You’re poly, you’re new to it and you’re excited. Then some jerk starts picking apart your happiness and excitement and you feel smacked. What the hell? You know the community you joined said it was talking about polyamory. Aren’t these people supposed to be sympathetic?
A newly poly person, having a new interest, is probably very absorbed in the ideas, wanting to learn what other people think, excited to try out the joys of multiple partners. This is all good and valid and the way it should be, I think. I’m all for diving deep into new interests and ideas.
What’ll happen is that they’ll encounter an established community start talking to someone like me, and it’ll feel like a damn’ brick wall. It’s not that I’m jaded and cynical… Okay, fine, I am jaded and cynical. But the point is that the newly poly who truly does want and need to explore all the options around hits into the person who has done an awful lot of exploring and isn’t really excited about talking about the shiny new, nor is this person willing to overlook some things that one does (and maybe even should) in the shiny new phase.
This is not to say that cynically shooting people down is okay just because you’ve been around the block a few times. It’s not okay. I think a little sympathy and understanding is a good thing, even when you’re hauling out the “stick of grandmotherly kindness.”
I’d like both sides of this to understand each other. If you’re over 35 and cannot look at a 17 year old who is newly in love and hormonally carbonated and put your own mind back to those days when it was you, you need to work on your empathy for a little while before you start mouthing off in the poly community. Remember when you got into something new and exciting and overwhelming to your life. Keep that in mind as you’re trying to explain things you think are necessary to talk about to the new ones.
On the other hand, you newly polys, when you get a comment that seems a bit negative or jaded? That person is probably opening her shirt and saying, “See this? Over my heart? Big fucking scar, innit? I want to explain to you how I got it so maybe you can avoid one of your own.” Believe it or not, that person is not trying to blow off your happiness, excitement or joy in the new, but is trying to help you keep your happiness. Poly is not new to that person, and unless she’s a psycho like me who writes about it all the time and starts communities on it, the concept of poly probably does not absorb even as much time as what a churchgoer spends on religion. They don’t have lifestyles so much as… well… LIVES.
I’m not gonna say I’m innocent of the “Been there, done that” eyeroll routine. You really do see a lot of the same issues over and over and over and over and over and over. What I try to remind myself when I’m actually concentratin’ on bein’ a decent human being and all, is that while it’s not new to me, it’s new to the person talking about it.
But you new people? Keep in mind it’s new to you.
Mama Java, out…
My wife and I are relatively new to poly – say a year and a half – but I completely understand the heartache that can come with it, as we’ve already been through a few relationships that ended badly or turned out poorly. Like any relationship, you learn what you want and don’t want in a partner (or partners).
What really bugs me about the poly community, especially in my area, is that it seems to be nothing but jaded older folks who not only have few nice things to say to anyone new to the group, but they have very little interest in truly being an open community outside of the forums that they love to post their nasty comments. It’s really difficult to feel any sort of connection with them. Granted I understand that not everyone will get along – even in a community of like interests – but there is a sincere lack of empathy that is disappointing.
Thanks for the post; I’ve passed it on to a few other newly-poly friends. I may post some thoughts on my own blog, too 🙂
Thank you for posting this article! I am new to poly (only 3 months in)… and I am glad to understand how “the old crew” feel, and I take the criticsm with a grain of salt, I know they are trying to help, and it is good to glean those little bits of advice that work with what I am doing/feeling.. and I tend to let the others roll off my back…
Thanks again for writing this article…
Killian –
One advantage to the “poly community” in Seattle is that it isn’t. It’s a bunch of communities / families / friends groups that intersect and overlap a bit. I’ve found a group I’m quite comfortable in – but I know there are others out there.
I’ve also reached the point where most of my friends either are poly themselves or they’re so used to it that it’s not an issue. It’s just my life.
-Jen
Thanks for an interesting perspective! I’m in a weird place; I don’t *want* to be poly but I am, Blanche, I just am. So I definitely don’t have that feeling like being a kid in a candy store, more like having to face coming out of yet another closet. So for me, I WANT to see the scars. I NEED to see them, to hear about what is working and what isn’t for people.
And YES, I *will* be mindful of the “new to me” stuff. I’m watching a newish friend who is coming out of the gay leatherman closet, and he’s very cute and puppy-ish, in every sense of the word, from the sublime to the annoying. 🙂
I get that, Mojave66.
It was never really a choice for me either.
Not loving many is not really possible for me.
The only choice is how one acts on that love.
Serial monogamy, Denial, or admitted poly seem the only real options.