this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Polyamory. I knew a lot of people didn't understand, but the visceral disgust at the idea that a lot of people have is surprising.
Well, granted my sample size is extremely small, but I've only ever known 2 polyamorous groups of people well enough to visit their home. And in both cases, there was always 1 person who wasn't as happy as the other two and was tolerating the scenario due to pressure from the person they considered their 'significant other'.
The dynamic was: A & B would be considered spouses to each other, A wants to bring in additional person C and create a trio under the banner of "polyamory" and B consents (because they are willing to accommodate anything A wants to make A happy). So person C enters the relationship and they form a polyamorous-trio, but instead of it being a true trio, it's more like A & B still have their relationship (now burdened) and A & C have a relationship, but B & C don't engage much. This is the exact scenario I have witnessed in the only 2 households I've ever known doing it.
That's given me the impression that arrangements like that usually serve the needs of one or two people but often leave at least one party secretly unhappy. Maybe if more people actually witnessed polyamory working as it's been proclaimed, there would be higher opinions of arrangements like that. But I sure haven't seen it - my current conclusion is that it's just not within the bounds of human nature for this kind of relationship to work.
I think there's a bit of thing where the less toxic the people, the more discreet they tend to be. I certainly wouldn't let anyone who had only visited my house a handful of times know I'm poly. That's only something people I would call friends would know. I also have pretty strong boundaries around not having secondary partners who aren't specifically looking to be a secondary partner (usually because they already have a nesting partner themselves).
It's also one of those things where most of the people I interact with IRL are all cool chill and reasonable people and then I go to nearly any online space and everyone is freaking insane with really toxic dynamics.
I wouldn't say that I'm discreet, but I don't make a point of telling people about it or anything. It eventually comes up in conversation naturally as I'm getting to know people. If I talk to you about my personal life, it's gonna come up.