There are many terms to describe various polyamorous relationship structures.
I’ll be brief in my descriptions and welcome all comments and questions. I did upload a video of the following early today. My YouTube video link channel will be listed below the article for your convenience, if you’d like to actually hear and watch me share polyamorous terms.
A Triad or Triangle Relationship is such that there are three people in a relationship and they’re all emotionally and sexually involved with each other. The concept is the same for Quads, which is a relationship made up of four people. Sometimes they live together, sometimes they don’t, though they each may consider their poly structure a “household” or a “family.” If children are involved, they’re raised knowing they have multiple mothers and fathers or in the least they understand their parent has several close friends who are considered family.
A Vee or Hinge is a person who connects both of their partners. For example, Janet is in a relationship with Samuel and also with George. Janet is the hinge or Vee partner, though Samuel and George aren’t involved with each other and may only know of each other because they’re both in a relationship with Janet. As an afterthought, in the video, I mentioned the term Metamour, which is a partner’s partner. Samuel and George may be considered or call themselves Metamours. I prefer to call people who they are in more simple terms. If I were Samuel, I’d say George is my partner’s other partner and vice versa.
Closed or Open Triads and Quads are as they sound. The relationships are open for more partners or closed to additional partners. Closed relationships may be considered a Polyfidelity relationship. That means only those in the relationship can be emotionally and sexually involved with each other and aren’t permitted to date outside of their household or family. In open relationships, whether a Triad or Quad, each person is allowed to have outside relationships.
Solo Poly is a person who prefers to maintain their autonomy. They value their independence. They want to be viewed an individual and not as so-and-so’s partner. They may or may not care about being introduced to their partner’s family and other friends. They may prefer to keep their relationships separate, meaning it may not be important to meet their partners’ partners. They prefer to live alone and not have a nesting partner because they value having their own personal space.
Relationship Anarchists are those who don’t have general rules for all of their relationships. They structure each relationship on its own merit and not according to their other relationships. They maintain their personal boundaries with consideration to each individual relationship. The basic concept is the relationship anarchist believes relationships shouldn’t have rules that effect their other relationships.
Communication is key to any relationship style or structure. It’s important to understand what you desire from a relationship or what you envision it to be, as well as knowing what the other person would like. Desires may change over time, if or when they do, simply sit down and discuss it. Never consent to a relationship style, structure, or boundaries that you don’t wholeheartedly agree with.
I go into a tad more detail and use examples in my video, as well as share some of my personal thoughts about the terms. If you’d like to watch it, here’s my YouTube channel link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaiOktrp18wlhKWv3mefl8Q
Comments and questions are always welcome.
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