ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the connection between same-sex marriage and plural marriage is being played out in the rhetoric used in relation to consensual non-monogamy (CNM). It shows that while some speakers shape their ideas about the goals and politics of CNM based on the politics of homonormativity advanced in same-sex marriage campaigns, others rely on the political model of the queer critique of homonormativity. These dynamics, I suggest, are also shaped by the public image of non-monogamy in the United States.
The chapter starts by reviewing the negative stereotypes of non-monogamy circulating in contemporary US popular culture, suggesting that the rhetoric used to legitimize CNM relationships with mainstream audiences attempts to distance CNM practitioners and practices from these negative tropes. I suggest that because of the different stereotypes applied to non-monogamous as compared to LGBT people, CNM normalization efforts both resemble and diverge from homonormative strategies. Finally, I examine the rhetoric used by a smaller group of CNM advocates to oppose or critique efforts to normalize CNM. Looking at blogs mostly aimed at CNM readers, I discuss some of the ways in which critiques of CNM normalization (“polynormativity”) were inspired by queer critiques, and have at least to some extent recreated the queer community’s dynamic.
