Towards a Queer Politics of Consensual Non-monogamy

From Queer Kinship to the Queer Commons

Abstract

This paper addresses the question how a queer perspective may inform radical and transformative political agendas around Consensual Non-Monogamy (CNM). It argues that no relationships are ever truly transformative or transgressive because of their unconventional constellation alone. Rather, CNMs need to be consciously politicised in ways that tap into wider political movement agendas to fulfil their queer potential. The paper further argues that radical queer political agendas around NMC need to consider the diversity of populations engaged in CNMs. It suggests that the debates about intersectionality and positionality in Black, indigenous and decolonial feminisms and queer-of-colour critiques, and Édouard Glissant’s call for a poetics of relation and the “right to opacity” can provide rich inspiration for a multi-issue politics based on an affirmation of difference and multiplicity. The paper goes on to explore some key themes within queer-inspired debates on CNM, moving from the discussion of politics of pleasure to queer kinship theory, closing with the argument that queer CNM politics are further dependent on an expansive ethics of care, as aptly theorised in social movement debates on the commons. The article utilises queer, feminist, anti-racist, decolonial and anti-capitalist critical theories to sketch a framework of concerns that may help developing transformative political agendas around CNM in different social contexts.