Polyamory#Compersion

{{Main|Terminology within polyamory}}

The word polyamorous first appeared in an article by Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, "A Bouquet of Lovers", published in May 1990 in Green Egg Magazine, as "poly-amorous".{{cite web|url=http://polyinthemedia.blogspot.co.uk/2007/01/polyamory-enters-oxford-english.html|title="Polyamory" enters the Oxford English Dictionary, and tracking the word's origins|date=6 January 2007|work=Polyamory in the News!|author=Alan|access-date=27 Jan 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131204258/http://polyinthemedia.blogspot.co.uk/2007/01/polyamory-enters-oxford-english.html|archive-date=January 31, 2016|url-status=live}} In May 1992, Jennifer L. Wesp created the Usenet newsgroup alt.polyamory, and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) cites the proposal to create that group as the first verified appearance of the word. In 1999, Zell-Ravenheart was asked by the editor of the OED to provide a definition of the term, and she provided it for the UK version as "the practice, state or ability of having more than one sexual loving relationship at the same time, with the full knowledge and consent of all partners involved."{{cite web|author=The Ravenhearts |title=Frequently Asked Questions re: Polyamory |url=http://www.mithrilstar.org/Polyamory-FAQ-Ravenhearts.htm|access-date=July 6, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324124641/http://www.mithrilstar.org/Polyamory-FAQ-Ravenhearts.htm |archive-date=March 24, 2010 }} The words polyamory, polyamorous, and polyamorist were added to the OED in 2006.{{cite web|url=http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/previous-updates/september-2006-update/|title=September 2006 update|date=14 September 2006|work=The OED today|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=January 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228141710/http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/previous-updates/september-2006-update/|archive-date=December 28, 2015|url-status=live}}

Some reference works define polyamory as a relational form (whether interpersonal or romantic or sexual) that involves multiple people with the consent of all the people involved, like Oxford Living Dictionaries, Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Thesaurus, and Dictionary.com.{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/polyamory |title=Definition of polyamory in US English |work=Oxford Living Dictionaries |author= |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=29 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130013807/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/polyamory |archive-date=January 30, 2018 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/polyamory |title=Definition of polyamory in English |work=Oxford Living Dictionaries |author= |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=29 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130013728/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/polyamory |archive-date=January 30, 2018 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/polyamory |title=Definition of "polyamory" – English Dictionary |work=Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus |author= |publisher=Cambridge University Press |access-date=29 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130091245/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/polyamory |archive-date=January 30, 2018 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/polyamory?s=t |title=Polyamory -- Definition of Polyamory at Dictionary.com |author= |date=2020 |website=Dictionary.com |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111235336/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/polyamory |archive-date=November 11, 2020 |url-status=live}} Some criticized the Merriam-Webster definition of polyamory, which defines the term as "the state or practice of having more than one open romantic relationship at a time,"{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polyamory |title=Polyamory--Definition of Polyamory by Merriam-Webster |author= |date=2020 |website=Merriam-Webster |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803164124/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polyamory |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |url-status=live}} as missing a "vital component": consent.{{cite web |url=https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/sex-and-love/what-polyamorous-relationship-actually-is |title=Here's What a Polyamorous Relationship Actually Is—and What It Isn't |last=Kassel |first=Gabrielle |date=July 24, 2019 |website=Shape magazine |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606131415/https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/sex-and-love/what-polyamorous-relationship-actually-is |archive-date=June 6, 2020 |url-status=live}}

The word polyamory combines the Greek word for "many" (poly) and the Latin word for "love" (amor).{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200097-1|chapter=Polyamory (Polygamy and Polyandry)|first=Georgios A.|last=Orfanidis|title=Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion|editor-first=David A.|editor-last=Leeming|date=December 27, 2019|publisher=Springer|pages=1–4|via=Springer Link|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200097-1|isbn=978-3-642-27771-9|s2cid=239527267|access-date=December 27, 2020|archive-date=March 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310100820/https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-642-27771-9_200097-1|url-status=live}} Polyamory is not generally included in the LGBT umbrella because it is not a sexuality or a gender identity.{{Cite web |date=2018-07-06 |title=Why isn't polyamory included in LGBTQ? |url=https://www.askpolyamory.com/home/2018/7/6/why-isnt-polyamory-included-in-lgbtq |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=Polyamory Advice |language=en-US}}

{{See also|Polyamory in the United States}}

File:Pride in London 2016 - Polyamorous people in the parade.png in front of them at Pride in London 2016]]

Consensual non-monogamy, which polyamory falls under,{{cite web |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201807/what-is-the-difference-between-polyamory-and-polygamy |title=What Is the Difference Between Polyamory and Polygamy? |last=Sheff |first=Elisabeth A. |date=July 26, 2018 |website=Psychology Today |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201225020408/https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201807/what-is-the-difference-between-polyamory-and-polygamy |archive-date=December 25, 2020 |url-status=live }} can take many different forms, depending on the needs and preferences of the individual(s) involved in any specific relationship(s). As of 2019, over one-fifth of single Americans have, at some point in their lives, engaged in some sort of consensual non-monogamy.{{Cite journal|last1=Haupert|first1=M. L.|last2=Gesselman|first2=Amanda N.|last3=Moors|first3=Amy C.|last4=Fisher|first4=Helen E.|last5=Garcia|first5=Justin R.|s2cid=6855648|date=2017-07-04|title=Prevalence of Experiences With Consensual Nonmonogamous Relationships: Findings From Two National Samples of Single Americans|journal=Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy|volume=43|issue=5|pages=424–440|doi=10.1080/0092623X.2016.1178675|issn=0092-623X|pmid=27096488}}

Separate from polyamory as a philosophical basis for relationships are the practical ways in which people who live polyamorously arrange their lives and handle specific issues compared to those of a more conventional monogamous arrangement. People of different sexual orientations are a part of the community and form networks of relationships with the consent and agreement of their partners.{{Cite book|title=Introducing the New Sexuality Studies|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|editor-last=Ficher|editor-first=Nancy|edition=third|location=New York, NY|page=326|chapter=Contesting the Culture of Monogamy|editor-last2=Seidman|editor-first2=Steven}}{{cite journal|last1=Weitzman|first1=Geri|title=Therapy with Clients Who Are Bisexual and Polyamorous|journal=Journal of Bisexuality|date=2006|volume=6|issue=1–2|pages=137–164|doi=10.1300/J159v06n01_08|s2cid=143967318|url=http://www.numenor.org/~gdw/psychologist/bipolycounseling.html|access-date=December 4, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318053259/http://www.numenor.org/~gdw/psychologist/bipolycounseling.html|archive-date=March 18, 2015|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |last1=Strassberg |first1=Maura I. |url=https://culsnet.law.capital.edu/LawReview/BackIssues/31-3/Strassberg14.pdf |title=The Challenge Of Post-Modern Polygamy: Considering Polyamory |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060524030716/https://culsnet.law.capital.edu/LawReview/BackIssues/31-3/Strassberg14.pdf |archive-date=May 24, 2006}} Many things differentiate polyamory from other types of non-monogamous relationships. It is common for swinging and open couples to maintain emotional monogamy while engaging in extra-dyadic sexual relations.{{sfn |Barker |Langdridge |2012 |loc=Swinging: Pushing the Boundaries of Monogamy?|p=71}}

The friend or partner boundary in monogamous relationships and other forms of non-monogamy is typically fairly clear. Unlike other forms of non-monogamy, though, "polyamory is notable for privileging emotional intimacy with others." Benefits of a polyamorous relationship might include:{{cite web |website=PolyamoryOnline |url=http://www.polyamoryonline.org/articles/polyamoury_101.html |title=Polyamory 101 |access-date=April 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928045712/http://www.polyamoryonline.org/articles/polyamoury_101.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |url-status=live |date=2007 }} the ability of individuals to discuss issues with multiple partners, potentially mediating and thus stabilizing a relationship, and reducing polarization of viewpoints, and emotional support and structure from other committed adults within the familial unit. Other benefits include a wider range of adult experience, skills, resources, and perspective and support for companionate marriages, which can be satisfying even if no longer sexually vital since romantic needs are met elsewhere. This acts to preserve existing relationships.{{cite web|title = The Chicago School of Professional Psychology|url = http://ego.thechicagoschool.edu/s/843/images/editor_documents/What%2520therapists%2520should%2520know%2520about%2520Polyamory.pdf|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130919142325/http://ego.thechicagoschool.edu/s/843/images/editor_documents/What%20therapists%20should%20know%20about%20Polyamory.pdf|url-status = dead|archive-date = September 19, 2013|website = ego.thechicagoschool.edu|access-date = August 30, 2015}}

The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction estimated that there were half a million "openly polyamorous families" in the United States in July 2009.{{cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/polyamory-next-sexual-revolution-82053 |title=Polyamory: The Next Sexual Revolution? |last=Bennett |first=Jessica |date=July 29, 2009 |website=Newsweek |access-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104142851/https://www.newsweek.com/polyamory-next-sexual-revolution-82053 |archive-date=November 4, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125591-800-love-unlimited-the-polyamorists/ |title=Love Unlimited: The Polyamorists |author=Newitz, Annalee |date=July 7, 2006 |website=New Scientist |access-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109025921/https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19125591-800-love-unlimited-the-polyamorists/ |archive-date=November 9, 2020 |url-status=live}} Additionally, 15–28% of heterosexual couples and about half of gay and bisexual people have a "non-traditional" arrangement of some kind as reported in The Guardian in August 2013.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/20/polyamorous-shows-no-traditional-way-live |title=Being polyamorous shows there's no 'traditional' way to live |last=Penny |first=Laurie |date=August 20, 2013 |website=The Guardian |access-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112015040/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/20/polyamorous-shows-no-traditional-way-live |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |url-status=live }} Polyamorous communities have been said to be outwardly feminist as women were central to the creation of such communities and gender equality is a central tenet. For those who are polyamorous, social distancing, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, created ripples in existing relationships, leading some to split apart and others to struggle to maintain their connections with one another.{{cite web |url=https://mashable.com/article/polyamory-during-quarantine-coronavirus/ |title=What it's like to be polyamorous during the coronavirus quarantine |last=Iovine |first=Anna |date=April 19, 2020 |website=Mashable |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419155421/https://mashable.com/article/polyamory-during-quarantine-coronavirus/ |archive-date=April 19, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.self.com/story/non-monogamous-pandemic-dating |title=9 Ways Non-Monogamous People Are Dealing With the Pandemic |last=Smith |first=Gabrielle |date=August 7, 2020 |website=Self |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129144827/https://www.self.com/story/non-monogamous-pandemic-dating |archive-date=November 29, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/polyamory-pandemic-1.5608920 |title=Polyamory during a pandemic? It's complicated |last=Migdal |first=Alex |date=2020-06-14 |website=CBC News |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809093453/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/polyamory-pandemic-1.5608920 |archive-date=August 9, 2020 |url-status=live}}

File:Polyamorie.jpg

A large percentage of polyamorists define fidelity not as sexual exclusivity, but as faithfulness to the promises and agreements made about a relationship.{{Cite journal|last=Zhu|first=Jingshu|date=January 2018|title=We're Not Cheaters: Polyamory, Mixed-Orientation Marriage and the Construction of Radical Honesty|journal=Social Science|url=http://gjss.org/sites/default/files/issues/chapters/papers/GjSS%20Vol%2014-1%20Zhu.pdf|access-date=December 24, 2020|volume=14|issue=1|archive-date=February 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228062959/http://gjss.org/sites/default/files/issues/chapters/papers/GjSS%20Vol%2014-1%20Zhu.pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Sudeep |first=Theres |date=November 28, 2020 |title=In Bengaluru, many couples are exploring polyamory |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/metrolife/metrolife-your-bond-with-bengaluru/in-bengaluru-many-couples-are-exploring-polyamory-920842.html |work=Deccan Herald |location=Bangalore, Karnataka, India |access-date=December 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204102811/https://www.deccanherald.com/metrolife/metrolife-your-bond-with-bengaluru/in-bengaluru-many-couples-are-exploring-polyamory-920842.html |archive-date=December 4, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite journal |last1=Cook |first1=Elaine |date=December 12, 2005 |title=Commitment in Polyamory |url=http://www.ejhs.org/volume8/cook1.htm |journal=Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality |volume=8 |access-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127014452/http://www.ejhs.org/volume8/cook1.htm |archive-date=November 27, 2020 }} As a relational practice, polyamory sustains a vast variety of open relationship or multi-partner constellations, which can differ in definition and grades of intensity, closeness and commitment.{{cite journal|last1=Klesse|first1=Christian|s2cid=144546531|title=Polyamory: Intimate practice, identity or sexual orientation?|journal=Sexualities|date=February 5, 2014|volume=17|issue=1–2|page=81|doi=10.1177/1363460713511096|url=https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/607287/2/Polyorientation%20CK%20110102013final..pdf|access-date=March 12, 2020|archive-date=June 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629232415/https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/607287/2/Polyorientation%20CK%20110102013final..pdf|url-status=live}} Specifically,

polyamory can take the forms of a triad{{efn|The term "triad" for this type of arrangement was coined by Isaac Asimov in his 1972 novel The Gods Themselves.}} of three people in an intimate relationship, a poly family of more than three people, one person as the pivot point of a relationship (a "vee"), a couple in a two-person relationship which portrays other relationships on their own, and various other intimate networks of individuals.{{cite journal |last1=Davidson |first1=Joy |date=April 16, 2002 |title=Working with Polyamorous Clients in the Clinical Setting |url=http://www.ejhs.org/volume5/polyoutline.html |journal=Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality |volume=5 |access-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919075803/http://www.ejhs.org/volume5/polyoutline.html |archive-date=September 19, 2020 }} Also delivered to the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Western Regional Conference, April 2002. There are also those who are swingers and engage in polyamory or engage in poly-dating. A poly family is sometimes called kitchen table polyamory,{{cite web |url=https://torontolife.com/city/how-a-polyamorous-toronto-man-is-managing-his-four-romantic-relationships-remotely/ |title=How a polyamorous Toronto man is managing his four romantic relationships remotely |last=Slone |first=Isabel B. |date=June 9, 2020 |website=Toronto Life |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702082808/https://torontolife.com/city/how-a-polyamorous-toronto-man-is-managing-his-four-romantic-relationships-remotely/ |archive-date=July 2, 2020 |url-status=live}} a style of polyamory in which all members of a particular polycule are comfortable and connected enough with each other that it is not uncommon for them to literally gather around the kitchen table, as they may spend holidays, birthdays, or other important times together as a large group. This style emphasizes family-style connections, and not all members are necessarily sexually or romantically involved with every other person in the group.{{Cite journal|last1=Bergdall|first1=Melissa K.|last2=Blumer|first2=Markie L. C.|s2cid=143233814|date=January 2, 2015|title=More Than Two: A Practical Guide to Ethical Polyamory, by Franklin Veaux and Eve Rickert|journal=Journal of Feminist Family Therapy|volume=27|issue=1|pages=40–45|doi=10.1080/08952833.2015.1005963|issn=0895-2833}}{{Cite book|title=More than two : a practical guide to ethical polyamory|last1=Veaux|first1=Franklin|last2=Rickert|first2=Eve|isbn=9780991399703|oclc=878396611|year=2014|publisher=Thorntree Press }}

