Thinking Relationship Anarchy from a Queer Feminist Approach

Abstract

Since the 2000s, general and academic concern in openly non-monogamous styles of relating has increased. In Spain, the rise in the general interest toward non-monogamy, meeting groups, and activism has become apparent during the current decade. One of the practical and theoretical paradigms that has been developed within non-monogamy is relationship anarchy. In this article, I will approach relationship anarchy in three different ways: as a philosophy of love, as a way of structuring affective bonds, and as a political philosophy. I shall then focus on the last one: relationship anarchy as a political philosophy, and what can be gained from thinking relationship anarchy from a queer, feminist perspective. I intend to make a theoretical contribution to the discourse of relationship anarchy as a political philosophy from feminist criticism of monogamy and of the naturalization of love; from the premises of lesbian feminism, compulsory heterosexuality, and the erotic pyramid; and from the concept of amatonormativity and sex-centrism in asexual theory. I shall then consider the usefulness of the relationship anarchy paradigm for radical queer politics in the current Spanish context. Finally, I will raise the concepts of the pyramid of relationships and the continuum (between attractions) system to pose how the different hierarchies that relationship anarchy puts in question are linked: amatonormativity, sex-centrism, and couple privilege.