Polyamory

This was written in the 50's or something wasn't it? Pretty revolutionary concept for the times. To us today, this polyamorous thing is old hat.What with the whole hippie explosion and all. I imagine when this book came out, it probably blew peoples minds.

And, perhaps you're right, perhaps it was a childish rambling on an orgiastic lifestyle. Remember the faults of the love culture had not appeared yet. Hell, the love culture had not appeared yet for that matter.

Like I said, I tended to push those things aside. And latched onto relevant concepts in the book. I liked the Thou art god thing. But, it was a touch on the childish side. Pulp fiction and all that.
 
Polyamory seems rather insane to me. Really--in all my life I've only ever gotten along truly well with one girlfriend, and she turned out to be a lesbian.

Aside from that, it's one of the reasons I don't "date," either. Out of the frying pan and into another. I can't imagine trying to juggle two or more.

The idea that people can spend their most intimate attributes elsewhere and maintain a relationship so similar to one in which those attributes are invested solely in one another is ill-conceived at best. At that point, skip the harem, skip the pretense, and just go buy hookers by the dozen. It will cost you about the same.

I will leave the women's counterpoint for someone else to write.
 
It was actualy published in 1961, but you are right, too early to see how the whole free loving hippy optimisim would collapse back in on itself.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...ding=UTF8&no=283155&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&st=books

Hey, look at the amazon.com editorial review! They sight the same quote that I did in my review in my earlier post. Wow. I guess I'm not the only one who sort of had the book derailed for them after that point. It was sort of vindicating to read it, you know? The whole book I'm thinking "This is awful; these characters are nothing but cardboard cutouts that Heinlein can stand behind and shout his own stupid ideology from behind. Then that quote about it being the woman's fault when she gets raped, and I am able to feel totally confident that I don’t like Heinlein or his book!
 
fireguy, the "crap" I was referring to was notions such as "fornication is wrong", "that to have intimate relationships with more than one person at a time is to defy God/the Gods, Nature, evolution or whatever". I wasn't implying that two people devoting their lives to each other (i.e. marriage) is crap - heck I might even end up marrying myself, but at the moment I'm just questioning (Christ there's a pathetic retreat if there ever was one). I could elaborate, but I'm too tired at the moment .. sorry. (and ok, "objectively analyse" mightn't have been the right term to use).

invert nexus, I had heard of such cultures before but never got the details - I suspected they were fables to be honest. Interesting to hear that they actually exist. And I'm glad someone has mentioned what (as far as I know) comprised a large portion of the "missionary influence" - i.e. the imposition of these so-called "natural" moral restraints.

I'll look up the books mentioned if I get a chance.
 
Heh, I just remembered this dude that I saw on Inside Edition or some crap years back. Don't remember his name. He was some big fat sloppy looking greasy dude down in Australia that had like 15 wives or something. They lived down on the beach in tents and he had 50 kids or more. They were all livin' on welfare and the first interview I saw about them, he acted like the cat who caught the canary, if you get me. Then, a few years later, I saw another thing about the guy. Turns out that all his wives (common law) divorced him and he owes his soul in child support and alimony. :p Heh heh. Funny funny stuff.

He must have been married to some of them for a large number of years. Some of his kids were almost adults. Some of his daughters were little foxes. Rowr.


Edit: Yama,

The article on the Bari was in Discover Magazine, Vol. 24, No. 04, April 2003. This was also my source for the bit on the Na of Hunnan. There was only a brief paragraph on the NA.

The Na of Yunnan Province in China, for example, have a female-centric society in which husbands are not part of the picture. Women grow up and continue to live with their mothers, sisters, and brothers; they never marry or move away from the family compound. As a result, sisters and brothers rather than married pairs are the economic unit that farms and fishes together. Male lovers in the this system are simply visitors. They have no place or power in the household, and children are brought up by their mothers and by the mothers' brothers. A father is identified only if their is a resemblance between him and the child, and even so, the father has no responsibilities toward the child. Often women have sex with so many partners that the biological father is unknown. "I have not found any term that would cover the notion of father in the Na language," writes Chenese anthropologist Cai Hua in his book A Society Without Fathers or Husbands: The Na of China. In this case, women have complete control over their children, property, and sexuality.
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Discover Magazine has online articles, but you have to subscribe to read them. But, I'll give the link anyway. http://www.discover.com/issues/apr-03/features/featfather/
 
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also my two cents,
When you talk of polyamor most persons understand this as mainly in the sexual arena.

The biggest pronblem is that love relationships tak etime and nurturing to be o fthe quality that they may deserve. there is simply not enopugh time in the day to love more than one with the same quality. So to spread your love ( not your fluids) is not that easy and yet maintaian integrity and quality.

My parents many years ago were in to the swinging scene for a litte while and the result after this phase was My fathers comment " I can only love one woman at a time" his reason " It's just too hard to love more than one" and " as one woman is enough work with out having more than one to worry about"

However this does not preclude open sexual relationships as long as your able to make the distinction between sex and love ( which many persons can't seem to do)
 
Heinlein & Polyamory

Couple things for you Spymoose, one please read Heinlein's book "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" This book is far more accurate to Polyamory than Stranger. I believe the Lady's will like this one more too, as the women on the Moon control the relationships, not the men.

And please note, while you see Stranger as an adolescent fantasy it really is a religious satire, just as Moon is a political satire. The point of Stranger is not the sex, or the relationships, but how "we" as a people allow religion to take control of our lives and our reactions to people/events. Please rethink about the book from this direction.
Oh, and Heinlein wrote Stranger when he was in his forties, not as a teenager, for his younger views, read "We the Living" written when he was twentyish but only published a few years ago.


SpyMoose said:
You know, someone once told me that Robert Heinlein wrote a book called "Stranger in a Strange Land" about this sort of thing. I read it, and now I wish I could find who recommended it to me and shove the book down his stupid throat. I think polyamory can work, but Heinlein’s book is just an adolescent fantasy about living in a giant orgy. A lot of people once even thought he was an authority on this whole free love lifestyle because of this book! I really don't think it can work in our culture, we have too many preconceptions about who we are supposed to love and how. Probably the number of people who could pull it off without running afoul of all sorts of emotional baggage is minimal... and of course there are always the lechers who would get into those sorts of arrangements and give the whole thing a bad reputation.
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Zombie-Sex-e1286840698198.jpg


Do note, this thread was last active in '04...

Polyamory seems like it would be fun, but you'd need to have a really secure partner and a really secure relationship for it to work out well, I've only known of a few for whom it did work. It can break a relationship that's not as solid as you think.

I personally am not willing to roll that set of dice. Much as I would not mind being able to have more sex.

Oh yeah: Welcome to here.:cool:
 
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Orleander said:
Doesn't Tilda Swinton have a polyamerous relationship with her husband and boyfriend?
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No. She's debunked that time and time again along with rumors of her being a lesbian.

I can't believe this place is so dead that we have to resurrect threads from 2004. Oh well.
 
Mrs.Lucysnow said:
No. She's debunked that time and time again along with rumors of her being a lesbian.

I can't believe this place is so dead that we have to resurrect threads from 2004. Oh well.
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Very quiet on the forums front elsewhere as well.

I rather suspect it has something to do with the Labor Day weekend activities and school going back in. It's also the season of garden harvesting and putting food by (yes, some people still do that...:)).

From past experience, I have observed the forums get more active as the weather gets colder, in the Northern Hemisphere anyway.
 
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