Other styles of polyamory include parallel polyamory, where members of individual relationships prefer not to meet or know details of their partners' other relationships, solo polyamory defines non-monogamous individuals who do not want a primary partner{{Cite journal |last=Zimmerman |first=Kevin J. |date=July 2012 |title=Clients in Sexually Open Relationships: Considerations for Therapists |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08952833.2012.648143 |journal=Journal of Feminist Family Therapy |language=en |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=272–289 |doi=10.1080/08952833.2012.648143 |issn=0895-2833}} and may resist the "relationship escalator" (an idea that relationships must follow a progression, or "escalator" from dating, to being exclusive, to becoming engaged, getting married, and having children).{{cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201310/solo-polyamory-singleish-single-poly|title=Solo Polyamory, Singleish, Single & Poly|last=Sheff|first=Elisabeth A.|date=October 14, 2013|website=Psychology Today|archive-url=https://archive.today/20201224202156/https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201310/solo-polyamory-singleish-single-poly|archive-date=December 24, 2020|url-status=live|access-date=December 24, 2020}}{{cite web |last=Dodgson |first=Lindsay |url=https://www.insider.com/dark-side-of-polyamory-2019-2 |title=There's a dark side of polyamory that nobody talks about |date=February 19, 2019 |website=Insider |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200625233415/https://www.insider.com/dark-side-of-polyamory-2019-2 |archive-date=June 25, 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=December 24, 2020 }} For some, polyamory functions as an umbrella term for the multiple approaches of 'responsible non-monogamy'. A secret sexual relationship that violates those accords would be seen as a breach of fidelity. Polyamorists generally base definitions of commitment on considerations other than sexual exclusivity, e.g., "trust and honesty" or "growing old together".{{cite web |first=Elaine |last=Cook |title=Commitment in Polyamorous Relationships |url=http://www.aphroweb.net/papers/thesis/index.htm |year=2005 |access-date=July 10, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004143344/http://aphroweb.net/papers/thesis/index.htm |archive-date=October 4, 2006 |url-status=live }} In an article in Men's Health, Zachary Zane states that commitment in a polyamorous relationship means that "you will be there for that person", supporting them, taking care of them, and loving them.{{cite web |url=https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a34823557/commitment-polyamorous-relationship/ |title=I'm in a Loving, Committed Relationship. I'm Also Polyamorous |last=Zane |first=Zachary |date=December 9, 2020 |website=Men's Health |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201216233451/https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a34823557/commitment-polyamorous-relationship/ |archive-date=December 16, 2020 |url-status=live}}

Because there is no "standard model" for polyamorous relationships, and reliance upon common expectations may not be realistic, polyamorists advocate explicitly negotiating with all involved to establish the terms of their relationships and often emphasize that this should be an ongoing process of honest communication and respect. Polyamorists typically take a pragmatic approach to their relationships; many accept that sometimes they and their partners will make mistakes and fail to live up to these ideals and that communication is important for repairing any breaches. They also argue that polyamory is a response to challenges of relationships of a monogamous nature.

Polyamory has been defined as loving more than one person at once, with respect, trust, and honesty for all partners involved.From PolyOz glossary: "Not in the [linguistic roots of the term] but very important is the commitment to honesty with all partners, and openly negotiated ground rules." [http://polyoz.scm-rpg.com.au/postnuke2/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=8&meid=-1 Scm-rpg.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227071434/http://polyoz.scm-rpg.com.au/postnuke2/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=8&meid=-1 |date=February 27, 2009 }}From [https://archive.today/20120909091614/http://www.sexuality.org/book/ sexuality.org]: "Two of the cultural cornerstones of the polyamory community are honesty and communication: it's expected that you and your existing long-term partner(s) will have talked over what you're comfortable with and what you aren't comfortable with, and that nobody is going around behind anyone else's back."{{cite journal |last1=McCullough |first1=Derek |last2=Hall |first2=David S. |date=February 27, 2003 |title=Polyamory – What it is and what it isn't |url=http://www.ejhs.org/volume6/polyamory.htm |journal=Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality |volume=6 |access-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210093927/http://www.ejhs.org/volume6/polyamory.htm |archive-date=December 10, 2020 }} Ideally, a partner's partners are accepted as part of that person's life rather than merely tolerated, and usually a relationship that requires deception or a "don't-ask-don't-tell" policy is seen as a less than ideal model.

Out additionally described polyamory as "not a sexuality" but as actually "having multiple intimate relationships".{{cite web |url=https://www.out.com/music/2020/12/03/yungblud-opens-about-sexuality-talks-male-hookups |title=YungBlud Opens Up About Sexuality, Talks Male Hookups |last=Street |first=Mikelle |date=December 3, 2020 |website=Out |access-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201203154115/https://www.out.com/music/2020/12/03/yungblud-opens-about-sexuality-talks-male-hookups |archive-date=December 3, 2020 |url-status=live}}

Some polyamorists view excessive restrictions on other deep relationships as less than desirable, as such restrictions can be used to replace trust with a framework of ownership and control. It is usually preferred or encouraged that a polyamorist strive to view their partners' other significant others, often referred to as metamours or OSOs,{{cite web |title=Black and Poly Dictionary |website=Black and Poly |date=November 13, 2017 |url=http://blackandpoly.org/dictionary |access-date=May 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701004527/http://blackandpoly.org/dictionary/ |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |url-status=live }} in terms of the gain to their partners' lives rather than a threat to their own (compersion). Therefore, jealousy and possessiveness are generally viewed not so much as something to avoid or structure the relationships around but as responses that should be explored, understood, and resolved within each individual, with compersion as a goal.{{Cite journal|last=Attridge|first=Mark|date=February 4, 2013|title=Jealousy and Relationship Closeness|journal=SAGE Open|volume=3|issue=1|page=215824401347605|doi=10.1177/2158244013476054|doi-access=free}} This is related to one of the types of polyamory, which is non-hierarchical, where "no one relationship is prioritized above the rest" and the fact that polyamorists insist on working through problems in their relationships "through open communication, patience, and honesty."

{{See also|Mudita}}

Compersion is a term coined by members of the polyamorous community to describe an empathetic state of happiness and joy experienced when another individual experiences happiness and joy.{{cite journal |last1=Balzarini |first1=Rhonda N. |last2=McDonald |first2=James N. |last3=Kohut |first3=Taylor |last4=Lehmiller |first4=Justin J. |last5=Holmes |first5=Bjarne M. |last6=Harman |first6=Jennifer J. |date=2021-05-01 |title=Compersion: When Jealousy-Inducing Situations Don't (Just) Induce Jealousy |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-020-01853-1 |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=1311–1324 |doi=10.1007/s10508-020-01853-1 |pmid=34041641 |issn=1573-2800}}{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Thouin-Savard |first1=Marie I. |title=Compersion |date=2023 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior |pages=1–7 |editor-last=Shackelford |editor-first=Todd K. |url=https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_2472-1 |access-date=2024-08-17 |location=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_2472-1 |isbn=978-3-031-08956-5 |last2=Flicker |first2=Sharon M.}}{{cite journal |last1=Buczel |first1=Klara Austeja |last2=Szyszka |first2=Paulina D. |last3=Mara |first3=Izu |date=2024-07-01 |title=Exploring Compersion: A Study on Polish Consensually Non-Monogamous Individuals and Adaptation of the COMPERSe Questionnaire |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=53 |issue=8 |pages=3285–3307 |doi=10.1007/s10508-024-02930-5 |pmid=38951409 |issn=1573-2800|pmc=11335843 }} In the context of polyamorous relationships, it describes positive feelings experienced by an individual when their intimate partner is enjoying another relationship.{{cite journal |url=http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201312/jealousy-and-compersion-multiple-partners-1 |title=Jealousy and Compersion with Multiple Partners – How polys deal with jealousy and feel happy when their lover loves someone else |last=Sheff |first=Elisabeth |date=December 17, 2013 |journal=Psychology Today |access-date=June 28, 2014 |archive-date=June 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140629144809/http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201312/jealousy-and-compersion-multiple-partners-1 |url-status=live }} It has been variously described as "the opposite or flip side of jealousy",{{Cite web|url=http://polyoz.net.au/component/glossary/Poly-Terms-and-Concepts-1/C/Compersion-5/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101141159/http://polyoz.net.au/component/glossary/Poly-Terms-and-Concepts-1/C/Compersion-5/|url-status=dead|title=PolyOz | Compersion | Poly Terms and Concepts|archive-date=November 1, 2012}} analogous to the "joy parents feel when their children get married",{{cite web | title = The Inn Between | url = http://www.theinnbetween.net/polyterms.html | first = Joreth | last = InnKeeper | access-date = March 31, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140410071143/http://www.theinnbetween.net/polyterms.html | archive-date = April 10, 2014 | url-status = live }} and a "positive emotional reaction to a lover's other relationship". The term is traced to the Kerista Commune in San Francisco.{{cite web |title=Polyamory Society Glossary |url=http://www.polyamorysociety.org/glossary.html |access-date=December 26, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130807030556/http://www.polyamorysociety.org/glossary.html |archive-date=August 7, 2013 |url-status=live }}{{Cite book |last=Anapol |first=Deborah M |year=1997 |title=Polyamory: The New Love Without Limits |publisher=IntinNet Resource Center |location=San Rafael, CA |pages=49–64}}{{sfn |Taormino |2008 |p=217}}

Morin (1999) and Fleckenstein (2014) noted that certain conditions are favorable to good experiences with polyamory but that these differ from the general population.{{cite journal | last=Shernoff | first=M | title=Negotiated nonmonogamy and male couples. | journal=Family Process | volume=45 | issue=4 | year=2006 | issn=0014-7370 | pmid=17220111 | pages=407–18 | url=http://www.familyprocess.org/Data/featured_articles/65_shernoff.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429022859/http://www.familyprocess.org/Data/featured_articles/65_shernoff.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-29| doi=10.1111/j.1545-5300.2006.00179.x }}{{cite journal | last1=Fleckenstein | first1=James R. | last2=Cox | first2=Derrell W. | s2cid=144311126 | title=The association of an open relationship orientation with health and happiness in a sample of older US adults | journal=Sexual and Relationship Therapy | volume=30 | issue=1 | date=November 18, 2014 | issn=1468-1994 | doi=10.1080/14681994.2014.976997 | pages=94–116 | quote=Regression analyses suggest that the factors which predict better health and happiness differ between the general population and those who participate in consensually non-exclusive sexual relationships}} Heavy public promotion of polyamory can have the unintended effect of attracting people to it for whom it is not well-suited. Unequal power dynamics, such as financial dependence, can also inappropriately influence a person to agree to a polyamorous relationship against their true desires. Even in more equal power-dynamic relationships, the reluctant partner may feel coerced into a proposed non-monogamous arrangement due to the implication that if they refuse, the proposer will pursue other partners anyway, will break off the relationship, or that the one refusing will be accused of intolerance and not being open-minded.{{cite journal | last1=Sizemore | first1=Kayla M. | last2=Olmstead | first2=Spencer B. | s2cid=4030065 | title=Willingness of Emerging Adults to Engage in Consensual Non-Monogamy: A Mixed-Methods Analysis | journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume=47 | issue=5 | date=October 6, 2017 | issn=0004-0002 | doi=10.1007/s10508-017-1075-5 | pmid=28986760 | pages=1423–1438 | quote= The final reason given by those in the 'Willing' group was that their engagement in CNM would be a sacrifice for their partner or for their relationship. This group of participants indicated that despite their own lack of desire to engage in CNM, they would be willing to try CNM for their partner or their relationship.}}

Polyamorous relationships present practical pitfalls. One common complaint from participants is time management, as more partners mean one must divide one's time and attention between them, leaving less for each.{{cite book | last=Masters | first=Robert | title=Transformation through intimacy: the journey toward awakened monogamy | publisher=North Atlantic Books | location=Berkeley, Calif | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-58394-388-5 | oclc=793850748 | pages=23–25}} Related is that the complexity of the arrangement can lead to so much effort being spent on the relationship that personal, individual needs can be overlooked.{{cite journal | last=Brunning | first=Luke | title=The Distinctiveness of Polyamory | journal=Journal of Applied Philosophy | volume=35 | issue=3 | year=2018 | issn=0264-3758 | doi=10.1111/japp.12240 | pages=15–16 | s2cid=147982689 | url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:355c60d9-818c-454c-8ed2-7320ccf540f9 | access-date=August 18, 2020 | archive-date=October 25, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025054226/https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:355c60d9-818c-454c-8ed2-7320ccf540f9 | url-status=live }} The strong emphasis on communication can unintentionally marginalize partners who are less articulate. Finally, negotiating the sometimes complex rules and boundaries of these relationships can be emotionally taxing, as can reconciling situations where one partner goes outside those boundaries.

The scientific studies of psychological well-being and relationship satisfaction for participants in polyamory have been limited due to mostly being a "hidden population." While some results could be interpreted as positive, these findings often suffer from bias and methodological issues.{{cite journal | last1=Rubel | first1=Alicia N. | last2=Bogaert | first2=Anthony F. | s2cid=36510972 | title=Consensual Nonmonogamy: Psychological Well-Being and Relationship Quality Correlates | journal=The Journal of Sex Research | volume=52 | issue=9 | date=September 4, 2014 | issn=0022-4499 | doi=10.1080/00224499.2014.942722 | pmid=25189189 | pages=961–982}} A significant number of studies rely on small samples, often recruited from referrals, snowball-sampling, and websites devoted to polyamory. Individuals recruited in this manner tend to be relatively homogeneous regarding values, beliefs, and demographics, which limits the generalizability of the findings. These samples also tend to be self-selecting toward individuals with positive experiences. In contrast, those who found polyamory to be distressing or hurtful might be more reluctant to participate in the research. Most of the studies rely entirely on self-report measures. Generally, self-reports of the degree of well-being and relationship satisfaction over time are flawed and are often based on belief rather than actual experience. Self-report measures are also at risk of self-enhancement bias, as subjects may feel pressure to give positive responses about their well-being and relationship satisfaction in the face of stereotype threat.

