Feb
23
Potential Paper Topic: Candor about/in nontraditional romantic relationships
February 23, 2015 | 2 Comments
During our last class discussion on Godwin’s “Memoirs” I presented the idea that there were similarities in his frank discussions of Mary’s affairs to modern writings by those practicing polyamory.
Continuing to think on this topic has led to two possible paper ideas, though both are still very early stage ideas.
The first would be an examination of the use of candor by individuals in an attempt to normalize or de-stigmatize a romantic relationship. Specifically I would look at instances where the writer knew that their revelations would be considered deviant, or outside of the norm, but choses to speak not with the intention to shock but to challenge social norms.
While doing some initial reading on polyamorous relationships another possible topic caught my attention. Proponents of polyamory often speak about the importance of honesty within their romantic relationships. This made me take note of the public and private use of candor within these relationships. A paper might look at candor in polyamorous relationships in two areas. Public candor, how and why individuals present personal information about their relationships for a public audience. This area would consider both a local public audience, like neighbors and collogues, and a larger public audience resulting from speaking to the media. The second area would be candor within the relationships. For example telling your longtime partner about the emotional or physical connections you have with a new partner. These are revelations that would be considered taboo in a monogamous relationship, yet are expected and encouraged in many (but not all) polyamorous relationships. There may also be a third area to explore here, a kind of grey private/public area, that could examine candor towards family members and children of polyamorous couples.
– Kat
Comments
2 Comments so far
HI Kat,
This is very promising indeed…I would think the public angle is a bit more suited to our course themes, since they have to do with the idea of why individuals present details of their personal relationships to a public audience. But I could also see you compare “public oversharing” to “private revelation” in a productive way…looking forward to seeing this develop! Carrie
Hi Kat,
Did you see this? I immediately thought of your paper when I read it!
http://jezebel.com/mom-i-have-two-boyfriends-how-i-discovered-i-was-poly-1690634624
-Kathy