Just having an "agenda" is what distinguishes "polyamorists"
from "polyamorous people" as far as I'm concerned. But that
doesn't imply that all polyamorists have the *SAME* agenda.
And indeed, they don't.
No doubt polyamorists are unique and varied individuals. You always see
great diversity when you focus on individuals. But social movements are
defined as much or more by the groups to which individuals belong. It's the
groups that bring individuals together to accomplish the kinds of changes
associated with a "movement."
Let's do an exercise. Stay with me. I want to illustrate with specific
examples that, at the level of groups, where social movements operate, there
is a general agenda.
Let's look at three online polyamorist groups. The first group is the
Polyamorist PAC at http://www.liberated.net/polyamoristpac/ , which
identifies itself as a polyamorist group in its name and which is organized
as a political action committee. The second is the Polyamory Society at
http://www.polyamorysociety.org/mission.html , which again identifies itself
as a polyamorist group by its name. I understand the Polyamory Society to be
a small group of people who maintain an ambitious Web site. The third group
is Loving More at http://www.lovemore.com/ . This group does not identify
itself as polyamorist by name, but it clearly and repeatedly describes
itself as a polyamorist magazine and Web site. This group publishes an
online magazine, runs an online store, and maintains chat rooms and forums.
These are three pretty different groups. So they don't have the same agenda,
right? Well, it depends how you look at it.
I suggested in my previous posts that polyamorists groups share an agenda
broadly defined as:
(1) providing support for people dealing with issues in their polyamorous
lifestyle, and
(2) gaining greater social support for polyamorous lifestyles in terms of
decriminalization, legalization, and feeling safer to tell people about your
lifestyle.
And I should have added:
(3) educate people what polyamorous lifestyles are about.
Let's look at the mission statements of these three groups. I'm quoting how
each group defines its own goals and mission. Use the URL to see the mission
statements for yourself.
http://www.liberated.net/polyamoristpac/
"The mission of the Polyamorist Political Action Committee Voter Empowerment
Program is seeking to register and educate voters in and out of the
Polyamory Community on:
1. Polyamory Family models and lovestyle;
2. Polyamory issues and legislation;
3. To mobilize, energize and register aligned Polyamorist Voters;
4. Support and reward Legislators and Candidates who support Polyamory
issues, legislation and agenda both publicly and privately;
5. Polyamory aligned groups issues and legislation;
6. Assist in creation of strategies to build up the Polyamory agenda voter
base and
7. Poll and survey results of Legislators and Candidates on issues and
legislation that effect the Polyamory Community."
http://www.lovemore.com/
"The Loving More Mission:
* to support, explore and enhance the many beautiful forms which loving
relationships and families can take.
* to provide information for people of all orientations who are interested
polyamory and the freedom to explore honest non-monogamy and what
relationship means to them.
* to affirm that polyamory, loving more than one, can be a health expression
of love and intimacy, and that diversity is the basis for a healthy love and
intimate relationships.
* to respect the right of all people to choose intimate relationship forms
which are appropriate for them.
* to reach out to those who question and help them explore the possibilities
of new paradigms in relating.
* to educate people around the world to possibilities beyond traditional
paradigms and promote freedom to choose the love-style that they feel
aligned with."
http://www.polyamorysociety.org/mission.html
"The Mission of the Polyamory Society is:
1. To Support, Defend and Promote the Social Institution of Polyamory.
2. To Educate NonPolyamorists about Polyamory.
3. To Be an Information Clearinghouse And Repository of Historical Polyamory
Archives on Polyamory.
4. To Enhance, Assist, Support and Cooperate with Other Polyamory Groups and
Organizations in Goods and Services They Provide to the Polyamory Community.
5. To Support Accurate Representation and Preservation of Polyamory as a
Relationship Style for Future Generations.
6. To Assist in the Creation of Polyamory Relationship Contractual
Agreements.
7. To Assist in the Creation of Contractual Agreements That Protect Poly
Children, Document Their Rights and Responsibilities for Them.
8. To Assist in the Establishment of a Progressive Family Federally Insured
Community Development Credit Union & Trust That Provides Loans, Mortgages
and Trusts to Polyfamilies. To Offer Polyfamily Retirement Plans and an
Internet Banking Division.
