Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-4877635-20130614170253/@comment-22525977-20131018044345

Polyamory is not the same thing as cheating, nor is it the same thing as promiscuity and casual sex/hook-up culture. Both of these things are glamorized and/or used for titilation by Hollywood and mainstream media.

Actual polyamory is about legitimate, loving relationships that aren't monogamous. They are not for everyone; it's a spectrum just like romantic and sexual orientations are a spectrum. A polyamorist describes it thusly:

''For many polyamorists, the idea of a partner telling them that they can never, under any circumstance, embrace their feelings for a new partner feels terrifying and stifling. If you're a monogamist, the idea of your parnter wanting somebody else may make you ask, "Why am I not enough for you?" But if you are inately poly, the idea of a primary partner trying to cut you off from even the possibility of new love fills you with a parallel anguish: "I promise I'll never spend so much time and energy elsewhere that it takes away anything I promised to you, any more than I'd let work or hobbies take me away from you. You'll get everything from me that you always have. Why isn't my adoration and devotion enough for you?" ''(link)

I believe current estimates are that something like 4-5% of people are polyamorists;  for comparison, in the U.S., about 1.7% of adults identify as lesbian or gay, 1.8% as bi or pansexual, .3% as trans*, and 1% as asexual.

There is, as far as I'm aware, no scientific evidence to support what you're saying about polyamory trailing disease, abandoned children, and general doom in its wake. Quite the opposite, considering how big a component discussion and open communication is in a successful poly relationship. Further,  polyamorous people are in fact  far more  likely than monogamous people who cheat to utilize protective measures and practice safe sex.

Please stop comparing poly relationships to drug abuse. It is extremely insulting.