In June 2018, a court in Newfoundland and Labrador recognized three unmarried adults as legal parents of a child who was born within the polyamorous family they had formed; this was believed to be a first for Canadian law. The three adults included the child's mother and two men; the child's biological father was unknown.{{cite web |last=MacDonald |first=Michael |date=June 14, 2018 |title=3 adults in polyamorous relationship declared legal parents by N. L. court |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/polyamourous-relationship-three-parents-1.4706560 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224192515/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/polyamourous-relationship-three-parents-1.4706560 |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |website=CBC News}}

In April 2021, a British Columbia Supreme Court justice declared a woman was the third legal parent in a polyamorous "triad".{{cite web |last=Labbé |first=Stefan |date=2021-04-28 |title=B.C. judge declares woman third legal parent in polyamorous 'triad' |url=https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/b-c-judge-declares-woman-third-legal-parent-in-polyamorous-triad-1.24312700 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828060212/https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/b-c-judge-declares-woman-third-legal-parent-in-polyamorous-triad-1.24312700 |archive-date=August 28, 2021 |access-date=2021-08-28 |website=Times Colonist}}

In April 2025, the Superior Court of Quebec ruled that the province must recognize families with more than two parents. The court gave the provincial government one year to amend the Civil Code, and listed court rulings in five provinces and territories as precedent.{{Cite web |last=Lau |first=Rachel |date=2025-04-30 |title='Multi-parent' families, like throuples, to be granted legal rights in Quebec |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/article/multiparent-families-like-throuples-to-be-granted-legal-rights-in-quebec/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=CTVNews |language=en}}

In 1998, a Tennessee court granted guardianship of a child to her grandmother and step-grandfather, after the child's mother April Divilbiss and partners outed themselves as polyamorous on MTV. After contesting the decision for two years, Divilbiss eventually agreed to relinquish her daughter, acknowledging that she was unable to adequately care for her child and that this, rather than her polyamory, had been the grandparents' real motivation in seeking custody.{{cite web |url=http://www.polyamorysociety.org/Divilbiss_Families_Case_Ends.html |title=PolyFamily Child Custody Case Ends After 2 Year Battle... |last=Divilbiss |first=April |date=October 2000 |website=Polyamory Society |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050826112228/http://www.polyamorysociety.org/Divilbiss_Families_Case_Ends.html |archive-date=August 26, 2005 |url-status=live}}

In 2013, California passed SB 274 (Family Code §7612(c)), legalizing state courts' recognition of more than two parents if the court finds that recognizing only two parents would be detrimental to the child.{{Cite web |date=2015-11-17 |title=Boyd Law Successfully Achieves One of California's First Rulings Under New "Three Parent Law" |url=https://www.boydlawlosangeles.com/boyd-law-successfully-achieves-one-of-californias-first-rulings-under-new-three-parent-law/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=Boyd Law |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=California's Three Parent Law {{!}} Family Law {{!}} Sacramento Law Group LLP |url=https://sacramentolawgroup.com/divorce-attorney/three-parents/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=sacramentolawgroup.com}} In 2017, three men became the first family in the state of California to have names of three fathers on their child's birth certificate under the law.{{cite web |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/poly-relationship-adoption-embryo-surrogate_n_5fc92247c5b6d7412e5f4026 |title=This Throuple Made History With Their First Child. Here's What Their Lives Are Like. |last=Feldman |first=Jamie |date=December 23, 2020 |website=HuffPost |access-date=March 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302022803/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/poly-relationship-adoption-embryo-surrogate_n_5fc92247c5b6d7412e5f4026 |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |url-status=live }}

In November 2020, the issue of polyamory came to the Supreme Court of Vermont in the form of a dispute between two men and a woman in a polyamorous relationship.{{cite web |author= |date=November 6, 2020 |title=SCOV Law Blog: Court decides parentage issue in divorce involving polyamory |url=https://vtdigger.org/2020/11/06/scov-law-blog-court-decides-parentage-issue-in-divorce-involving-polyamory/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124145223/https://vtdigger.org/2020/11/06/scov-law-blog-court-decides-parentage-issue-in-divorce-involving-polyamory/ |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |access-date=December 14, 2020 |website=VTDigger}}

In 2016, writer Rebecca Ruth Gould called for non-monogamy, including polyamory, to receive "the legal recognition it deserves", saying that polyamory remains a "negative identity".{{cite web |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/rebecca-gould/love-without-monogamy |title=Love Without Monogamy |last=Gould |first=Rebecca Ruth |date=August 15, 2016 |website=OpenDemocracy |access-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829051151/https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/love-without-monogamy/ |archive-date=August 29, 2019 |url-status=dead}}

In June 2020, the city council of Somerville, Massachusetts, voted to recognize polyamorous domestic partnerships in the city, becoming the first American city to do so. This measure was passed so that those in a polyamorous relationship would have access to their partners' health insurance amid the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|url=https://www.masslive.com/boston/2020/07/somerville-city-council-passes-ordinance-recognizing-polyamorous-domestic-partnerships.html|last=Stening|first=Tanner|title=Somerville City Council passes ordinance recognizing polyamorous domestic partnerships|date=July 1, 2020|website=masslive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702030919/https://www.masslive.com/boston/2020/07/somerville-city-council-passes-ordinance-recognizing-polyamorous-domestic-partnerships.html|archive-date=July 2, 2020|url-status=live|access-date=December 24, 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/20200701/somerville-votes-to-recognize-polyamorous-domestic-partnerships-it-is-one-of-first-in-nation|title=Somerville votes to recognize polyamorous domestic partnerships. It is one of the first in nation.|first=Julia|last=Taliesin|website=MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701205132/https://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/20200701/somerville-votes-to-recognize-polyamorous-domestic-partnerships-it-is-one-of-first-in-nation|archive-date=July 1, 2020|url-status=live|access-date=December 24, 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/somerville-massachusetts-recognizes-polyamorous-relationships/ |title=Massachusetts city officially recognizes polyamorous relationships |last=McNamara |first=Audrey |date=July 3, 2020 |website=CBS News |access-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107032850/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/somerville-massachusetts-recognizes-polyamorous-relationships/ |archive-date=November 7, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/02/metro/somervilles-polyamory-ordinance-is-first-nation/ |title=Somerville's new polyamory-friendly policy a 'turning point' |last=Greenberg |first=Zoe |date=July 2, 2020 |website=Boston Globe |access-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201025002452/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/02/metro/somervilles-polyamory-ordinance-is-first-nation/ |archive-date=October 25, 2020 |url-status=live}}

In March 2021, the Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council approved an ordinance amending the city's laws, stipulating that "a domestic partnership needn't only include two partners."{{cite web |url=https://reason.com/2021/03/10/cambridge-will-recognize-polyamorous-partnerships-and-other-domestic-arrangements-with-more-than-2-adults/ |title=Cambridge Will Recognize Polyamorous Partnerships and Other Domestic Arrangements With More Than 2 Adults |last=Brown |first=Elizabeth Nolan |date=March 10, 2021 |website=Reason.com |access-date=March 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310210412/https://reason.com/2021/03/10/cambridge-will-recognize-polyamorous-partnerships-and-other-domestic-arrangements-with-more-than-2-adults/ |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=http://rwinters.com/council/030821.htm |title=Cambridge City Council meeting - March 8, 2021 - AGENDA |author= |date=March 8, 2021 |website=Cambridge Civic Journal |access-date=March 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310150749/http://rwinters.com/council/030821.htm |archive-date=March 10, 2021 |url-status=live}} This is a publication run by a man named Robert Winters, who is a civic watcher of the Cambridge, MA government.{{cite press release |last1=Adams |first1=Diana |last2=Chen |first2=Alexander |date=March 9, 2021 |title=Cambridge Becomes 2nd US City to Legalize Polyamorous Domestic Partnerships |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/602abeb0ede5cc16ae72cc3a/t/604747971135b1744e8a4002/1615284120965/2021-03-08+PLAC+Press+Release.pdf |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition |agency= |access-date=March 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309192938/https://static1.squarespace.com/static/602abeb0ede5cc16ae72cc3a/t/604747971135b1744e8a4002/1615284120965/2021-03-08+PLAC+Press+Release.pdf |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |url-status=live}} The measure was supported by the Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition, also known as PLAC, composed of the Chosen Family Law Center, Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic, and some members on the American Psychological Association's Committee on Consensual Non-Monogamy. This ordinance was originally proposed in July 2020.{{cite web |url=https://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/07/28/law-acknowledging-polyamorous-relationships-takes-step-forward-two-councillors-holding-back/ |title=Law acknowledging polyamorous relationships takes step forward, two councillors holding back |last=Levy |first=Marc |date=July 28, 2020 |website=Cambridge Day |access-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101074216/https://www.cambridgeday.com/2020/07/28/law-acknowledging-polyamorous-relationships-takes-step-forward-two-councillors-holding-back/ |archive-date=November 1, 2020 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=2656&MediaPosition=&ID=12316&CssClass= |title=POR 2020 #180 The City Manager be and hereby is requested to confer with the City of Cambridge Law Department to review the above changes to the language of the Domestic Partnerships Ordinance and report back to the Council. Passed to a Second Reading in Council July 27, 2020. To Be Ordained on or After September 14, 2020 |date=2020 |website=Cambridge, Massachusetts |access-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-date=December 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214222512/https://cambridgema.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=2656&MediaPosition=&ID=12316&CssClass= |url-status=live }} In April 2021, the adjacent town of Arlington, Massachusetts, approved domestic partnerships of more than two people through a motion at Town Meeting. Any motion approved at Arlington's Town Meeting is subject to review and approval from the state Attorney General's office;{{Cite web|url=https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/arlington-advocate/2021/04/30/arlington-approves-domestic-partnerships-polyamorous-relationships/7410640002/|title=Town Meeting approves domestic partnership for relationships with more than two people|first=Jesse|last=Collings|website=Wicked Local|access-date=May 13, 2021|archive-date=May 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513163139/https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/arlington-advocate/2021/04/30/arlington-approves-domestic-partnerships-polyamorous-relationships/7410640002/|url-status=live}} by early January 2022 that office (the office of Maura Healey) approved it.{{Cite web|url=https://masslawyersweekly.com/2022/01/06/ag-upholds-towns-recognition-of-polyamorous-relationships/|title=AG upholds town's recognition of 'polyamorous' relationships | Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly|first=Pat|last=Murphy|date=January 6, 2022|access-date=December 25, 2022|archive-date=December 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225210954/https://masslawyersweekly.com/2022/01/06/ag-upholds-towns-recognition-of-polyamorous-relationships/|url-status=live}}

People in polyamorous relationships sometimes receive punishment at work when they are open about their relationships.{{cite news |title=Somerville celebrates another first for polyamorous people |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/23/lifestyle/somerville-celebrates-another-first-polyamorous-people/ |author=Meredith Goldstein |date=March 23, 2023 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=March 24, 2023 |archive-date=March 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324234803/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/23/lifestyle/somerville-celebrates-another-first-polyamorous-people/ |url-status=live }}

In 2010, Ann Tweedy, a legal scholar, argued that polyamory could be considered a sexual orientation under existing United States law.{{cite journal |last1=Tweedy |first1=Ann |date=October 2011 |title=Polyamory as a sexual orientation |url=https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=uclr |journal=University of Cincinnati Law Review |volume=79 |issue=4 |pages=1461–1515 |access-date=December 23, 2020 |archive-date=August 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824042848/https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=uclr |url-status=live }} This argument was opposed by Christian Keese, who wrote in 2016 that advocating a "sexual orientation model of polyamory is likely to reduce the complexity and transformative potential of poly intimacies," while also limiting the reach and scope of possible litigation, obstructing the ability of poly activists to form alliances with other groups, and increasing the possibility that poly activists will have to settle for legal solutions which are "exclusive and reproductive of a culture of privilege".{{cite journal |last1=Keese |first1=Christian |date=2016 |title=Marriage, Law and Polyamory. Rebutting Mononormativity with Sexual Orientation Discourse? |url=http://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/viewFile/734/960 |journal=Oñati Socio-legal Series |volume=6 |issue=6 |page=1348 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=April 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422221600/http://opo.iisj.net/index.php/osls/article/viewFile/734/960 |url-status=live }}

In March 2023, the city of Somerville, Massachusetts passed an ordinance prohibiting discrimination against polyamorous people in employment and policing.

In April 2024, Oakland City Council passed legislation banning discrimination based on family and relationship structure in businesses, civil services, and housing.{{cite news |last=McClurg |first=Lesley |title=Polyamorous families are recognized and protected in Oakland, CA |website=NPR |date=2024-05-31 |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/05/31/nx-s1-4966296/polyamorous-families-are-recognized-and-protected-in-oakland-ca |access-date=2024-06-01}}

In May 2024, Berkeley, California passed a law banning discrimination on the basis of relationship and family structure in businesses, city services, and housing.{{Cite web|url=http://www.berkeleyside.org/2024/05/22/berkeley-law-antidiscrimination-relationship-family-structure-polyamory|title=Berkeley law extends legal protections to polyamorous people and non-nuclear families|first=Ally|last=Markovich|date=May 22, 2024|website=Berkeleyside}}

{{See also|Group marriage|Legality of polygamy|List of polygamy court cases}}

Most western countries do not recognize polygamous marriages, and consider bigamy a crime. Several countries also prohibit people from living a polygamous lifestyle. This is the case in some states of the United States where the criminalization of a polygamous lifestyle originated as anti-Mormon laws, although they are rarely enforced.{{cite news |url = https://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-10-03-turley_x.htm |last= Turley |first = Jonathan |title = Polygamy laws expose our own hypocrisy |newspaper = USA Today |date = 3 October 2004 |access-date = December 24, 2020 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120722135630/http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/2004-10-03-turley_x.htm |archive-date = 22 July 2012 }} Having multiple non-marital partners, even if married to one, is legal in most U.S. jurisdictions; at most it constitutes grounds for divorce if the spouse is non-consenting, or feels that the interest in a further partner has destabilized the marriage. In some jurisdictions, like North Carolina, a spouse can sue a third party for causing "loss of affection" in or "criminal conversation" (adultery) with their spouse,{{cite court |litigants=Ruby Deaton Pharr, v. Joyce W. Beck |vol=554 |reporter=S.E.2d |opinion=COA01-3 |court=North Carolina Court of Appeals |date=November 20, 2001 |url=https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1323723/pharr-v-beck/ |access-date=December 24, 2020 }} while more than twenty states in the US have laws against adultery, although they are infrequently enforced; the Supreme Court's ruling in Lawrence v. Texas did not explicitly hold such laws to be unconstitutional but its reasoning may imply that conclusion.{{cite web |url=https://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/punishing-adultery-in-virginia.html |title=Punishing Adultery in Virginia |last=Grossman |first=Joanna |date=December 16, 2003 |website=Findlaw |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127111953/https://supreme.findlaw.com/legal-commentary/punishing-adultery-in-virginia.html |archive-date=November 27, 2018 |access-date=December 24, 2020}}

