ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes that anti-monogamy provides a positive and profound challenge to the institution of compulsory heterosexuality. It describes monogamy as the ideology that as adults one should primarily bond with one person, meeting most of the needs from them (sexual, emotional, physical etc.). This is enforced by cultural products (the media), economic restraints (tax incentives, the high cost of single living), social factors (the provision of support and companionship, or social status and privilege) and by the notion that this is ‘how it is’, this is natural. Women’s friendship is vital for feminism and for an end to women’s oppression, and the means by which are divided from each other need to be examined as a prerequisite for women’s liberation. Sexual monogamy has a double standard built into it. It is more acceptable for men than women to engage in extra-marital relationships.
