(Check out sex & gender terms here [link], gendered attraction terms here [link], and attraction types, aspec identities, & other orientations here [link.])
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Singlehood: A situation where a person who desires a relationship is currently unpartnered.
Non-partnering/Nonamory/Agamy/Afidelity: A situation where a person does not desire any intimate relationship ever. This could be for any reason, such as personal preference, being aspec, religious reasons, mental health reasons, etc. They may refer to themself as Nonamorous/Agamous/Afidelitous.
Monogamy: An intimate relationship that is exclusive between two people. A person who exclusively desires monogamy would refer to themself as Monogamous.
Although monogamy is often used to refer to both unmarried and married couples, some people distinguish monoamory (an unmarried couple) from monogamy (a married couple.)
Ambiamory: A relationship that can be monogamous or polyamorous. A person who is fine with either monogamy or polyamory would refer to themself as Ambiamorous.
Syndeamory describes an ambiamorous person whose preferences for polyamory or monogamy are based on their partner's preferences (ie; if their partner prefers polyamory, they will prefer that too.)
Monoflexible: A person/relationship that is usually monogamous, but on rare occasion becomes polyamorous or nonamorous.
Polyflexible: A person/relationship that is usually polyamorous, but on rare occasion becomes monogamous or nonamorous.
Fluidamory: A person/relationship that is fluid or fluctuating between multiple different amory/gamy categories (ie; fluctuating between nonamory, monogamy, & polyamory, fluctuating between multiple different forms of polyamory, etc.) A person who desires fluidamory would refer to themself as Fluidamorous.
Mutoamory is a subtype of fluidamory, where a person’s relationship orientation changes based on the scenario or circumstances (ie; a person who usually has the same relationship orientation, but becomes syndeamorous during vacations.)
Virtuamory is a subtype of mutoamory, describing a person who desires polyamory for online relationships, but is monogamous or nonamorous for offline relationships - if they were to take their online relationships offline, they would lose interest in it, or find it too difficult to maintain.
Divisuamory/Diviamory: A person who has different amory/gamy desires depending on the attraction type. For example, being monogamous towards romantic relationships, ambiamorous towards senseships, polyamorous towards QPRs, etc. A person who experiences divisuamory would refer to themself as Divisuamorous/Diviamorous.
Ethical Non-Monogamy (ENM): An umbrella term for people/relationships which include the desire for more than one consensual partnership. This includes ambiamory, some forms of monoflexibility and polyflexibility, some forms of fluidamory, some forms of divisuamory, and polyamory.
Relationship Anarchy (RA): A person who believes that relationships shouldn't be given “rules” by society (aside from rules of consent and ethical treatment), and that the only rules that matter in a relationship are the ones given by the people involved within it. Relationship anarchists support all forms of atypical relationships. Some people identify as a relationship anarchist if they wish not to further label their relationship orientation, similar to how some people use the term “queer” if they wish not to further label their attraction.
Polyamory: A person/relationship that includes/desires more than one partner. A person who desires polyamory would refer to themself as polyamorous.
Polygamy describes the marriage of more than two people, and a person who is married to multiple people may refer to themself as Polygamous.
While a relationship between two people is known as a "couple", a relationship between more than two people is known as a "polycule."
Paramour is a word to describe a polyamorous person’s partner. Metamour is a word to describe the partner of a partner. For example, Tomas is dating Miram, and Miram is dating Lora - this means Miram is Tomas’s paramour, and Lora is Tomas’s metamour.
Multiamory describes a polyamorous relationship that is a complex mix of attraction or structures. For example, a polygynous polyaffectionate octad in an egalitarian paxamorous relationship that participates in swinging. Another example would be a full triad where A & B have a senseship, B & C have a casual relationship, and C & A have a romantic & sexual relationship.
Polyamory labelled by attraction:
[PT: Polyamory labelled by attraction:]
Polyamsensual: A polyamorous senseship.
Polyerosous: A polyamorous intimaship and/or casual relationship.
Polyaffectionate/Polyplatonic: An umbrella term for people who have polyamorous passionate friendships, QPRs, and/or alterous relationship. Polyamalterous is a subset describing specifically polyamorous alterous relationships.
Polyamory labelled by gender:
[PT: Polyamory labelled by gender:]
Polygyny: A man (or mingender person) who is in a relationship with multiple women (or fingender people), and is not dating anyone of a strictly non-feminine gender.
Polyandry: A woman (or fingender person) who is in a relationship with multiple men (or mingender people), and is not dating anyone of a strictly non-masculine gender.
Polysapphic: A person (usually a fingender person) who is in a queerfeminine or genderqueer relationship with multiple people. This often describes a woman (or fingender person) who is in a relationship with multiple women (or fingender people).
Polyachillean: A person (usually a mingender person) who is in a queermasculine or genderqueer relationship with multiple people. This often describes a man (or mingender person) who is in a relationship with multiple men (or mingender people).