Polyamory, however, is on a continuum of family-bonds that includes group marriage{{cite book |last1=Francoeur |first1=Robert T. |year=2004 |chapter=United States: Interpersonal Heterosexual Behaviors |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dciuj1-F3fYC&pg=PA1205 |editor1-last=Francoeur |editor1-first=Robert T. |editor2-last=Noonan |editor2-first=Raymond J. |title=The Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality |location=London |publisher=A&C Black |pages=1205–1206 |isbn=9780826414885 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=March 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310100816/https://books.google.com/books?id=dciuj1-F3fYC&pg=PA1205 |url-status=live }} and it does not refer to bigamy as long as no claim to being married in formal legal terms is made.{{cite book |last=Constantine |first=Larry L. |title=Group Marriage: A Study of Contemporary Multilateral Marriage |year=1974 |publisher=Collier Books |isbn=978-0020759102 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0ZBAAAAIAAJ |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=March 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310100804/https://books.google.com/books?id=N0ZBAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/polyamorous-families-legal-challenges-1.3758621 |title=Canadian polyamorists face unique legal challenges, research reveals |last=Crawford |first=Alison |date=September 14, 2016 |website=CBC |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224191147/https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/polyamorous-families-legal-challenges-1.3758621 |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live}} The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia (2014, edited by Marilyn J. Coleman and Lawrence H. Ganong) stated that under existing U.S. federal law, a polyamorous relationship is legal in all 50 states while polygamy is not.{{cite book |last1=Martinez |first1=Michelle |year=2014 |chapter=Polygamy |editor1-last=Ganong |editor1-first=Lawrence H. |editor2-last=Coleman |editor2-first=Marilyn J. |title=The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R3VpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1048 |location=Thousand Oaks, California |publisher=SAGE Publications |page=1048 |isbn=978-1452286150 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=March 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310100814/https://books.google.com/books?id=R3VpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1048 |url-status=live }} On November 23, 2011, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that the anti-polygamy law of Canada does not affect unformalized polyamorous households; this is why Polyamory Day is celebrated every year on November 23.{{Cite web|url=http://polyadvocacy.ca/polyamory-day-faq/|title=Polyamory Day - Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association|access-date=December 26, 2020|archive-date=January 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122225910/http://polyadvocacy.ca/polyamory-day-faq/|url-status=live}} Even so, those in polyamorous relationships often face legal challenges when it comes to custody, morality clauses, adultery and bigamy laws, housing, and where they live.{{cite web |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201401/the-five-most-common-legal-issues-facing-polyamorists |title=The Five Most Common Legal Issues Facing Polyamorists |last=Sheff |first=Elisabeth A. |date=January 18, 2014 |website=Psychology Today |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201224191956/https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-polyamorists-next-door/201401/the-five-most-common-legal-issues-facing-polyamorists |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live }}

In 2012, legal scholar Deborah Anapol called for the revision of existing U.S. laws against bigamy to permit married persons to enter into additional marriages, provided that they have first given legal notice to their existing marital partner or partners, with a "dyadic networks" model.{{cite book |last=Anapol |first=Deborah |url=https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442200227/Polyamory-in-the-21st-Century-Love-and-Intimacy-with-Multiple-Partners |title=Polyamory in the 21st Century: Love and Intimacy with Multiple Partners |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2012 |isbn=9781442200227 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=September 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926084419/https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442200227/Polyamory-in-the-21st-Century-Love-and-Intimacy-with-Multiple-Partners |url-status=live }} In 2015, another legal scholar, Ronald C. Den Otter, wrote in the Emory Law Journal (in the article "Three May Not Be a Crowd: The Case for a Constitutional Right to Plural Marriage") that in the United States the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection fully support marriage rights for polyamorous families.{{cite journal |last1=Den Otter|first1=Ron|title=Three May Not Be a Crowd: The Case for a Constitutional Right to Plural Marriage|url= https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1200&context=elj|access-date=June 27, 2015|journal=Emory Law Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630022240/http://law.emory.edu/elj/_documents/volumes/64/6/den-otter.pdf|archive-date=June 30, 2015|url-status=live}}

During a PinkNews question-and-answer session in May 2015, Redfern Jon Barrett questioned Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, about her party's stance toward polyamorous marriage rights. Bennett responded by saying that her party is "open" to discussion on the idea of civil partnership or marriages between three people.{{cite news|last1=McCormick|first1=Joseph|title=Natalie Bennett is 'open' to polyamorous marriages and civil partnerships|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/05/01/natalie-bennett-is-open-to-polyamorous-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/|access-date=20 June 2015|work=PinkNews|date=May 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620162802/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/05/01/natalie-bennett-is-open-to-polyamorous-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/|archive-date=June 20, 2015|url-status=live}} Bennett's announcement aroused media controversy on the topic and led to major international news outlets covering her answer.{{cite news|last1=Holehouse|first1=Matthew|title=Greens 'open' to three-person marriage, says Natalie Bennett|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11576818/Greens-open-to-three-person-marriage-says-Natalie-Bennett.html|access-date=June 20, 2015|work=Daily Telegraph|date=May 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316055039/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11576818/Greens-open-to-three-person-marriage-says-Natalie-Bennett.html|archive-date=March 16, 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Ashton|first1=Emily|title=The Green Party Is "Open" To Legalizing Three-Way Marriages|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/the-green-party-is-open-to-legalising-three-way-marriages|access-date=20 June 2015|work=BuzzFeed|date=May 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224134246/https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyashton/the-green-party-is-open-to-legalising-three-way-marriages|archive-date=December 24, 2016|url-status=live}} A follow-up article written by Barrett was published by PinkNews on May 4, 2015, further exploring the topic.{{cite news|last1=Barrett|first1=Redfern|title=Comment: Why polyamorous marriages are the next step to equality|url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/05/04/comment-why-polyamorous-marriages-are-the-next-step-to-equality/|access-date=June 20, 2015|work=PinkNews|date=May 4, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702191101/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/05/04/comment-why-polyamorous-marriages-are-the-next-step-to-equality/|archive-date=July 2, 2015|url-status=live}}

In most countries, it is legal for three or more people to form and share a sexual relationship (subject sometimes to laws against homosexuality or adultery if two of the three are married). With only minor exceptions no developed countries permit marriage among more than two people, nor do the majority of countries give legal protection (e.g., of rights relating to children) to non-married partners. Individuals involved in polyamorous relationships are generally considered by the law to be no different from people who live together, or "date", under other circumstances. In 2017, John Alejandro Rodriguez, Victor Hugo Prada, and Manuel Jose Bermudez became Colombia's first polyamorous family to have a legally recognized relationship,{{cite web |last=Reynolds |first=Daniel |url=https://www.advocate.com/world/2017/6/15/three-gay-men-make-history-marrying-colombia |title=Three Gay Men Make History by Marrying in Colombia |publisher=The Advocate |date=June 15, 2017 |access-date=June 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616012510/https://www.advocate.com/world/2017/6/15/three-gay-men-make-history-marrying-colombia |archive-date=June 16, 2017 |url-status=live }} though not a marriage, as by Colombian law, marriage is between two people, so they instead called it a "special patrimonial union".{{cite news|last=Brodzinski|first=Sibylla|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/colombia-three-men-union-alejandro-rodriguez-manuel-bermudez-victor-hugo-prada|newspaper=The Guardian|title=Colombia legally recognizes union between three men|date=July 3, 2017|access-date=September 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913045912/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/colombia-three-men-union-alejandro-rodriguez-manuel-bermudez-victor-hugo-prada|archive-date=September 13, 2018|url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-40655103 |title=Polyamorous marriage: Is there a future for three-way weddings? |last=Taylor-Coleman |first=Jasmine |date=July 20, 2017 |website=BBC News |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224192800/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-40655103 |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live}} Some have called for domestic partnership laws to be expanded to include polyamorous couples{{cite journal |last1=Dryden |first1=J. Boone |date=2015 |title=This Is the Family I Chose: Broadening DomesticPartnership Law to Include Polyamory |url=https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=jplp |journal=Hamline University's School of Law's Journal of Public Law and Policy |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=162–188 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=March 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306040123/https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=jplp |url-status=live }} and have said that marriage-like entitlements should apply to such couples.{{cite journal |last1=Brake |first1=Elizabeth |date=2013 |title=Recognizing Care: The Case for Friendship and Polyamory |url=https://slace.syr.edu/issue-1-2013-14-on-equality/recognizing-care-the-case-for-friendship-and-polyamory/ |journal=Syracuse Journal of Law & Civic Engagement |volume=14 |issue=1 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=April 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408125205/https://slace.syr.edu/issue-1-2013-14-on-equality/recognizing-care-the-case-for-friendship-and-polyamory/ |url-status=live }}

File:Polyamory Pride at CSD Parade Graz 03.jpg, in June 2017]]

Research into the prevalence of polyamory has been limited. A comprehensive government study of sexual attitudes, behaviors, and relationships in Finland in 1992 (age 18–75, around 50% female and male) found that around 200 out of 2250 (8.9%) respondents "agreed or strongly agreed" with the statement "I could maintain several sexual relationships at the same time" and 8.2% indicated a relationship type "that best suits" at the present stage of life would involve multiple partners. By contrast, when asked about other relationships simultaneously as a steady relationship, around 17% stated they had had other partners while in a steady relationship (50% no, 17% yes, 33% refused to answer).[http://www.fsd.uta.fi/english/data/catalogue/FSD1243/cbF1243e.pdf Finnish Sex Survey 1992] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910170542/http://www.fsd.uta.fi/english/data/catalogue/FSD1243/cbf1243e.pdf |date=September 10, 2008 }} (PDF)

The article What Psychology Professionals Should Know About Polyamory (by Geri Weitzman), based on a paper presented at the 8th Annual Diversity Conference in March 1999 in Albany, New York, states that while openly polyamorous relationships are relatively rare, there are "indications that private polyamorous arrangements within relationships are actually quite common."{{cite web|url=http://www.polyamory.org/~joe/polypaper.htm#Demographic|title=What Psychology Professionals Should Know About Polyamory|work=polyamory.org|access-date=March 26, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050409084841/http://www.polyamory.org/~joe/polypaper.htm#Demographic|archive-date=April 9, 2005|url-status=live}} They also note, citing 1983 study of 3,574 married couples in their sample that "15–28% had an understanding that allows nonmonogamy under some circumstances," with percentages are higher among "cohabitating couples (28%), lesbian couples (29%) and gay male couples (65%)." According to Jessica Fern, a psychologist and the author of Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy, as of September 2020, about 4% of Americans, nearly 16 million people, are "practising a non-monogamous style of relationship".{{cite web |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/building-bridges-how-polyamory-made-me-a-better-friend-lover-and-person-1.4358418 |title=Building bridges: How polyamory made me a better friend, lover and person |last=Kavanagh |first=Jess |date=September 19, 2020 |website=Irish Times |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003180651/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/building-bridges-how-polyamory-made-me-a-better-friend-lover-and-person-1.4358418?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Flife-and-style%2Fpeople%2Fbuilding-bridges-how-polyamory-made-me-a-better-friend-lover-and-person-1.4358418 |archive-date=October 3, 2020 }} A study by Amy C. Moors, Amanda N. Gesselman and Justin R. Garcia published on 23 March 2021 and using a sample of 3,438 individuals has shown that 10.7% of the sample were engaged in a polyamorous relationship at some point in their life, and 16.8% reported a desire to try or be in one. The study also revealed a correlation between educational background and polyamory, showing that lesser-educated male individuals were more likely to engage in or have been involved in polyamorous relationships. These findings indicate that the number of Americans who have engaged in polyamorous relationships is significantly higher than previously thought.{{cite journal |title=Desire, Familiarity, and Engagement in Polyamory: Results From a National Sample of Single Adults in the United States|last=Moors|first=Amy|journal=Frontiers in Psychology|date=March 23, 2021 |volume=12|page=619640|doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.619640|pmid=33833712|pmc=8023325|doi-access=free}}

{{See also|Fornication|Polygamy#Religious attitudes to polygamy|Polyandry#Religious attitudes}}

File:Oneida Commune.png

The Oneida Community in the 1800s in New York (a Christian religious commune) believed strongly in a system of free love known as a complex marriage,{{cite book |last=Foster |first=Lawrence |editor1-last=Pitzer |editor1-first=Donald E. |date=January 2010 |chapter=Free Love and Community: John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Perfectionists |title=America's Communal Utopias |url=https://uncpress.org/book/9780807846094/americas-communal-utopias/ |location=Chapel Hill, NC |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |pages=253–278 |isbn=978-0807846094 |access-date=December 25, 2020 |archive-date=January 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130022503/https://uncpress.org/book/9780807846094/americas-communal-utopias/ |url-status=live }} where any member was free to have sex with any other who consented.{{cite book |last=Stoehr |first=Taylor |date=1979 |title=Free Love in America: A Documentary History |location=New York |publisher=AMS Press, Inc |isbn=9780404160340}} In 1993, the archives of the community were made available to scholars for the first time. Contained within the archives was the journal of Tirzah Miller,{{cite book |last1=Herrick |first1=Tirzah Miller |last2=Fogarty |first2=Robert S. |editor-last=Fogarty |editor-first=Robert S.|title=Desire and Duty at Oneida: Tirzah Miller's Intimate Memoir |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington Indianapolis |year=2000 |isbn=9780253213624 |oclc=247762494}} Noyes' niece, who wrote extensively about her romantic and sexual relations with other members of Oneida.{{Cite journal|last=Chmielewski|first=Wendy E.|title=Reviewed work: Desire and Duty at Oneida: Tirzah Miller's Intimate Memoir, Robert S. Fogarty |date=2001|journal=Utopian Studies|volume=12|issue=1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mutualcriticism0000onei/page/176 176–178]|jstor=20718260|isbn=9780815621690|oclc=5542766034|url=https://archive.org/details/mutualcriticism0000onei}}

Some Christians are polyamorous, but mainstream Christianity does not accept polyamory.{{cite web|title=Multiple intimate relationships: a summary of liberated Christians' views|url=http://www.libchrist.com/bible/polygamy.html|website=Liberated Christians|access-date=August 25, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015090448/http://www.libchrist.com/bible/polygamy.html|archive-date=October 15, 2015|url-status=live}} In 2017, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, an evangelical Christian organization, released a manifesto on human sexuality known as the "Nashville Statement". The statement was signed by 150 evangelical leaders and included 14 points of belief.{{cite web |last=Meyer |first=Holly |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/29/evangelical-manifesto-human-sexuality/614201001/ |title=More than 150 evangelical religious leaders sign 'Christian manifesto' on human sexuality |date=August 29, 2017 |work=USA Today |access-date=August 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830024517/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/29/evangelical-manifesto-human-sexuality/614201001/ |archive-date=August 30, 2017 |url-status=live }} Among other things, it states, "We deny that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship."{{cite web |last=Meyer |first=Holly |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/30/what-nashville-statement-and-why-people-talking-it/619009001/ |title=What is the Nashville Statement and why are people talking about it? |publisher=USA Today |date=August 30, 2017 |access-date=August 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831214949/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/30/what-nashville-statement-and-why-people-talking-it/619009001/ |archive-date=August 31, 2017 |url-status=live }}

