The Difficult Thing About Living As A Poly Person
The fact that you forget how difficult certain aspects of life could be. For instance, I will be working on my final thesis next semester. The plan was to talk about the ethical benefits of non-monogamy and how even a monogamous person could take poly ideals and put them into their mono life. I am so excited to write about this I have been working on it already, for months. I have been gathering evidence, talking to other poly people I know, overall getting organized.
But then I had the realization. That at some point I am going to have to explain my thesis to my family. My husband and I are out to my side of the family but not to his. If they were to find out it would cause a mess of problems. In short they cannot find out, or at least not for a long time.
So really I have three solutions:
1. I write my paper and come out to our family.
2. I write my paper as well as a second paper that I could realistically show them.
3. I write on a different topic.
And IT’S ALL RIDICULOUS! We shouldn’t have to hide who we are or who we love because we aren’t doing anything wrong! This is only one thing that us poly people go through because the way we love is different than what is considered the “norm”. Why should I have to be ashamed of a topic I am so passionate about?
And it’s not just about a paper or our family. There are people who lose their housing. Lose their kids. Lose their JOBS. All because of who they love. In some states you can be arrested and/or fined for cohabitation with more than one other person. There are no civil protections against poly people whatsoever even though they should be a right. It’s just insane!
The fact that poly people do not have these types of protections and are constantly under this type of scrutiny is wrong. We as nonmono people are doing NOTHING wrong! And we should not be treated as though we are.
Sorry for the rant guys I have a lot of feelings tonight. I’d love to hear all of your thoughts.
