Fugir à mono-normatividade

Call for contributions

Understanding Non-Monogamies Edited by: Dr. Meg Barker & Dr. Darren Langdridge

Contact:Dr. Meg Barker, Psychology Department, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences,London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AA. Email: barkermj@lsbu.ac.uk

Dr. Darren Langdridge, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University,Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA. Email: d.langdridge@open.ac.uk

Most psychological and social scientific work on intimate relationships hasassumed a monogamous structure, or has considered anything other thanmonogamy in the context of 'infidelity'. Openly non-monogamous patterns of relating have been largely excluded from research and theory (Barker, 2007).

Pieper and Bauer (2005) termed this exclusion 'mono-normativity', and suchprivileging of the monogamous couple can be seen as part of wider heteronormative discourses which explicitly or implicitly present the'opposite-sex' dyad as the 'natural', 'normal' or 'ideal' way of being.There is little recognition of the growing numbers of 'opposite-sex' couples who are involved in swinging, polyamory, or some other form of opennon-monogamy (e.g. McDonald, 2007), or of the significant numbers of thosein gay, bisexual, and to some extent, lesbian communities, who are involved in openly non-monogamous relationships (e.g. Adam, 2006; Klesse, 2005; Musen& Stelboum, 1999). Calls for various forms of relationship recognition forsame-sex couples have been seen, by some, as part of a continued marginalisation of those who practice their relationship in less'traditional' ways, with Michael Warner, and others, arguing that suchdrives towards normalisation reify dominant and 'damaging hierarchies ofrespectability' (1999, p.74).

In recent years there has been a growing interest in exploring variouspatterns of intimacy which involve open non-monogamy (e.g. Adam, 2004;Barker, 2004; Jackson & Scott, 2004). This has culminated recently in an international conference on mono-normativity (Pieper & Bauer, 2005) and aspecial issue of the international journal Sexualities on polyamory: 'a formof relationship where it is possible, valid and worthwhile to maintain (usually long-term) intimate and sexual relationships with multiple partnerssimultaneously' (Haritaworn, Lin & Klesse, 2006, p.515). Research on thetopic has captured public attention with a flood of newspaper coverage in 2005 following the presentation of Ritchie & Barker's research on thelanguage of polyamory (see Ritchie & Barker, 2006). Open non-monogamy couldbe seen as a burgeoning 'sexual story', with over a million google hits for the topic of polyamory alone, and a growing number of 'self-help' stylebooks on the topic (e.g. Anapol, 1997; Easton & Liszt, 1997; Taormino,forthcoming 2007).

The proposed book seeks to provide further discussion and debate about open non-monogamous relationships. We are keen to invite empirical andtheoretical pieces considering the various non-monogamous patterns inexistence today. We welcome empirical and theoretical work concerned withthe history and cultural basis of various forms of non-monogamy, experiencesof non-monogamous living, psychological understandings of relationshippatterns, language and emotion, and the discursive construction ofmono-normativity. We are keen to invite submissions that address issues ofrace, class and disability, as well as sexuality and gender. We also wish toinclude political and activist writing, as well as pieces from community representatives. We are not seeking work that pathologises open non-monogamyor focuses on 'infidelity'. Nor are we looking for anthropological studieson polygamy and polyandry.

We hope to include contributions from academics and activists from as wide a range of countries as possible, especially those traditionallyunder-represented in academic and activist writing in the English language.

Prospective authors are invited to contact the editors at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss potential submissions. The closing date forchapter abstracts is 31st August 2007 and (provisionally) for completedchapters 31st March 2008 (electronic submission preferred).