Some Jews are polyamorous, but mainstream Judaism does not accept polyamory. However, in 2000, Rabbi Jacob Levin came out as polyamorous to his synagogue's board in California without losing his job as rabbi.{{Cite web|last=Goldstein|first=Sarah|url=http://heebmagazine.com/an-unlikely-solution-to-the-vanishing-american-jew/58123|title=A Modest Proposal for the "Vanishing American Jew"|website=Heeb Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819003149/http://heebmagazine.com/an-unlikely-solution-to-the-vanishing-american-jew/58123|archive-date=August 19, 2020|url-status=live|date=February 2007|quote=Rabbi Jacob Levin, 62, is an exception. When he came out to his synagogue's board seven years ago, his disclosure was met with a mix of confusion and dismay.}} As well, in his book A Guide to Jewish Practice: Volume 1 – Everyday Living (2011), Rabbi David Teutsch wrote, "It is not obvious that monogamy is automatically a morally higher form of relationship than polygamy," and that if practiced with honesty, flexibility, egalitarian rules, and trust, practitioners may "live enriched lives as a result".{{cite book|last=Teutsch|first=David|title=A Guide to Jewish Practice: Volume 1 – Everyday Living|date=2011|publisher=RRC Press|isbn=978-0938945185|pages=217–227}} In 2013, Sharon Kleinbaum, the senior rabbi at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York, said that polyamory is a choice that does not preclude a Jewishly observant and socially conscious life.{{cite news |title=Polyamorous Jews seek acceptance |agency=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=October 12, 2013 |newspaper=Haaretz |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.551971 |access-date=November 21, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319053821/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/1.551971 |archive-date=March 19, 2015 |url-status=live }} Some polyamorous Jews point to biblical patriarchs having multiple wives and concubines as evidence that polyamorous relationships can be sacred in Judaism.{{cite web |last=Lavin |first=Talia |url=http://www.jta.org/2013/10/10/news-opinion/united-states/ahava-raba-polyamorous-jews-engage-with-multiple-loves-and-their-jewish-traditions |title=Married and dating: Polyamorous Jews share love, seek acceptance |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |date=March 10, 2013 |access-date=June 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012154959/http://www.jta.org/2013/10/10/news-opinion/united-states/ahava-raba-polyamorous-jews-engage-with-multiple-loves-and-their-jewish-traditions |archive-date=October 12, 2013 |url-status=live }} An email list is dedicated to polyamorous Jews; it is called AhavaRaba, which roughly translates to "big love" in Hebrew,{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/2013/10/10/news-opinion/united-states/ahava-raba-polyamorous-jews-engage-with-multiple-loves-and-their-jewish-traditions#ixzz2hcUsvBTx|title=Married and dating: Polyamorous Jews share love, seek acceptance|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|date=October 10, 2013|access-date=October 13, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012154959/http://www.jta.org/2013/10/10/news-opinion/united-states/ahava-raba-polyamorous-jews-engage-with-multiple-loves-and-their-jewish-traditions#ixzz2hcUsvBTx|archive-date=October 12, 2013|url-status=live}} and which echoes God's "great" or "abounding" love mentioned in the Ahava rabbah prayer.{{cite book|editor1-last=Hoffman|editor1-first=Lawrence|title=My People's Prayer Book: The Sh'ma and its blessings|url=https://archive.org/details/mypeoplesprayerb02hoff|url-access=registration|date=1997|publisher=Jewish Lights Publishing|isbn=9781879045798|page=[https://archive.org/details/mypeoplesprayerb02hoff/page/69 69]}}

LaVeyan Satanism is critical of Abrahamic sexual mores, considering them narrow, restrictive, and hypocritical. Satanists are pluralists, accepting polyamorists, bisexuals, lesbians, gays, BDSM, transgender people, and asexuals. Sex is viewed as an indulgence, but one that should only be freely entered into with consent. The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth only give two instructions regarding sex: "Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal" and "Do not harm little children", though the latter is much broader and encompasses physical and other abuse. This has been a consistent part of CoS policy since its inception in 1966. Magister Peter H. Gillmore wrote in an essay supporting same-sex marriage that some people try to suggest that their attitude on sexuality is "anything goes" even though they have a principle of "responsibility to the responsible".{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofsatan.com/founding-family-morality/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131027075819/http://www.churchofsatan.com/Pages/FoundingFamily.html|url-status=dead|title=Founding Family: "Morality" versus Same-Sex Marriage|archive-date=October 27, 2013|website=Church of Satan|access-date=December 24, 2020}}

Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness, founded in 2001, has engaged in ongoing education and advocacy for greater understanding and acceptance of polyamory within the Unitarian Universalist Association.{{cite web |url=http://uupa.org |title=UUPA website |access-date=December 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205181452/http://uupa.org/ |archive-date=December 5, 2019 |url-status=live }} At the 2014 General Assembly, two UUPA members moved to include the category of "family and relationship structures" in the UUA's nondiscrimination rule, along with other amendments; the GA delegates ratified the package of proposed amendments.{{cite web |url=http://www.uua.org/uuagovernance/bylaws/ruleii/section-c-23-non-discrimination |title=Unitarian Universalist Association: Rule II, Section C-2.3.: Non-discrimination |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518103753/http://www.uua.org/uuagovernance/bylaws/ruleii/section-c-23-non-discrimination |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |df=mdy-all }}

In 2018, the Association of Humanistic Rabbis issued "A Statement on Sexual Ethics for the 21st Century", which states in part, "We commit to the freedom and empowerment of all adults to full consensual sexual expression, be it monogamous or polyamorous."{{Cite web|url=https://www.humanisticrabbis.org/sexual-ethics-for-the-21st-century|title=A Statement on Sexual Ethics for the 21st Century|website=humanisticrabbis|access-date=February 11, 2021|archive-date=January 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127000335/https://www.humanisticrabbis.org/sexual-ethics-for-the-21st-century|url-status=live}}

In 2002, a paper titled Working with polyamorous clients in the clinical setting (by Joy Davidson) addressed various areas of inquiry. This included the importance of talking about alternatives to monogamy, how therapists can work with those who are exploring polyamory, basic understandings of polyamory, and key issues that therapists need to watch for in the course of working with polyamorous clients. It concluded that "Sweeping changes are occurring in the sexual and relational landscape" (including "dissatisfaction with limitations of serial monogamy, i.e. exchanging one partner for another in the hope of a better outcome"); that clinicians need to start by "recognizing the array of possibilities that 'polyamory' encompasses" and "examine our culturally-based assumption that 'only monogamy is acceptable'" and how this bias impacts on the practice of therapy; the need for self-education about polyamory, basic understandings about the "rewards of the poly lifestyle" and the common social and relationship challenges faced by those involved, and the "shadow side" of polyamory, the potential existing for coercion, strong emotions in opposition, and jealousy. The paper also states that the configurations a therapist would be "most likely to see in practice" are individuals involved in primary-plus arrangements, monogamous couples wishing to explore non-monogamy for the first time, and "poly singles".

In 2002, the rights of polyamorous people were added to the mission of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, an American sex-positive advocacy and educational organization;{{cite web |url=https://ncsfreedom.org/who-we-are/the-history-of-the-ncsf/ |title=History of NCSF |author= |date=2020 |website=National Coalition for Sexual Freedom |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224181322/https://ncsfreedom.org/who-we-are/the-history-of-the-ncsf/ |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live }} a manual for psychotherapists who deal with polyamorous clients was published by them in September 2009, called What Psychotherapists Should Know About Polyamory (written by Geri Weitzman and others).{{cite book | last1 = Weitzman | first1 = Geri | display-authors = etal | title = What psychotherapists should know about polyamory | url = https://ncsfreedom.org/images/stories/pdfs/KAP/2010_poly_web.pdf | publisher = National Coalition for Sexual Freedom | location = Baltimore, Maryland | year = 2009 | access-date = September 8, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131126173943/https://ncsfreedom.org/images/stories/pdfs/KAP/2010_poly_web.pdf | archive-date = November 26, 2013 | url-status = live }}{{cite web|url=http://www.pinktherapy.com/portals/0/CourseResources/WhatPsychologistsShouldKnowaboutPolyRelationships.pdf|title=Counseling the Polyamorous Client: Implications for Competent Practice|author=Adrianne L. Johnson|date=2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201225024238/http://www.pinktherapy.com/portals/0/CourseResources/WhatPsychologistsShouldKnowaboutPolyRelationships.pdf|archive-date=December 25, 2020|url-status=live}}

The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom manages the Kink And Poly Aware Professionals Directory, which consists of an Internet directory of psychotherapeutic, medical, and other professionals who have volunteered to be contacted by people who are involved in polyamory (and/or BDSM, etc.).{{cite book|author1=David M. Ortmann|author2=Richard A. Sprott|title=Sexual Outsiders: Understanding BDSM Sexualities and Communities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OSY3uy8xcogC&pg=PA137|date=15 November 2012|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-1737-9|pages=137–|access-date=March 3, 2021|archive-date=March 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310100817/https://books.google.com/books?id=OSY3uy8xcogC&pg=PA137|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.kapprofessionals.org/|title=Kink Aware Professionals (KAP) – Sex-Positive Support for Kink and Nonmonogamy|access-date=March 3, 2021|archive-date=March 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210327210101/https://kapprofessionals.org/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.kapprofessionals.org/|title=Welcome to the New Kink And Poly Aware Professionals Directory (KAP)|website=Kink Aware Professionals (KAP)|access-date=March 3, 2021|archive-date=March 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210327210101/https://kapprofessionals.org/|url-status=live}}

The Polyamory-Friendly Professionals Directory is a directory on the Internet "of professionals who are sensitive to the unique needs of polyamorous clientele"; it includes psychologists, therapists, medical professionals, and other professionals.{{Cite web|title=Polyamory-Friendly Professionals Directory: Search|url=https://www.polyfriendly.org/|access-date=2021-03-26|website=www.polyfriendly.org|archive-date=May 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506013204/https://www.polyfriendly.org/|url-status=live}}

{{See also|List of fictional polyamorous characters}}

The Gods Themselves is a 1972 novel by Isaac Asimov, a third of which is devoted to describing an alien race in an alien dimension where romantic relationships are usually composed of three individuals and where conception, and orgasm, is only possible during sexual intercourse between all three partners at the same time (i.e., a threesome).Asimov, Isaac (1972). The Gods Themselves. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-02701-X

File:Cosplay of Starfire, Fanime 2015 (18142422915).jpg

Starfire, also known as Princess Koriand'r, is a fictional superhero appearing in books published by DC Comics, who debuted in a preview story inserted within DC Comics Presents #26 (October 1980) and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez;{{cite book |last1=Cowsill |first1=Alan |last2=Irvine |first2=Alex |last3=Korte |first3=Steve |last4=Manning |first4=Matt |last5=Wiacek |first5=Win |last6=Wilson |first6=Sven |title=The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe |date=2016 |publisher=DK Publishing |isbn=978-1-4654-5357-0 |page=284}} she was shown to be a polyamorous character. Starfire was raised on the world of Tamaran where it was acceptable to have an open marriage. Some critics argue that after arriving on Earth, she remained sex-positive and free-thinking, remaining open to polygamous relationships, open sex, and pansexual "free-love" with anyone, often leading to conflict with Earth's more reserved culture and customs.{{cite web |last1=Century |first1=Sara |title=Why Starfire's polyamory matters |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/why-starfires-polyamory-matters |website=Syfy Wire |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203182225/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/why-starfires-polyamory-matters |archive-date=February 3, 2020 |date=October 18, 2018 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Schenkel |first1=Katie |title=The Case For Pansexual Starfire [Pride Week] |url=https://comicsalliance.com/pansexual-starfire-pride-week/ |website=ComicsAlliance |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203180724/https://comicsalliance.com/pansexual-starfire-pride-week/ |archive-date=February 3, 2020 |date=June 24, 2016 |url-status=live}} For Starfire, polyamory was a personal and cultural preference.

In 1989, the anime series Ranma ½ included a polyamorous character, Tatewaki, who is in love with both Akane and the "Pigtail Girl" (Ranma's female form) and proposes to date both, but they do not return his feelings.{{cite book |last=Yadao |first=Jason S. |date=2009 |title=The Rough Guide to Manga |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WcYex0sGmQ0C&pg=PA178 |location=London |publisher=Rough Guides |page=178 |isbn=9781858285610 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=March 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310100840/https://books.google.com/books?id=WcYex0sGmQ0C&pg=PA178 |url-status=live }}

Robert Jordan's fantasy book series The Wheel of Time, which began its run in 1990, is notable for its inclusion of various polyamorous relationships throughout the narrative. This includes the protagonist Rand al’Thor, who enters a romantic relationship with three women, Min, Aviendha and Elayne. The Aiel culture in the series also practice polyamory commonly.{{cite web |last1=Butler |first1=Leigh |title=The Wheel of Time Reread Redux: The Shadow Rising, Part 10 |url=https://reactormag.com/the-wheel-of-time-reread-redux-the-shadow-rising-part-10/ |website=Reactor |date=13 December 2016}} The books also hinted at a relationship between Alanna and her (male) warders Ihvon and Maksim, but it was not explored in detail until the 2021 television adaptation.{{cite web |title=The Wheel of Time boss talks exploring polyamory in season 2 and beyond |url=https://winteriscoming.net/2022/05/04/wheel-of-time-boss-on-expanding-romances-in-season-2-beyond/ |website=Winter is Coming |date=4 May 2022}}

In 2002, the Futurama episode "A Taste of Freedom" showed Old Man Waterfall, who is Zoidberg's defense attorney until killed by a giant crab warship, having seven wives and one husband.{{cite news|last=Handlen |first=Zack|title=Futurama: "A Taste Of Freedom"/"Bender Should Not Be Allowed On Television"|url=http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/futurama-taste-freedombender-should-not-be-allowed-221359|newspaper=The A.V. Club|date=June 25, 2015|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104094358/https://tv.avclub.com/futurama-a-taste-of-freedom-bender-should-not-be-al-1798184181|archive-date=November 4, 2019}} While Waterfall's case for Zoidberg is unsuccessful, the Supreme Court holds polygamy as legal, though this leads to jeers from spectators. The made-for-TV Futurama film, The Beast with a Billion Backs (published 2008), featured two polyamorous characters: Colleen O'Hallahan and Yivo. Colleen had five boyfriends, Fry, Chu, Ndulu, Schlomo and Bolt Rolands,{{cite news|last=O'Connor|first=Stuart|date=May 16, 2008|title=Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs (DVD)|newspaper=ScreenJabber|url=https://screenjabber.com/reviews/futurama_beastbillionbacksDVD/|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170604211035/https://screenjabber.com/reviews/futurama_beastbillionbacksDVD/|archive-date=June 4, 2017|url-status=usurped|quote=Fry decides to move in with Colleen [despite]...after making the horrifying discovery that he is merely one of the five boyfriends she shares her apartment with.}}{{efn|Fry breaks up with Colleen and becomes the messenger of Yivo after he states that their relationship is not working out.}} while Yivo is a planet-sized alien with no determinable gender, dating, then marrying all people of the universe at once.{{cite news|last=Callan|first=Jonathan|date=June 25, 2008|title=REVIEW - Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs|newspaper=CBR|url=https://www.cbr.com/review-futurama-the-beast-with-a-billion-backs//|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801025333/https://www.cbr.com/review-futurama-the-beast-with-a-billion-backs/|archive-date=August 1, 2020|quote=The first act parallels the rip in space with the introduction of Fry's new girlfriend, Colleen (voiced by Brittany Murphy), whom Fry soon discovers has four **other** boyfriends. This serves as a thematic lead-in to the plot that tackles notions of polygamous love head-on...It's in the third act, where humanity moves in with Yeevo, that the film really becomes something special...after being exposed as a randy bachelor, Yevo confesses: "Granted, at first I wished only to bang out a cheap one with your universe. But it's your own fault. Your universe dresses provocatively.""}} Fry and Colleen eventually break up. Afterwards, Yivo remains in a relationship with Colleen.{{cite news|last=Handlen|first=Zack|date=August 27, 2015|title=Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs|newspaper=The A.V. Club|url=https://www.avclub.com/futurama-the-beast-with-a-billion-backs-1798184720|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191225132057/https://tv.avclub.com/futurama-the-beast-with-a-billion-backs-1798184720|archive-date=December 25, 2019|url-status=live|quote=...while it's neat for Fry's relationship to Colleen to eventually end with Yivo deciding Colleen, with her group relationships, is the only person to really understand him, that doesn't make Colleen into a better written character, and it doesn't make Fry's romantic struggles more interesting in their own right.}}