Polyduaric: A binary-gendered person who is in a relationship with multiple other binary-gendered people.
Polybinitian: A binary person who is in a relationship with multiple enben, and is not dating anyone of a strictly binary gender.
Polytrixic: An enban who is in a relationship with multiple queerfeminine (or otherwise genderqueer) people. This often describes an enban who is in a relationship with multiple women (or fingender people.)
Polytoric: An enban who is in a relationship with multiple queermasculine (or otherwise genderqueer) people. This often describes an enban who is in a relationship with multiple men (or mingender people.)
Polytiric/Polyordrisian: An enban who is in a relationship with multiple binary-gendered people and/or a mix of mingender & fingender people.
Polyenbian: An enban who is in a relationship with multiple enben (or genderqueer binary people).
Duogamy: A person who is dating (only) two people, each with different types of genders (ie; a person in a relationship with a man and a woman, a person who is in a relationship with a neutrois and androgyne person, etc.)
Polyamory labelled by number:
[PT: Polyamory labelled by number:]
Triad: A relationship with three members. A Full Triad is a triad where all three members are dating. A V Triad/Vee Triad is a relationship where one person is dating two people, but those two people aren’t dating each other. A T Triad/Tee Triad is a relationship where all three members are dating, however if one member were to breakup, the other two would breakup as well due to the relationship feeling incomplete.
Quad: A relationship with four members. A Full Quad is a quad where all four members are dating. A Complex Quad/Triple Triad is a relationship that is almost a full quad, however two members are not dating each other. Plus One Polyamory/Exterior Angled Polyamory is a quad where three members are all dating each other (forming a triad), however one member of the triad has an additional partner (who is not dating the other two), giving the relationship a fourth member. Arrow Polyamory is a quad where one person is dating three people, but none of those three people are dating each other. Double V Polyamory is a quad where two V triads connect. N Polyamory/Fluid Chain Polyamory is a quad where two couples are connected by one member of each couple dating each other.
Pentad: A relationship with five members.
Heptad: A relationship with six members.
Septad: A relationship with seven members.
Octad: A relationship with eight members.
Nonad: A relationship with nine members.
Decad: A relationship with ten members.
Ultrad: A relationship with more than ten members.
Polyamory labelled by partner/logistical dynamics:
[PT: Polyamory labelled by partner/logistical dynamics:]
Kitchen Table Polyamory/KTP: A structure where all of the paramours or metamours have close relationships, and frequently interact. The metaphor is that people in a KTP relationship would “all gather around a dinner table to have dinner together on a frequent basis.”
Garden Party Polyamory/GTP: A structure where the paramours or metamours interact with each other less frequently than with KTP, but are still relatively well-acquainted. The metaphor used is that people in a GTP relationship would “all meet up during special occasions (garden party, neighborhood grill party, birthday party, etc), but wouldn’t necessarily go out of their way to interact with one another aside from that.” There might be a few close relationships, but not enough to constitute a KTP.
Parallel Polyamory: A structure where the paramours do not discuss the relationships of metamours with each other, but still know of the metamours existence and baseline information (ie; age, name, pronouns, etc.) They may also be close with their partner’s metamours, but do not discuss the relationships. For example, Miram is dating Tomas, Olivia, and Lora - Tomas is friends with Olivia and Lora, however he prefers not to hear about Olivia & Lora’s romantic or sexual involvements with Miram.
Egalitarian Polyamory: A structure where all paramours and metamours have equal control over relationship decisions (finances, scheduling, etc) and equal time/effort spent together.
Hierarchical Polyamory: A structure where different paramours/metamours have different “ranks” in the relationship, and are assigned different levels of responsibility and effort. This is sorted into three tiers - primary, secondary, and tertiary. People can have one or multiple partners in each category - it just depends on the individual (ie; a person who has five primary partners, one secondary partner, and two tertiary partners.)
Primary Partner describes a partner with the highest priority. They are usually nesting partners and often have the most control of finances and decision making for the polycule.
Secondary Partner describes a partner with a lower degree of involvement than a primary partner. How low that degree is depends on whether there are also tertiary partners involved.
Tertiary Partner describes a partner with a lower degree of involvement than a secondary partner.
A Competitive Relationship is a hierarchical relationship where the ranks (primary, secondary, or tertiary) are determined based on a frequent (ie; monthly) competition. This competition is done in good fun (ie; a building competition in Minecraft, a board game, a water gun fight, etc), and there are some pre-established rules for the winners (ie; “don’t overspend our shared money.”)
Solo Polyamory/Free Relations: A polyamorous relationship where a person has intimate relationships with others, while prioritizing oneself. It may be described as “making oneself the primary partner, and all other partners are secondary or tertiary.” Solo polyamorists don’t desire a relationship-centric life; they may not wish to share homes or finances with their partners. They still tend to their partners’ emotional needs, and do not neglect them; they just live a self-focused life (which all partners are aware of before joining the relationship.) Some solo polyamorists refer to themselves as Singleish.
