Two things prompted this post.
The first was a conversation that I had a few weeks ago with one of my friends in the local poly community.
(I use the term 'conversation' loosely because, technically, it was us ranting loudly over the loud music in a dance club)
My friend mentioned the website for the (now cancelled) Chicago Polyamory Conference and asked me about "
the guy that was dressed like
Dumbledore" who was one of the featured speakers. I almost fell over in shock at the assessment that he gave of Oberon Zell Ravenheart, who is one of many individuals who influenced the polyamory movement. This led to further commentary on image/perception.
The second was the
review that I received from
The Philosophy of Non-Monogamy.
Young Metro and Poly
I am all of these things. Yep. That is me; I could be one of the racially vague stock-photo models smiling away at the top of the page. So why does it bother me?
A) I dont like exclusion, and age exclusion seems like the silliest kind because everyone gets old.
B) I dont WANT the image of our community to be clean cut, good looking, young people. I want us to look like the real people we are. Which means some of us are fat, some of us have tattoos on our necks, and some of us have gray hair in ponytails
I hate this corporate fed image of what we should be. Im not saying the person who runs this site buys into this image, but she is sure putting it up there.
This led me to think about the role of target marketing in the context of outreach for polyamory. There are some that may find what I'm about to write rather controversial. Others may simply nod and say 'that makes sense'. I'm looking for your feedback one way or another here (comment,
email me, or use my
contact form).