The 21st century brought various new forms of representation of polyamory. In 2007, Daniel Help Justice's book Dreyd featured Tarsa, a priestess, warrior, and bisexual woman, as part of a polyamorous love triad. In 2009, Graham Nicholls founded www.polyamory.org.uk, the United Kingdom's first website about polyamory{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/taboo-tolerance/meet-the-polyamorists-ndash-a-growing-band-of-people-who-believe-that-more-lovers-equals-more-love-1785263.html|title=Meet the polyamorists – a growing band of people who believe|date=October 22, 2011|website=The Independent|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224210024/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/taboo-tolerance/meet-the-polyamorists-ndash-a-growing-band-of-people-who-believe-that-more-lovers-equals-more-love-1785263.html |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=December 24, 2020}} and the Mom of Pina in Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli's novel, Love You Two was shown to be polyamorous and bisexual, leading Pina on a journey to explore the "complex spectrum of sex and love" in humanity itself. In 2010, the series Lost Girl began. It included Bo Dennis, a bisexual succubus which must sustain herself by feeding from the life force of male and female Fae and humans, via oral intake or the energy created through sex. In the first two seasons she was involved romantically with Dyson (a heterosexual shapeshifter) and Lauren (a lesbian human). Later on, Bo tried to have a monogamous relationship with Lauren, with Bo and Lauren remaining in love with each other through ups and downs, and later accepting each other as a couple by the end of the series.{{cite web|last1=Igarashi|first1=Hayley|title=The ABCs of Doccubus, TV's Steamy Succubus Romance|url=http://www.zimbio.com/Beyond+the+Tube/articles/yJF-eSjopRg/ABCs+Doccubus+TV+Steamy+Succubus+Romance|website=Zimbio|date=March 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200629185241/https://www.zimbio.com/Beyond+the+Tube/articles/yJF-eSjopRg/ABCs+Doccubus+TV+Steamy+Succubus+Romance|archive-date=June 29, 2020|access-date=December 24, 2020}}{{cite web|last1=Liszewski|first1=Bridget|title=Lost Girl's Anna Silk is Eager to Reunite with Cast Mates and Meet Fans at ClexaCon 2018|url=http://www.thetvjunkies.com/clexacon-anna-silk-interview/|website=The TV Junkies|date=March 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007040334/https://www.thetvjunkies.com/clexacon-anna-silk-interview/|archive-date=October 7, 2018|access-date=December 24, 2020}}

Polyamorous characters appeared in various media in the 2010s. In the 2010 television show Caprica, several main characters are portrayed as being in a polyfidelitous-style marriage consisting of multiple men and women, with each member being equal socially and legally.{{cite web |url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/is-caprica-the-big-love-of-science-fiction-5476787 |title=Is Caprica the Big Love Of Science Fiction? |last=Newitz |first=Annalee |date=February 22, 2010 |access-date=March 15, 2021 |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411105041/https://io9.gizmodo.com/is-caprica-the-big-love-of-science-fiction-5476787 |url-status=live }} From 2012 to 2013, the American reality television series on the American pay television network Showtime, Polyamory: Married & Dating, was broadcast. It followed polyamorous families as they navigated the challenges presented by polyamory.{{cite web|last=Juzwiak|first=Rich|url=http://gawker.com/5929318/showtimes-polyamory-is-trashy-profound-and-the-best-reality-show-on-tv|website=Gawker|title=Showtime's Polyamory Is Trashy, Profound and the Best Reality Show on TV|date=June 26, 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130123204528/http://gawker.com/5929318/showtimes-polyamory-is-trashy-profound-and-the-best-reality-show-on-tv|archive-date=January 23, 2013|url-status=live|access-date=December 24, 2020}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/polyamory-exploring-the-ins-and-outs-of-multiple-partners/article4560587/?page=all|title=Polyamory: Exploring the ins and outs of multiple partners|last=Fraser|first=Jeff|date=September 21, 2012|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028060423/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/polyamory-exploring-the-ins-and-outs-of-multiple-partners/article4560587/?page=all|archive-date=October 28, 2018}}{{cite news|url=https://www.sho.com/polyamory-married-and-dating|title=Polyamory: Married & Dating official website|date=2020|work=Showtime|access-date=August 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180604060839/https://www.sho.com/polyamory-married-and-dating/cast/kamala|archive-date=June 4, 2018|url-status=dead}} Around the same time, the webcomic Kimchi Cuddles began, which portrayed polyamorous people like other characters, "only with more partners to steal their blankets."{{cite web |last1=Wong |first1=Britany |title=10 Comics That Show What Polyamorous Love Is Really Like |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/polyamory-comics_n_586c1ea2e4b0de3a08f9f240 |website=HuffPost |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190208193505/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/polyamory-comics_n_586c1ea2e4b0de3a08f9f240 |archive-date=February 8, 2019 |date=January 5, 2017 |url-status=live}} The following years featured a polyamorous captain in Jacqueline Koyanagi's novel, Ascension,{{cite web |last1=Stepaniuk |first1=Casey |url=https://bookriot.com/eight-books-with-queer-polyamorous-characters/ |title=8 Books with Queer Polyamorous Characters |publisher=Book Riot |date=November 16, 2016 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801034800/https://bookriot.com/eight-books-with-queer-polyamorous-characters/ |archive-date=August 1, 2020 }} and three characters (Reese, David, and Amber) in a relationship in Malinda Lo's novel, Inheritance. In 2011, American Horror Story: Hotel began, with Countess Elizabeth Johnson, played by Lady Gaga, beginning a relationship with famed film actor Rudolph Valentino and his wife, Natacha Rambova, as seen in episode seven.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/arts/television/american-horror-story-season-5-episode-7-gods-and-monsters.html|title='American Horror Story' Season 5, Episode 7: Gods and Monsters|last=Hanks|first=E. A.|date=November 19, 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 24, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128014611/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/arts/television/american-horror-story-season-5-episode-7-gods-and-monsters.html|archive-date=November 28, 2017}} The following year, the YouTube show The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo would show a couple working through their decision to convert from monogamy to polyamory,{{cite news|last=Byrne|first=Catie|title=The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo|url=https://carolinianuncg.com/2017/08/23/the-gay-and-wondrous-life-of-caleb-gallo/|newspaper=The Carolinian (newspaper)|date=June 26, 2016|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801031739/https://carolinianuncg.com/2017/08/23/the-gay-and-wondrous-life-of-caleb-gallo/|archive-date=August 1, 2020|quote=Dubbed by fans as the “throuple scene,” this unusual sort of tit for tat homoerotic and polyamorous sexuality encapsulates the dynamic humor and sexual fluidity between characters on the show.}} like Brian Jordan Alvarez, who considers himself polyamorous.{{cite news|last=Horowitz|first=Steven J.|title=Chatting With "Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo" Creator Brian Jordan Alvarez|url=https://www.papermag.com/brian-jordan-alvarez-gay-wondrous-life-caleb-gallo-1891129577.html|newspaper=Paper Magazine|date=June 26, 2016|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024014951/https://www.papermag.com/brian-jordan-alvarez-gay-wondrous-life-caleb-gallo-1891129577.html|archive-date=October 24, 2019|quote=I never want to be monogamous and I'm always falling into this super lovey-dovey kind of love with guys, and then they think that it's implied monogamy when in fact, the texture of my love is monogamous, but my mental and sexual desires are polyamorous.}}

From 2015 to 2017, in the webcomic Always Human by Ari North, the parents of Sunati (Nisa and Prav) were shown to be in a polyamorous relationship with a man named Vish, who Nisa calls "our boyfriend".{{Cite comic | cartoonist = Ari North | story = Here Goes Nothing | title = Always Human | volume = 2 | issue = 69 | date = April 7, 2017 | publisher = Webtoon | url = https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/always-human/season-2-69-here-goes-nothing/viewer?title_no=557&episode_no=75 | access-date = December 24, 2020 | archive-date = April 11, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210411194805/https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/always-human/season-2-69-here-goes-nothing/viewer?title_no=557&episode_no=75 | url-status = live }} {{Cite web |url=https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/always-human/season-2-69-here-goes-nothing/viewer?title_no=557&episode_no=75 |title=Always Human - [Season 2] 69 - Here Goes Nothing |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411194805/https://www.webtoons.com/en/romance/always-human/season-2-69-here-goes-nothing/viewer?title_no=557&episode_no=75 |url-status=bot: unknown }} In another webcomic, Unknown Lands, which began in 2015, Vard is shown to be polyamorous,{{cite web|url=http://unknownlands.thecomicseries.com/cast/|title=Cast |website=Unknown Lands the comic series |last=Rosi |first=Kämpe |date=September 11, 2015|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222102803/http://unknownlands.thecomicseries.com/cast/|archive-date=February 22, 2020|url-status=live}} along with most of the cast having a queer sexual identity. The webcomic itself has environmental, feminist, and LGBTQ+ themes.{{Cite web|url=http://stripshowcomicrevu.blogspot.com/2016/09/|title=Backstage Pass September: Rosi Kampe|date=September 23, 2016|access-date=December 24, 2020|website=The Strip Show, a Webcomic Revue|last=otterchild|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200202201910/http://stripshowcomicrevu.blogspot.com/2016/09/|archive-date=February 2, 2020|url-status=live}} A few years later, the 2017 film Professor Marston and the Wonder Women focuses on the real-life polyamorous relationship between the professor, psychologist William Moulton Marston (the creator of Wonder Woman), his wife and research partner Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and their student, Olive Byrne, as they share a "workplace, a bed, a home and eventually a family."{{cite news|last=Smith|first=Anna|title=How movies brought polyamory into the mainstream|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/16/sex-wonder-women-threesomes-polyamory-film-professor-marston|newspaper=The Guardian|date=November 16, 2017|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616034327/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/16/sex-wonder-women-threesomes-polyamory-film-professor-marston|archive-date=June 16, 2019}} Furthermore, fiction writer Cassandra Clare stated that Mark Blackthorn in The Dark Artifices book series would "definitely be open to a polyamorous relationship",{{cite web |last1=Clare |first1=Cassandra |url=https://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post/123604632919/hi-cassie-i-wanted-to-say-thank-you-for-these |title=Hi Cassie, I wanted to say thank you for these... |publisher=Cassandra Clare's official Tumblr |date=July 11, 2015 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170530185748/https://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post/123604632919/hi-cassie-i-wanted-to-say-thank-you-for-these |archive-date=May 30, 2017 }} but would not cheat or lie, while noting that another such relationship between other characters would not be possible.{{cite web |last1=Clare |first1=Cassandra |url=https://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post/103475114209/clockworks-and-triads |title=Clockworks and triads |publisher=Cassandra Clare's official Tumblr |date=July 18, 2015 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150718052533/https://cassandraclare.tumblr.com/post/103475114209/clockworks-and-triads |archive-date=July 18, 2015 }} Eventually, he ends up in a polyamorous triangle, with a girlfriend and a boyfriend who are dating each other. Additionally, writer K. Ancrum confirmed that polyamorous characters were in two of her books (The Wicker King and The Weight of the Stars), but did not name any specific characters.{{cite web |author=K. Ancrum |url=https://kancrum.com/book-f-a-q/ |title=Author F.A.Q |publisher=K. Ancrum's official website |date=2020 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002015113/https://kancrum.com/book-f-a-q/ |archive-date=October 2, 2020 }} At the same time, Em, best friend of the protagonist in two books by Leigh Matthews (Don't Bang the Barista and Go Deep) is a bisexual woman dating a man in the first book, but by the second book she has "happily settled into a poly triad", wondering how she will get married.

On May 29, 2017, in the last season of Steven Universe, Fluorite, a member of the Off Colors, a fusion of six different gems into one being, with fusion as the physical manifestation of a relationship, was introduced. This character reappeared in various episodes in the show's fifth season ("Lars Head", "Lars of the Stars", "Your Mother and Mine"), the season 5 finale, "Change Your Mind", along with one in Steven Universe Future ("Little Graduation") and in Steven Universe: The Movie,{{cite AV media |people=Sugar, Rebecca (director), Jones-Quartey, Ian (Writer), Brewster, Miki (Writer), Abrams, Lamar (Writer) |date=September 2, 2019 |title=Steven Universe: The Movie |trans-title=Steven Universe: The Movie |medium=TV Movie |language=en |url=https://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Network-Steven-Universe-Movie/dp/B07W8HR413/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Steven+Universe%3A+The+Movie&qid=1577818294&sr=8-1 |access-date=December 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231185355/https://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-Network-Steven-Universe-Movie/dp/B07W8HR413/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Steven+Universe%3A+The+Movie&qid=1577818294&sr=8-1 |archive-date=December 31, 2019 |format=Prime video |time=8 PM |location=United States |publisher=Cartoon Network |id=B07W8HR413 }} with the latter two as non-speaking appearances. The series creator, Rebecca Sugar, confirmed that Fluorite is a representation of a polyamorous relationship at the show's Comic Con panel in San Diego.{{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=Tracy|title='Steven Universe's' Rebecca Sugar confirms Fluorite is a representation of a polyamorous relationship|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-comic-con-2017-updates-htmlstory.html#steven-universes-rebecca-sugar-confirms-fluorite-is-a-representation-of-a-polyamorous-relationship|access-date=31 December 2019|work=L.A. Times|date=21 July 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191231181547/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-comic-con-2017-updates-htmlstory.html%23steven-universes-rebecca-sugar-confirms-fluorite-is-a-representation-of-a-polyamorous-relationship|archive-date=December 31, 2019|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Kelley|first1=Shamus|title=Steven Universe: 9 Things We Learned|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/steven-universe/266722/steven-universe-9-things-we-learned|access-date=31 December 2019|work=Den of Geek|date=August 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231182319/https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/steven-universe/266722/steven-universe-9-things-we-learned|archive-date=December 31, 2019|url-status=live}} Sugar said at the panel, and at another conference, that she was inspired after talking with children at an LGBTQ+ center in Long Beach, California, who wanted a polyamorous character in the show.{{cite web|url=https://animesuperhero.com/sdcc-2017-steven-universe-panel/|title=SDCC 2017: The "Steven Universe" Panel|author=slai|date=August 9, 2017|website=Anime Superhero|access-date=December 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191231182021/https://animesuperhero.com/sdcc-2017-steven-universe-panel/|archive-date=December 31, 2019|url-status=live}} Steven Universe was not alone in this regard. The fourth season of BoJack Horseman, a mature animated series, featured a character named Hollyhock, the sister of the protagonist, who has eight adoptive fathers{{efn|Dashawn Manheim, Steve Mannheim, Jose Guerrero, Cupe Robinson III, Otto Zilberschlag, Arturo "Ice Man" Fonzerelli, Gregory Hsung, and Quackers McQuack}} in a polyamorous gay relationship.{{cite news|last=Nickalls|first=Sammy|title=The Tricky Problem With Hollyhock in 'BoJack Horseman' Season 4|url=https://dotandline.net/hollyhock-bojack-horseman-season-4-456f9384f8b9/|newspaper=Dot and Line|date=September 21, 2017|access-date=December 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200327045505/https://dotandline.net/hollyhock-bojack-horseman-season-4-456f9384f8b9/|archive-date=March 27, 2020|quote=The adopted daughter of eight polyamorous fathers, she [Hollyhock] informs him [Bojack] right off the bat that she's not looking for a ninth dad in BoJack—who, thanks to the results of a Todd-facilitated DNA test, she believes to be her biological father.}} The same year, Unicornland premiered, with eight-episode web series focusing on Annie's exploration into polyamory after her divorce.{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/tv-is-finally-starting-to-get-polyamory-right/|title=TV Is Finally Starting to Get Polyamory Right|last=Novick|first=Ilana|date=April 10, 2017|website=Vice News |language=en-US|access-date=December 24, 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507213037/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vvk5q9/tv-is-finally-starting-to-get-polyamory-right|archive-date=May 7, 2020}}

