Category: Polyamory

World premiere of Yes, We’re Open this Sunday

A fictional film about non-monogamy will be making its debut this Sunday at the 30th San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival -- and as the Centerpiece Presentation, no less! The feature film, Yes, We're Open, was written by H.P. Mendoza and directed by Richard Wong. It was filmed in just 16 days in the San Francisco Bay Area, and acquired post-production funding with the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign.

The synopsis:

LUKE and SYLVIA think of themselves as a modern couple -- always in the know and open to new experiences. Enter ELENA and RONALD -- a provocative polyamorous couple that challenge Luke and Sylvia's status in their circle of friends and with each other. With temptation around the corner, Luke and Sylvia must figure out where they really stand on love, sex, and honesty.

The premiere will take place at the historic Castro Theatre this Sunday, March 11th. Tickets can be purchased online here, where you can also read a more detailed synopsis.

Be sure to follow the film on Facebook and Twitter for info on future screenings.

Pagan and poly interview series

PNC-Minnesota is part of the Pagan Newswire Collective, a group of Pagan journalists, newsmakers, media liaisons, and writers. They recently featured a series of interviews on their blog, profiling folks who are both Pagan and poly. PNC-Minnesota asks the interviewees about the challenges and benefits of being poly, and also posits questions about the intersection of their Pagan and poly identities. The four interviews are as follows:

In the final interview and post, interviewer Nels Linde wraps things up with this sentiment:

What is clear to me is that Pagans practicing polyamory are as diverse and adaptable as Pagans themselves. Our world has changed from one where the intact 'nuclear' family is the place where the majority of people find intimacy. People universally want to experience love, and they will go through much to have more of it. For some people polyamory is the perfect solution to getting as much love in their lives as they can. I am glad someone is learning all the skills needed to maintain that much love! We can all learn from that.

Non-monogamy in Ebony magazine

Black love was the topic of the February issue of Ebony, a popular and long-running African-American magazine. In it, Arielle Loren contributed an opinion piece entitled "Why I Won't Bow to Monogamy." Citing The Ethical Slut and Sex at Dawn, Loren argues that monogamy may not be natural, neither emotionally nor biologically.

Loren briefly profiles author and love coach Kenya K. Stevens and her husband, Carl, who have been married for 17 years and have had an open marriage for 6. They are "fearlessly honest" with each other, and their relationship style is presented as a worthwhile alternative to traditional monogamy. Loren writes,

In particular, Black America has a fierce attachment to monogamy as our religions and cultural roots shun the idea of polyamory, which is the practice of having more than one open relationship at a time.

. . . Committing to one person for a lifetime without forming any outside romantic bonds is hard work. It’s not impossible, but it’s certainly a tough aspiration, placing an abundance of pressure on the two human beings involved. Perhaps, it wouldn't hurt if we were open to another way.

Read the whole article on Ebony.

[SSEX BBOX] Magazine discusses polyamory

Issue #2 of [SSEX BBOX] Magazine is out, and it's all about relationships and polyamory! The Spring 2012 issue, entitled "It's Complicated," asks questions such as "What characteristics define particular relationship dynamics?", "Is having sex with friends OK?," and "Do our gender identities construct the type of relationship dynamics we embark on?"

[SSEX BBOX] Magazine is the physical manifestation of the [SSEX BBOX] web documentary series, which "expands consciousness by examining and challenging two dimensional, archaic and obsolete understandings of sexuality and gender."

Purchase Issue #2 online here.