Consensual Affective Non-Monogamies and Gender Subversions.

A Reflection around and beyond the (De)politization of Polyamory

Resumen

The article aims to answer to the question: theories and practices of Consensual Affective Non-Monogamies (and especially polyamory) can contribute to social change within the sex-gender system?

After introducing the terms of CANMs and polyamory and the research conducted in Italy between 2016 and 2020, the article highlights some results that indicate the respondents’ inclination to question some normativities, also regarding gender identities and gender roles. However, the article problematizes some elements of the polyamorous theories that have overlaps with Giddens’s concept of “pure relationship”, concluding that the subversive potential of CANMs is contained by the adherence of the polyamorous community to liberal and middle-class principles and its substantial depoliticization.

Keywords: consensual non-monogamies, polyamory, non-normative relationships, social change, sexuality politics.