Poly is Pretty Tame

When I mentioned on my main blog, CONTENTIOUS, that I'm polyamorous, a lot of people were hearing that word for the first time. I know, it's a mouthful -- the word is clunky, and the concept may sound a bit freaky.

Well, trust me, being poly isn't salacious. I just don't follow the traditional approach to personal relationships, and that's not as big a deal as one might imagine. But you don't have to take my word for how tame being poly really is Here's what one of my readers had to say recently...

Shawn Lea wrote:

"I've been a reader for a long time but you have no idea who I am. I just thought I would share a funny story with you about your entry on polyamory. (I finally had to click through to the Wikipedia page to find out what you meant.)

"When I saw the word polyamorous, I thought, OK, she's bisexual. But then I thought poly -- there's male, there's female. What's left? Farm animals?

"I finally just had to get out of Newsgator to the full post - where Wikipedia finally explained it to me. It was much tamer than what I had originally imagined! ;)"

I have to admit, this cracked me up. For the record, no, I'm not bisexual, nor am I unduly interested in livestock. Being poly mainly involves a hell of a lot of talking. The joke in the poly community is, "So when do we finish talking and start having all this wild sex people think we have all the time?"

See? I told you it was tame.

For those of you who can't be bothered to check out the Wikipedia explanation of this topic, here's the nutshell: "Polyamory is the practice of having more than one loving relationship at the same time, with the full knowledge and consent of all partners involved. The relationships are long-term, intimate, and usually (but not necessarily) sexual."

...Anyway, thanks to Shawn for giving me permission to publish her e-mail.

And no, I don't intend to discuss the details of my personal relationships or my sex life on this blog or elsewhere -- so if you're hoping for that, look elsewhere. Just because I don't choose to deny or conceal an integral aspect of my life doesn't mean I don't have boundaries. Deal with it.