Polyamory was the subject of the 2018 Louis Theroux documentary Love Without Limits, where Theroux travels to Portland, Oregon, to meet a number of people engaged in polyamorous relationships.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/nov/04/altered-states-love-without-limits-review-louis-theroux-treads-his-tightrope|title=Altered States: Love Without Limits review – Louis Theroux treads his tightrope|first=Lucy|last=Mangan|date=November 4, 2018|website=The Guardian|access-date=November 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107034216/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/nov/04/altered-states-love-without-limits-review-louis-theroux-treads-his-tightrope|archive-date=November 7, 2018|url-status=live}} Also in 2018, 195 Lewis, a web series about a black lesbian couple dealing with their relationship being newly polyamorous,{{cite web |last1=Lao |first1=Sameer |url=https://www.colorlines.com/articles/black-queer-couple-candidly-explores-polyamory-195-lewis |title=A Black Queer Couple Candidly Explores Polyamory in '195 Lewis' |publisher=ColorLines |date=November 17, 2017 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417183726/https://www.colorlines.com/articles/black-queer-couple-candidly-explores-polyamory-195-lewis|archive-date=April 17, 2019}} received the Breakthrough Series – Short Form award from the Gotham Awards.{{cite web |author=Rachel Montpelier |url=https://womenandhollywood.com/2018-gotham-awards-wins-for-chloe-zhaos-the-rider-killing-eve-elsie-fisher-more/ |title=2018 Gotham Awards: Wins for Chloé Zhao's "The Rider," "Killing Eve," Elsie Fisher, & More |publisher=Women and Hollywood |access-date=November 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128034845/https://womenandhollywood.com/2018-gotham-awards-wins-for-chloe-zhaos-the-rider-killing-eve-elsie-fisher-more/ |archive-date=November 28, 2018 |url-status=live }} The series premiered in 2017 and ran for five episodes.{{cite web |url=http://www.195lewis.com/events/2017/11/16/195-lewis-online-premiere |title=195 Lewis Online Premiere!! — 195 Lewis |publisher=195lewis.com |date=November 16, 2017 |access-date=November 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127234333/http://www.195lewis.com/events/2017/11/16/195-lewis-online-premiere |archive-date=November 27, 2018 |url-status=live }} The same year, the comic Open Earth premiered. The comic is set in the future and monogamous relationships are seen as outdated to all the young people on board the space station, all of whom are polyamorous. Author Sarah Mirk said that she wanted to write a story where "open relationships can be really positive and wonderful" and said that it is realistic to believe that people would "explore multiple relationships".{{cite interview |last=Mirk |first=Sarah |interviewer=Isabel |title=Erotic Sci-Fi Graphic Novel "Open Earth" Explores Polyamory In Space |type=Online |url=https://bust.com/books/195382-open-earth-interview.html |publisher=Bust |date=January 30, 2019 |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190130171318/https://bust.com/books/195382-open-earth-interview.html |archive-date=January 30, 2019 |url-status=live}}

Trigonometry is an eight-part BBC TV drama series which started on March 15, 2020, and is about an existing couple being joined by a third person and forming a polyamorous relationship. The BBC said that Trigonometry is "A love story about three people who are made for each other."{{cite web |title=Trigonometry |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0840zbt/trigonometry |website=BBC News |access-date=August 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224200517/https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0840zbt/trigonometry |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=When is polyamory drama Trigonometry on BBC Two? What is it about? |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-03-15/trigonometry-air-date/ |website=Radio Times |date=March 15, 2020 |access-date=August 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224200746/https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-03-15/trigonometry-air-date/ |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live }} In July 2021, Australian soap opera Neighbours explored polyamory with three of its main characters. Actress Jacinta Stapleton was proud to be involved in the story arc, stating: "I think we should always try to reflect real intimate relationships in our society. Polyamory certainly is a part of that. The more we represent the beautifully diverse nature and uniqueness of humans, the more people will feel accepted and seen."{{cite web|url=https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/neighbours/a37066297/neighbours-spoilers-ned-amy-levi-polyamorous/|title=Neighbours' Ned Willis suggests polyamorous relationship in new storyline|last=Lee|first=Jess|date=July 19, 2021|publisher=Digital Spy|access-date=August 16, 2021|archive-date=August 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816132349/https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/neighbours/a37066297/neighbours-spoilers-ned-amy-levi-polyamorous/|url-status=live}}

File:Polyamory pride in San Francisco 2004.jpg 2004]]

Metamour Day is celebrated every year on February 28. It celebrates the relationships people have with their metamours (partners' other significant others, often referred to as metamours or OSOs.){{cite web |url=https://ncsfreedom.org/metamour-day-2/ |title=Metamour Day is February 28! |author= |date=2020 |website=National Coalition for Sexual Freedom |access-date=December 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730174747/https://ncsfreedom.org/metamour-day-2/ |archive-date=July 30, 2020 |url-status=live }}

Polyamory Pride Day is celebrated every year on a day in Pride Month.

Polyamory groups sometimes participate in pride parades.{{Cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/when-you-have-2-lovers-the-holidays-can-be-tricky-108392|title=When you have 2 lovers, the holidays can be tricky|website=www.theconversation.com|date=December 18, 2018 |access-date=December 30, 2020|archive-date=June 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602201230/https://theconversation.com/amp/when-you-have-2-lovers-the-holidays-can-be-tricky-108392|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theshorthorn.com/life_and_entertainment/studies-find-polyamory-appeals-to-some/article_33bdd840-1994-11e7-83db-bb1545531b30.html|title=Studies find polyamory appeals to some|first=Renee Yan, The Shorthorn|last=staff|website=The Shorthorn|date=April 5, 2017 |access-date=December 30, 2020|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213191634/https://www.theshorthorn.com/life_and_entertainment/studies-find-polyamory-appeals-to-some/article_33bdd840-1994-11e7-83db-bb1545531b30.html|url-status=live}}

International Solo Polyamory Day is celebrated every year on September 24.

Polyamory Day is celebrated every year on November 23; that day was chosen because on November 23, 2011, the Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that the anti-polygamy law of Canada does not affect unformalized polyamorous households.

File:Bridgette Garozzo, spokesperson for the Polyamory Action Lobby.JPG

Loving More is a non-profit organization formed to support and advocate on behalf of polyamorous people. Founded in 1984, Loving More claims to be The oldest and longest-running polyamory organization.{{Cite web |date=2012-01-21 |title=About Loving More® |url=http://www.lovingmorenonprofit.org/aboutus/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Loving More Nonprofit |language=en-US}}

The Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association (CPAA) was founded in 2009. It "advocates on behalf of Canadians who practice polyamory. It [also] promotes legal, social, government, and institutional acceptance and support of polyamory, and advances the interests of the Canadian polyamorous community generally."{{cite web|author=Alan M. |url=https://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/2010/11/as-canadian-poly-case-nears-publicity.html |title=Polyamory in the News: As Canadian poly case nears, publicity ramps up |publisher=Polyinthemedia |date=November 11, 2010 |access-date=April 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224181534/https://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/2010/11/as-canadian-poly-case-nears-publicity.html |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=http://polyadvocacy.ca/about/ |title=About |publisher=Polyadvocacy.ca |access-date=December 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224181915/http://polyadvocacy.ca/about/ |archive-date=December 24, 2020 |url-status=live}}

The Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Non-monogamy (OPEN) was founded in the United States in 2022 as "a nonprofit organization dedicated to normalizing and empowering non-monogamous individuals and communities."{{Cite web|url=https://www.open-love.org/mission|title=Mission|website=OPEN|access-date=June 21, 2022|archive-date=April 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404081454/https://www.open-love.org/mission|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/style/non-monogamy-facebook-relationship-status.html|title=Non-Monogamy Advocates Ask Facebook to Be More Open|first=Valeriya|last=Safronova|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 17, 2022|access-date=June 22, 2022|archive-date=June 14, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614054226/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/style/non-monogamy-facebook-relationship-status.html|url-status=live}}

The Polyamory Action Lobby (PAL) was founded in 2013 in Australia to fight cultural misconceptions about polyamorous people and to fight for their legal rights.{{Cite web|url=https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2013/02/polyamorists-get-organised/|title=Polyamorists set up lobby group|first=Jason|last=Marshall|date=February 6, 2013|access-date=December 30, 2020|archive-date=August 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804014244/https://cityhubsydney.com.au/2013/02/polyamorists-get-organised/|url-status=live}}

The Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition (PLAC), based in the United States, "seeks to advance the civil and human rights of polyamorous individuals, communities, and families through legislative advocacy, public policy, and public education."{{Cite web|url=https://polyamorylegal.org/|title=Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition|website=Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition|access-date=March 24, 2021|archive-date=March 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210324014951/https://polyamorylegal.org/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Legal/PolyamoryLegal/about/|title=Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition|website=www.facebook.com|access-date=April 29, 2021|archive-date=April 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429155256/https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Legal/PolyamoryLegal/about/|url-status=live}}

The UK Polyamory Association (UKPA) was founded by Giulia Smith.{{cite web | url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society/62157/from-open-relationships-to-polycules-polyamory-is-monogamy-over#:~:text=She%27s%20a%20trustee%20of%20the,of%20reliable%20information%20about%20polyamory | title=From open relationships to polycules: Is monogamy over? }} Its mission statement is, “The UK Polyamory Association exists to support the needs of polyamorous people and communities across the UK. We aim to increase public awareness and acceptance of polyamory, and challenge stigma through advocacy, positive representation, and education.”{{Cite web|url=https://ukpolyamory.org/|title=Welcome to the UK Polyamory Association - UKPA|date=June 27, 2022}}{{Cite web|url=https://ukpolyamory.org/index.php/ukpa-mission-statement-and-what-we-do/|title=UKPA Mission Statement & What We Do - UKPA|date=June 27, 2022}}

Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness (UUPA) was founded in 2001. It "has as its mission to serve the Unitarian Universalist Association and the community of polyamorous people within and outside the UUA by providing support, promoting education, and encouraging spiritual wholeness regarding polyamory."

Yasmin Nair, a co-founder of Against Equality, has criticized polyamory. She has stated that polyamorists are not inherently radical,{{cite podcast |url=https://www.listennotes.com/id/podcasts/unpopular-front/content-warning-bunker-w-8DwlKoRmy-G/ |title=Content Warning: Bunker w/ Yasmin Nair (3.2.19) |website=Unpopular Front |publisher=Listen Notes |host=Ben Udashen |date=March 2, 2019 |access-date=December 27, 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201227163502/https://www.listennotes.com/id/podcasts/unpopular-front/content-warning-bunker-w-8DwlKoRmy-G/ |archive-date=December 27, 2020 }} and said that the discourse around polyamory is unengaging and not liberating, only fetishizing a "peculiar form of monogamy...and long-term relationships".{{cite web |url=https://yasminnair.com/newt-gingrich-polyamorist/ |title=Newt Gingrich: Polyamorist? |last=Nair |first=Yasmin |date=January 19, 2012 |website=Yasmin Nair's official website |publisher=WordPress |access-date=December 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227163051/https://yasminnair.com/newt-gingrich-polyamorist/ |archive-date=December 27, 2020 |url-status=live}} In a 2013 article in The Guardian, Julie Bindel described polyamory a "co-opting and rebranding of polygamy". She argued that contemporary proponents of polyamory often overlooked gender dynamics and characterized it as a choice predominantly made by "overwhelmingly white, affluent, university-educated, and privileged folk".{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/26/polyamory-no-favours-for-women |title=Rebranding polyamory does women no favors |last=Bindel |first=Julie |author-link=Julie Bindel|date=August 26, 2013 |website=The Guardian |access-date=December 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227170332/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/26/polyamory-no-favours-for-women |archive-date=December 27, 2020 |url-status=live}} The conservative National Review claimed that "widespread acceptance of polyamory could make society worse off" with supposed false notions of honesty.{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/polyamory-elevating-sexual-desires-over-obligations-has-predictable-consequences/ |title=The Counterfeit 'Honesty' of Polyamory |last1=Frost |first1=Daniel |last2=Boyd |first2=Hal |date=January 7, 2010 |website=National Review |access-date=December 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227170833/https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/polyamory-elevating-sexual-desires-over-obligations-has-predictable-consequences/ |archive-date=December 27, 2020 |url-status=live}} Conor Friedersdorf, writing in The Atlantic in 2015, expressed his opposition to polyamorous civil marriages.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/case-against-polygamy/397823/ |title=The Case Against Encouraging Polygamy |last1=Friedersdorf |first1=Conor |date=July 9, 2015 |website=The Atlantic |access-date=December 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227171638/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/case-against-polygamy/397823/ |archive-date=December 27, 2020 |url-status=live}}

