As the general public becomes more aware about the existence of polyamory, we in The Polyamory Movement are in desperate need of role models and public figures. While there may be people with the will to step forward and out themselves through various media channels (interviews on radio or television, internet sites, etc.), they may or may not have the skills necessary to draw and influence a larger audience.

In the upcoming series, I will share various ways to build a public poly presence-

• First, we’ll look at what type of “poly presence” you want to build.
• Since Poly Living is coming up in 2 1/2 weeks, we’ll continue with how to network at a convention.
• Next I’ll talk about building a web presence through building a blog and tapping into larger social media tools and services.
• Lastly, I’ll show how you can increase the number of fans that read – and return to – your site through permission-based contacts (newsletters)

Series Disclaimer: This series is the result of conversations that I’ve had with fellow poly leaders, mixed with my own thoughts, experiences, and observations. While it seems that a lot of us have similar experiences and thoughts, these writings do not represent the beliefs of poly leaders as a whole.  These writings are not meant to target specific individuals or organizations, but instead show how “the system” is defunct and needs a lot of TLC and fixing.

Sanja Gjenero @ SXC.hu

From what I’ve seen on a local level and learned through discussions with my peers, people that identify as polyamorous fall into one of two categories:

• Those that are motivated to actively contribute to “poly”, whether it’s on a local or national level
• Those that aren’t

Once we accept this, everything else fits into place.

Series Disclaimer: This series is the result of conversations that I’ve had with fellow poly leaders, mixed with my own thoughts, experiences, and observations. While it seems that a lot of us have similar experiences and thoughts, these writings do not represent the beliefs of poly leaders as a whole.  These writings are not meant to target specific individuals or organizations, but instead show how “the system” is defunct and needs a lot of TLC and fixing.

In my most recent posts, I applied the business rule of 80/20 to the polyamory community, both in what percentage of people within an organization are actively involved in events, as well as what percentage of that sub-group (20% of the 20%) do the majority of the volunteer work. I also provided my own theories as to why this subset of a subset – those that end up with the label of “leader” – feels compelled to push themselves to the point of burnout to provide for the larger group.

One of the reasons why the core group of volunteers, the leaders of the polyamory organization, push themselves on how much they contribute is a sense of obligation towards providing for their community.

Today I will challenge the belief that an organization of 100+ members on a bulletin board or a large meetup group  qualifies as a community.

Series Disclaimer: This series is the result of conversations that I’ve had with fellow poly leaders, mixed with my own thoughts, experiences, and observations. While it seems that a lot of us have similar experiences and thoughts, these writings do not represent the beliefs of poly leaders as a whole.  These writings are not meant to target specific individuals or organizations, but instead show how “the system” is defunct and needs a lot of TLC and fixing.

As I just mentioned, there’s 3 changes on the legal front that could aid poly people.  These changes could allow us to better maintain households that are emotionally and financially stable:

• Providing households with the ability to bestow certain legal rights and protections upon multiple partners, should they choose
• Preventing a household’s choice of ethical nonmonogamy from being used against them in matters of child custody.
• Preventing an individual’s choice of ethical nonmonogamy from being used as a reason to fire them or deny them a job offer or promotion

There’s a lot that needs to be done to bring about these types of legislative changes.  To bring us towards this goal, we need to develop a culture where simultaneously loving multiple people is an accepted and welcome choice.  This means getting rid of the baggage that comes with the current cultural perception of polyamory.

When I was promoting my “Let’s Get Stuff Done” Con, one of my friends took my promo copy and forwarded it to a couple of local lists.  Apparently drama ensued as some of the people balked at the notion of developing “leaders” within polyamory groups, or within the movement at large.  On another list that I’m involved with, a similar story unfolded where someone who was a role model within her own community shunned the label of “leader”.

I’m interested in knowing why that is, especially since I strongly believe that poly people need to have community leaders if we’re going to take our “movement” to the next level.

This led me to start writing down my thoughts on how changing the status quo would benefit poly people as a whole, even though most poly people choose not to participate. I also started thinking about the current organizing efforts, and why progression towards our goals as a movement have been so damn slow.

P.S.: If you are easily offended by anything that challenges or criticizes the status-quo, please come back around August 30th. At that time, I will post the finale of this series, which outlines recommended steps on how to be a better leader.

Additional Disclaimer: This series is the result of conversations that I’ve had with fellow poly leaders, mixed with my own thoughts, experiences, and observations. While it seems that a lot of us have similar experiences and thoughts, these writings do not represent the beliefs of poly leaders as a whole.  These writings are not meant to target specific individuals or organizations, but instead show how “the system” is defunct and needs a lot of TLC and fixing.