Equiamory/Pluriamory/Synamory/Polyfidelity/Polyexclusivity/Polyfaithful: A structure where every member of the relationship is equal (egalitarian) and are all dating each other. There are no metamours, only paramours. An equiamorous relationship might be called a Pluriad/Group Relationship.
Paxamory: A structure where a person desires for only a few partners, and for their partners to either only date each other and/or only have a select few metamours. They wish for their polycule to be small, and to close the relationship once everyone has selected their few partners. It could be egalitarian or hierarchical.
Rotationship: A polyamorous relationship where four (or more) people regularly swap out the housing locations of partners on a scheduled or semi-scheduled basis. The swap can be even or odd, depending on the number of partners. It can be done for partners who live close by, or partners who are long distance. If the partners live close by, they can still meet up for dates or hangouts; it is simply their housing that changes.
Reproamory: A polyamorous relationship where a person starts a polycule or adds a new partner to their polycule, for the purpose of reproduction. This could be due to the previously established partners having incompatible sexes for reproduction, due to infertility issues with previously established partners, etc.
Line Relationship: A polyamorous setup, where new younger partners are added into the relationship whenever the older partners age. The oldest partners may not date the youngest partners, depending on how large the age gap is (however, the line ONLY includes people who are 18+.) Line relationships typically start as a way to continue the polycule through generations.
For example, there are three partners - one is 53, one is 45, and one is 38. The 38 year old may begin dating a 30-year-old, the 30-year-old may start dating a 25-year-old, and the 25-year-old may start dating a 21-year-old. The oldest members of the group may refuse to date anyone younger than the 30-year-old, but still respect the youngest members as their metamours.
Open Relationship: A setup where people in a committed relationship (typically a couple, however there could be more than two members) decide to allow one another to date or engage intimately with people outside of their relationship. This could be done for exploratory purposes, for reproductive purposes, due to one partner having a lower libido or having different limitations in attraction, and/or due to one partner being monogamous while the other is not.
Geographical Non-Monogamy describes people who temporarily open their relationship (specifically open it to undedicated relations, such as hookups) when they are physically apart from their partners (ie; on vacation, on a work trip, etc) - once they are physically reunited, the relationship is closed again. This may be considered a form of mutoamory.
Swinging describes people who have a purely sexual open relationship, to engage in sexual social activities, sex work, or reproductive activities. Some examples of this include the following:
- A couple who goes to sex clubs and hooks up with people there.
- A quad who occasionally invites a random fifth person to hookup with them for a one night stand.
- A triad where one or multiple of the partners are sex workers, who regularly have sex with people outside of the relationship.
- Two (or more) couples who swap partners to have sex with. This may turn into a sexual rotationship, if it is done on a scheduled basis.
- A couple who invites a third person to have sex with for the purpose of reproduction, or two (or more) couples who swap partners for the purpose of reproduction. This differs from reproamory because they do not form a polycule together afterwards.
PLATOPUNK FLAG: flag for platopunk! the meanings behind the stripes exist to highlight some key areas and groups covered by and supported by the platopunk ideology, however you do not have to personally resonate with them to be platopunk as it covers a wide variety of people and experiences
Aplatonic spectrum: a stripe for anyone on the aplspec, from aplatonic to demi/greyplatonic etc, aplflux, fictoplatonic, exclusively intraplatonic or objectoplatonic etc
Lovelessness: loveless individuals, lovelessness as a whole and anattractionality, those who are loveless deserving to take up space in the world
Alloplatonics: alloplatonic people who are platopunk/challenge platonormativity and support groups affected by platonormativity, alloplatonics who can’t or struggle to make and maintain friendship and also alloplatonics who have some kind of atypical platonic experience that is subject to societal judgment (for example hyperplatonics or disabled individuals who struggle to perceive their closeness to others)
Disordered & disabled people: recognising how this affects friendships/a desire or lack thereof for friendship and how platonormativity affects these groups
Nontraditional friendship: friendship manifesting in various nontraditional and socially taboo ways
genuinely think everyone would benefit from learning about aromanticism and relationship anarchy. even straight, allosexual, alloromantics. because amatonormativity affects everyone, and learning about relationship anarchy and redefining how you think about relationships is so freeing. youcan do whatever you want 4ever.
denying trans kids hrt when they're sure of which puberty they want to go through is also an act of oppression. even if puberty blockers are available, we're not protecting kids by denying them the opportunity to go through puberty at the same time as their peers
"what if they go through physical changes that they later regret?" we allow cis kids to take that risk. in fact, most of them are never even given a choice and told they might regret it. just educate trans kids about what hrt will and won't do for them, then let them decide
ellievsbear
snowghoul
gummygunk
areudirty
germansingergirl
vaporwave
