, the poly community was critical of the lack of diversity in the high-profile representations.
One of the biggest complaints so far from the polyamorous audience, tho, isn't that the portrayals are negative or false (which is a great first!)... it's that the relationships aren't really representative of us, because they're not diverse. They're white. They're pretty decently well-off financially. They're mostly straight. They're cisgendered, and for the most part, present in traditional gender roles. While what we're hearing form our fans is definite excitement that we have some positive portrayals in pretty high visibility right now, we're also hearing a lot of growing concern that people who have never been exposed to non-monogamy before will see it as something only the rich or privileged can have or do, and that's something we *are.*
But that's simply not true. And in the month of August, we will be incredibly busy proving it.
And that they did! Here are all the posts from the "Poly And" series!
Poly and Gender
Poly and Race
Poly and Religion
Poly and Politics
Tristan,
Thank you for bringing attention to article series highlighting the diversity of the polyamory community.
We are in the process of bringing our next diversity / visibility project to fruition: What Polyamory Looks Like (www.whatpolyamorylookslike.com). Right now we’re starting with asking participants to share some info about themselves and what polyamory means to them, and to share a picture of themselves if they feel comfortable. With time and interest we hope to allow our participants to answer questions about polyamory (in their own words) and share photos and videos about themselves.
Again, thank you for all you do!
– Jess, the tech gal @ Modern Poly