{{Main|List of polyamorists}}

• Dossie Easton, co-author of The Ethical Slut and other works{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/04/23/the-ethical-slut-returns.html |title=The Ethical Slut Returns |last=Beckerman |first=Marty |date=23 April 2009 |work=The Daily Beast |accessdate=29 June 2012 |archive-date=May 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170513133806/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2009/04/23/the-ethical-slut-returns.html |url-status=live }}
• Terisa Greenan, writer, actress, filmmaker, and creator of Family: the web series{{cite news |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-based-family-webisodes-no-ordinary-sexy-sitcom/ |title=Seattle-based 'Family' webisodes no ordinary sexy sitcom |first=Mark |last=Rahner |work=The Seattle Times |date=March 9, 2009 |accessdate=2020-06-14 |archive-date=June 12, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220612181933/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-based-family-webisodes-no-ordinary-sexy-sitcom/ |url-status=live }}
• Laurell K. Hamilton, writer, known for Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter{{cite news |url=https://www.laurellkhamilton.com/what-polyamory-is-and-what-polyamory-isnt/ |title=What Polyamory is, and What Polyamory isn't |date=April 1, 2015 |access-date=June 12, 2022 |archive-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006131040/https://www.laurellkhamilton.com/what-polyamory-is-and-what-polyamory-isnt/ |url-status=live }}
• Janet Hardy, writer and sex educator, and founder of Greenery PressSachie Godwin, Clamor Magazine, {{cite web |url=http://clamormagazine.org/issues/17/feature1.php |title=Perfect Bound |access-date=2010-03-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405081037/http://clamormagazine.org/issues/17/feature1.php |archive-date=2010-04-05 }}, issue 17, 2002{{cite web |url=https://slutandsons.com/about/ |title=about the author |publisher=slutandsons.com |date=2020-07-14 |accessdate=2021-03-03 |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706202923/https://slutandsons.com/about/ |url-status=usurped }}
• Brenda Howard, bisexual rights activist{{cite web |url=http://lgbthistorymonth.com/brenda-howard?tab=biography |title=Brenda Howard | LGBTHistoryMonth.com |publisher=lgbthistorymonth.com |accessdate=4 October 2014 |archive-date=July 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712044732/http://lgbthistorymonth.com/brenda-howard?tab=biography |url-status=live }}
• Willow Smith, American musician{{Cite web |title=Willow Smith comes out as polyamorous — and reveals the 'only' reason she'd get married |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/willow-smith-comes-out-polyamorous-red-table-talk-t216783 |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=TODAY.com |date=April 28, 2021 |language=en |archive-date=January 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117172323/https://www.today.com/popculture/willow-smith-comes-out-polyamorous-red-table-talk-t216783 |url-status=live }}

{{gallery

|File:Polyamory Pride Flag.svg

|The earliest polyamory pride flag design, created by Jim Evans in 1995.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/06/polyamorous-flag-look-like/|title=What does the polyamorous flag look like?|first=Matthias|last=Walsh|website=LGBTQ Nation|date=June 17, 2022|access-date=June 25, 2022|archive-date=June 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625193539/https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/06/polyamorous-flag-look-like/|url-status=live}} The Greek letter Pi stands for the first letter in the word polyamory. Evans wanted a symbol that could be used without drawing wider attention.{{Cite web|url=https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g39944774/lgbtq-flags/|title=21 LGBTQ Flags and What They Symbolize|first=Lizz|last=Schumer|date=May 16, 2022|website=Good Housekeeping|access-date=June 25, 2022|archive-date=June 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623055041/http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g39944774/lgbtq-flags/|url-status=live}}

|File:Tricolor Polyamory Pride Flag.svg

|A polyamory pride flag designed by Red Howell. The design was chosen in 2022, selected from four candidates via an online survey conducted by the blog PolyamProud.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?321532|title=LGBTQ Agenda: New polyamorous flag is revealed|website=Bay Area Reporter}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.polyamproud.com/flag/|title=New Tricolor Polyamory Pride Flag|date=November 23, 2022|access-date=November 27, 2022|archive-date=November 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123105339/https://www.polyamproud.com/flag/|url-status=live}}

|File:Polyamory woven.svg

|The "infinity heart" is a widely used symbol of polyamory.{{cite web |url=http://www.hevanet.com/alexwest/parrots/symbolist.html |title=A List of Poly Symbols |access-date=2002-05-11 |author=West, Alex |date=2001-02-06 |quote=variations on Pi-and-the-three-colors the ILIC symbol ... The symbol that started this category, Jim Evans' Poly Pride Flag. He has put this image in the public domain ... "ILIC" stands for Infinite Love in Infinite Combinations (a reference to Star Trek's IDIC credo --- the D in the Star Trek version stands for "Diversity"). |archive-date=June 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608074130/http://www.hevanet.com/alexwest/parrots/symbolist.html |url-status=live }}

}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=35em|

• {{Annotated link|Amatonormativity}}
• {{Annotated link|Mononormativity}}
• {{Annotated link|Free love}}
• {{Annotated link|Group marriage}}
• {{Annotated link|Group sex}}
• {{Annotated link|Ménage à trois}}
• {{Annotated link|Non-monogamy}}
• {{Annotated link|Open relationship}}
• {{Annotated link|Polyamory in the United States}}
• {{Annotated link|Polyday}}
• {{Annotated link|Polyfidelity}}
• {{Annotated link|Relationship anarchy}}
• {{Annotated link|Romantic orientation}}
• {{Annotated link|Sociosexual orientation}}
• {{Annotated link|Terminology within polyamory}}

}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last1=Barker |first1=Meg |last2=Langdridge |first2=Darren |title=Understanding non-monogamies |publisher=Routledge |publication-place=New York |year=2012 |isbn=9780415652964 |id={{OCLC|574760499|1107788606}} |url=https://www.routledge.com/Understanding-Non-Monogamies/Barker-Langdridge/p/book/9780415652964 |url-access=subscription}}
• {{cite book |last=Taormino |first=Tristan |author-link=Tristan Taormino|title=Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships |publisher=Cleis Press |publication-place=San Francisco, Calif |year=2008 |isbn=978-1573444972 |oclc=701109107}}

{{Further reading cleanup|date=May 2025|reason=Most or all of these were added by Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/FutureBuilder14 }}

• {{cite book |last1=Anapol |first1=Deborah M. |author-link=Deborah Anapol |title=Polyamory: The New Love Without Limits: Secrets of Sustainable Intimate Relationships |date=1997 |publisher=IntiNet Resource Center |publication-place=San Rafael |isbn=978-1-880789-08-7}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Antalffy |first1=Nikó |last2=Houston |first2=Lola D. |title=Polyamory |journal=The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies |date=2016 |pages=1–4 |isbn=978-1-4051-9694-9 |doi=10.1002/9781118663219.wbegss136 |oclc=933432480}}
• {{cite book |last1=Bloedel |first1=Abbi |last2=Manning |first2=Jimmie |chapter=Exploring polyamory online: Ethics, relationships and understanding |editor-last=Nixon |editor-first=Paul G. |editor-last2=Düsterhöft |editor-first2=Isabel K. |title=Sex in the Digital Age |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1-315-44622-6 |oclc=1001338082 |doi=10.4324/9781315446240-15 |pages=195–211}} [{{GBurl|id=NR0xDwAAQBAJ|pg=PT195}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite journal |last1=Brunning |first1=Luke |title=The Distinctiveness of Polyamory |journal=Journal of Applied Philosophy |date=2018 |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=513–531 |doi=10.1111/japp.12240 |issn=0264-3758 |jstor=26811073 |oclc=7799693841}}
• {{cite book |last1=Brunning |first1=Luke |chapter=Polyamory: The Future of Love? |editor-last=Grahle |editor-first=André |editor-last2=McKeever |editor-first2=Natasha |editor-last3=Saunders |editor-first3=Joe |title=Philosophy of Love in the Past, Present, and Future |date=2022 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-1-003-01433-1 |oclc=1273727672 |doi=10.4324/9781003014331 |pages=150–163}} [{{GBurl|id=0YlUEAAAQBAJ|pg=PT150}} Partial preview] at Google Books.
• {{cite journal |last=Cardoso |first=Daniel |last2=Pascoal |first2=Patricia M. |last3=Maiochi |first3=Francisco Hertel |title=Defining Polyamory: A Thematic Analysis of Lay People's Definitions |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=50 |issue=4 |date=2021 |issn=0004-0002 |pmid=34046765 |pmc=8321986 |doi=10.1007/s10508-021-02002-y |doi-access=free |pages=1239–1252 |url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10508-021-02002-y.pdf |oclc=9053599511}}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Cutas |first1=Daniela |title=Polyamory |encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Ethics |publisher=Wiley |date=2013-02-15 |isbn=978-1-4051-8641-4 |doi=10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee827 |pages=1–4}}
• {{cite book |last1=Easton |first1=Dossie |author1-link=Dossie Easton |last2=Liszt |first2=Catherine |author2-link=Janet Hardy |title=The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities |title-link=The Ethical Slut |publisher=Greenery Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-307-79048-4 |oclc=933473102 |ref=none}} {{Internet Archive|id=ethicalslut00doss|name=The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities}}
• {{cite journal |last=Gupta |first=Shivangi |last2=Tarantino |first2=Mari |last3=Sanner |first3=Caroline |title=A scoping review of research on polyamory and consensual non-monogamy: Implications for a more inclusive family science |journal=Journal of Family Theory & Review |volume=16 |issue=2 |date=2024 |issn=1756-2570 |doi=10.1111/jftr.12546 |doi-access=free |pages=151–190 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/jftr.12546 |oclc=10077848078}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hnatkovičová |first1=D. |last2=Bianchi |first2=G. |title=Model of motivations for engaging in polyamorous relationships |journal=Sexologies |date=2022 |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=184–194 |doi=10.1016/j.sexol.2022.03.003 |doi-access=free |issn=1158-1360 |oclc=9510963844}}
• {{cite book |last=Kaldera |first=Raven |title=agan Polyamory: Becoming a Tribe of Hearts |publisher=Llewellyn |publication-place=Woodbury, MN |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-7387-0762-4 |oclc=60742176}}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Klesse |first1=Christian |title=Polyamory |editor1-last=Whelehan |editor1-first=Patricia |editor2-last=Bolin |editor2-first=Anne |encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality |volume=2 |date=2015 |pages=861–1042 |doi=10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs352 |isbn=978-1-4051-9006-0 |oclc=907684392}}
• {{cite book |last=Labriola |first=Kathy |title=Love in Abundance: A Counselor's Advice on Open Relationships |publisher=Greenery Press |publication-place=Eugene, OR |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-937609-47-7 |oclc=793002426 |url=https://archive.org/details/loveinabundancec0000labr |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Milona |first1=Michael |last2=Weindling |first2=Lauren |title=The Story of Romantic Love and Polyamory |journal=Journal of Applied Philosophy |date=2024 |doi=10.1111/japp.12764 |doi-access=free |oclc=10395234777 |issn=0264-3758 }}
• {{cite book |last=Ravenscroft |first=Anthony |title=Polyamory: Roadmaps for the Clueless and Hopeful: an Introduction on Polyamory |publisher=Fenris Brothers |publication-place=Santa Fe, NM |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-890109-53-0 |oclc=1392329517 |url=https://archive.org/details/polyamoryroadmap0000rave |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Sandbakken |first1=Ella Marie |last2=Skrautvol |first2=Anita |last3=Madsen |first3=Ole Jacob |title='It's my definition of a relationship, even though it doesn't fit yours': living in polyamorous relationships in a mononormative culture |journal=Psychology & Sexuality |volume=13 |issue=4 |date=2022-10-02 |issn=1941-9899 |doi=10.1080/19419899.2021.1982755 |pages=1054–1067 |oclc=10309887554}}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Schippers |first1=Mimi |title=Polyamory |encyclopedia=The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology |date=19 November 2019 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1002/9781405165518.wbeosp047.pub2|isbn=978-1-4051-2433-1 }}
• {{cite book |last=Schippers |first=Mimi |title=Polyamory, Monogamy, and American Dreams: The Stories We Tell about Poly Lives and the Cultural Production of Inequality |publisher=Routledge |publication-place=Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-351-71711-3 |oclc=1110122489}}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Schubert |first1=Katie A. |title=Polyamory |encyclopedia =Encyclopedia of Family Studies |date=2016-02-23 |isbn=978-1-119-08562-1 |pages=1–3 |doi=10.1002/9781119085621.wbefs090 |oclc=1006311930}}
• {{cite book |last=Stewart |first=Kate L. |title=The Open Relationship Handbook : Basic Tips and Tools for Navigating Non-Monogamy |publisher=BookBaby |publication-place=Cork |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-4835-0151-2 |oclc=898420526}}
• {{cite book |last=Weitzman |first=Geri D. |chapter=Polyamory |editor-last=Lebow |editor-first=Jay |editor-link=Jay Lebow |editor-last2=Chambers |editor-first2=Anthony |editor-last3=Breunlin |editor-first3=Douglas C. |title=Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy |publisher=Springer International Publishing |publication-place=Cham |year=2019 |isbn=978-3-319-49423-4 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-49425-8_495 |oclc=1129297823|pages=2233–2236}}
• {{cite magazine |last=Wilson |first=Jennifer |title=Open Season • The rising popularity of polyamory |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 1–8, 2024 |url=https://www.discountmags.com/au/magazine/the-new-yorker-january-01-08-2023-double-issue-digital-m/in-this-issue/CMXYuGgNv1703496823455 |access-date=2024-12-29 |url-access=subscription |pages=49–52 |issn=0028-792X |quote=A good love affair, when you're inside it, feels like it could change the world. But changing the world takes more than spreading the love; you have to spread the wealth, too. Maybe that's just utopian, hippie nonsense. But what can I say? I'm a romantic.}} Earlier online version: {{cite magazine |last=Wilson |first=Jennifer |title=How Did Polyamory Become So Popular? |magazine=The New Yorker |date=2023-12-25 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/01/american-poly-christopher-gleason-book-review-more-a-memoir-of-open-marriage-molly-roden-winter |url-access=subscription |issn=2163-3827 |access-date=2024-12-29}}

{{Sister project links|commons=Category:Polyamory|v=no|n=no|s=no|b=no|voy=no}}

Polyamory-related media

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtdsZ8B7JQY TEDx Talk: Polyamory]

Polyamory-related media coverage

• [https://polyinthemedia.blogspot.com/ Polyamory in the News] (2005–present)

Research and articles

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100114000025/http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/library/haslam.html The Kenneth R. Haslam Collection on Polyamory] hosted at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction includes a wide variety of materials related to polyamory, along with research data.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722071434/http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/library/Pdf/Polyamory%20Bibliography.pdf Polyamory Bibliography] from the Kinsey Institute.

Guides

• [http://www.paganicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-Boquet-of-Lovers.pdf A Bouquet of Lovers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210925190807/https://paganicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-Boquet-of-Lovers.pdf |date=September 25, 2021 }} – Example of prescriptive use of primary/secondary terminology

{{Close relationships navbox}}

{{Close plural relationships}}

{{Human sexuality}}

{{Human sexuality and sexology}}

{{Sexual identities}}

Category:Interpersonal relationships

Category:Intimate relationships

Category:Love

Category:Sexual fidelity

Category:Sexuality and society