Hi all,

Just a reminder about the call for contributions below. The deadline is the 
end of the month. Feel free to pass it on to other relevant lists.

Cheers,

Meg


Call for contributions

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

Contact:	Dr. Meg Barker, Psychology Department, Faculty of Arts and Human 
Sciences, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AA. 
Email: [log in to unmask]

Dr. Darren Langdridge, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Open University, 
Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA. Email: [log in to unmask]

Most psychological and social scientific work on intimate relationships has 
assumed a monogamous structure, or has considered anything other than 
monogamy in the context of ‘infidelity’. Openly non-monogamous patterns of 
relating have been largely excluded from research and theory (Barker, 2007). 
Pieper and Bauer (2005) termed this exclusion ‘mono-normativity’, and such 
privileging of the monogamous couple can be seen as part of wider 
heteronormative discourses which explicitly or implicitly present the 
‘opposite-sex’ dyad as the ‘natural’, ‘normal’ or ‘ideal’ way of being. 
There is little recognition of the growing numbers of ‘opposite-sex’ couples 
who are involved in swinging, polyamory, or some other form of open 
non-monogamy (e.g. McDonald, 2007), or of the significant numbers of those 
in gay, bisexual, and to some extent, lesbian communities, who are involved 
in openly non-monogamous relationships (e.g. Adam, 2006; Klesse, 2005; Musen 
& Stelboum, 1999). Calls for various forms of relationship recognition for 
same-sex couples have been seen, by some, as part of a continued 
marginalisation of those who practice their relationship in less 
‘traditional’ ways, with Michael Warner, and others, arguing that such 
drives towards normalisation reify dominant and ‘damaging hierarchies of 
respectability’ (1999, p.74).

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

The proposed book seeks to provide further discussion and debate about open 
non-monogamous relationships. We are keen to invite empirical and 
theoretical pieces considering the various non-monogamous patterns in 
existence today. We welcome empirical and theoretical work concerned with 
the history and cultural basis of various forms of non-monogamy, experiences 
of non-monogamous living, psychological understandings of relationship 
patterns, language and emotion, and the discursive construction of 
mono-normativity. We are keen to invite submissions that address issues of 
race, class and disability, as well as sexuality and gender. We also wish to 
include political and activist writing, as well as pieces from community 
representatives. We are not seeking work that pathologises open non-monogamy 
or focuses on ‘infidelity’. Nor are we looking for anthropological studies 
on polygamy and polyandry.

We hope to include contributions from academics and activists from as wide a 
range of countries as possible, especially those traditionally 
under-represented in academic and activist writing in the English language. 
Prospective authors are invited to contact the editors at the earliest 
possible opportunity to discuss potential submissions. The closing date for 
chapter abstracts is 31st August 2007 and (provisionally) for completed 
chapters 31st March 2008 (electronic submission preferred).

References
Adam, B. D. (2004). Care, Intimacy and Same-Sex Partnership in the 21st 
Century. Current Sociology, 52(2), 265–279
Adam, B. D. (2006). Relationship Innovation in Male Couples. Sexualities, 
9(1), 5-26.
Anapol, D. M. (1997). Polyamory: The New Love Without Limits. California, 
US: IntiNet Resource Centre.
Barker, M. (2004). This is my partner, and this is my… partner’s partner: 
Constructing a polyamorous identity in a monogamous world. Journal of 
Constructivist Psychology, 18, 75-88.
Barker, M. (2007). Heteronormativity and the exclusion of bisexuality in 
psychology. In V. Clarke and E. Peel (Eds.) Out In Psychology: Lesbian, gay, 
bisexual and trans perspectives. pp. 86-118 Chichester: Wiley.
Easton, D. and Liszt, C. A. (1997). The Ethical Slut. California, US: 
Greenery Press.
Jackson, S. and Scott, S. (2004). The personal is still political: 
heterosexuality, feminism and monogamy. Feminism & Psychology, 14 (1) 
151-157.
Klesse, C. (2005). Bisexual Women, Non-Monogamy and Differentialist 
Anti-Promiscuity Discourses. Sexualities, 8(4), 445-464.
McDonald, D. (in press). Swings and roundabouts: management of jealousy in 
heterosexual 'swinging' couples. British Journal of Social Psychology.
Munsen, M. and Stelboum, J. P. (Eds.) (1999). The Lesbian Polyamory Reader. 
NY: Harrington Park Press.
Pieper, M. & Bauer, R. (2005). Call for Papers: International Conference on 
Polyamory and Mono-normativity. Research Centre for Feminist, Gender & Queer 
Studies, University of Hamburg, November 5 th/6th 2005.
Ritchie, A. & Barker, M. (2006). ‘There aren’t words for what we do or how 
we feel so we have to make them up’: Constructing polyamorous languages in a 
culture of compulsory monogamy. Sexualities, 9(5), 584 - 601.
Taormino, T. (forthcoming, 2007). Opening up: A Guide to Polyamory. Cleis 
Press
Warner, M. (1999). The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics and Social Theory. 
Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.