I’m hosting a group of international grad students this week; a great pleasure.
They are in the late 20s, verging on 30. As our fireside chats unfolded, glasses filled, the dreaded question arrived: “What do you think of ‘poly,’ Mrs. Bright?”
Actually, they don’t call me Mrs. Bright.
But I am trying to convey, they treat me as an éminence grise— a boomer receptacle of mid-century sexual liberation.
What do I think of poly.
At first I spit out my punch. And then . . . It’s time for the reckoning.
Please do listen to my podcast for the rest!
Susie’s Undecidedly UnCool Reading List for PolyWannas
Friedrich Engels: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
Anything by Alexandra Kollantai
Shulamith Firestone: The Dialectic of Sex
Emma Goldman: Living My Life
The Invention of Heterosexuality by Jonathan Ned Katz
Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality, by Hanne Blank
Public Sex by Patrick (née Pat) Califia
In other words, skip the how-to manuals! Instead, study patriarchy and nonconformity from people who broke the chains long ago.
