The stories we tell : on representations of non/monogamies in popular culture

Abstract

Representations of non/monogamies in popular culture offer opportunities for viewers to imagine new and different relationship models, yet non/monogamies in popular culture are most frequently conceptualized within narratives of colonial settler-sexuality and mono- / homo- / polynormativity. In “The Stories We Tell”, I interview twelve Canadians, who identify as and practice consensual non/monogamies (CNM). Through thematic analysis, I examine the intersectionality between notions of family, kinship, sexuality, intimacy, and non/monogamies to ask the question, what do these interpretations reveal about the ideological labours—work—popular representations of non/monogamies in this research are doing? In the Conclusion, I consider in which ways popular culture remains a critical site of social and political action, where power and privilege are established and potentially unsettled, and where the un/recognizable and un/intelligible become visible and known, thus envisioning how non/monogamous lives and experiences might further disrupt and perhaps transform representations of non/monogamies in popular culture.