9. To Assist in the Establishment of a Progressive Family Insurance
Cooperative That Provides Life and Health Policies to Polyamorists and Their
Polyfamilies.
10. To Assist in the Creation of Goods & Services That Will Enhance
Polyamorous Living.
11. To Sponsor the Polyamory Community Honors Acknowledging Deserving
Polyamorists, Friends and Supporters of Polyamory for Their Efforts.
12. To Sponsor and Support a Polyamory Family Day to Celebrate and Publicize
Our Choice of Lovestyle."
Just for thoroughness, let's see how many bullet points in these mission
statements fall under the general agenda I described:
(1) provide support for people in dealing with issues in their polyamorous
lifestyle - to support, explore and enhance the many beautiful forms which
loving relationships and families can take (Loving More), to affirm that
polyamory, loving more than one, can be a health expression of love and
intimacy, and that diversity is the basis for a healthy love and intimate
relationships (Loving More), to reach out to those who question and help
them explore the possibilities of new paradigms in relating (Loving More),
to Enhance, Assist, Support and Cooperate with Other Polyamory Groups and
Organizations in Goods and Services They Provide to the Polyamory Community
(Polyamory Society), to Assist in the Creation of Polyamory Relationship
Contractual Agreements (Polyamory Society), to Assist in the Creation of
Contractual Agreements That Protect Poly Children, Document Their Rights and
Responsibilities for Them (Polyamory Society), to Assist in the
Establishment of a Progressive Family Federally Insured Community
Development Credit Union & Trust That Provides Loans, Mortgages and Trusts
to Polyfamilies and to Offer Polyfamily Retirement Plans and an Internet
Banking Division, (Polyamory Society), to Assist in the Establishment of a
Progressive Family Insurance Cooperative That Provides Life and Health
Policies to Polyamorists and Their Polyfamilies (Polyamory Society), to
Assist in the Creation of Goods & Services That Will Enhance Polyamorous
Living (Polyamory Society), to Sponsor the Polyamory Community Honors
Acknowledging Deserving Polyamorists, Friends and Supporters of Polyamory
for Their Efforts (Polyamory Society), to Sponsor and Support a Polyamory
Family Day to Celebrate and Publicize Our Choice of Lovestyle (Polyamory
Society).
(2) gain greater social support for polyamorous lifestyles in terms of
decriminalization, legalization, and feeling safer to tell people about your
lifestyle - Polyamory issues and legislation (Polyamorist PAC), to mobilize,
energize and register aligned Polyamorist Voters (Polyamorist PAC), support
and reward Legislators and Candidates who support Polyamory issues,
legislation and agenda both publicly and privately (Polyamorist PAC), assist
in creation of strategies to build up the Polyamory agenda voter base
(Polyamorist PAC), poll and survey results of Legislators and Candidates on
issues and legislation that effect the Polyamory Community (Polyamorist
PAC), to respect the right of all people to choose intimate relationship
forms which are appropriate for them (Loving More), ...promote freedom to
choose the love-style that they feel aligned with (Loving More), to Support,
Defend and Promote the Social Institution of Polyamory (Polyamory Society).
and now (3) educate people what polyamorous lifestyles are about - to
provide information for people of all orientations who are interested
polyamory and the freedom to explore honest non-monogamy and what
relationship means to them (Loving More), to educate people around the world
to possibilities beyond traditional paradigms...(Loving More), to Educate
NonPolyamorists about Polyamory (Polyamory Society), to Be an Information
Clearinghouse And Repository of Historical Polyamory Archives on Polyamory
(Polyamory Society).
There was only one sentence in the three mission statements that did not
fall under the three general goals I suggested as the polyamorist agenda.
That statement was "Polyamory aligned groups issues and legislation" from
the Polyamorist PAC mission statement.
Of course, you can find poly groups that will have a small number of
specific goals or bullet points in their mission statements that do not fall
under the three general goals I describe. You can also find a few
polyamorist groups that have no goals or mission statements consistent with
the general goals I describe. But, if you look across as many poly groups as
you can find, and determine the major goals or mission statements of those
groups, I think you will find the majority of the goals and bullet points in
their mission statements fall under the three general goals I describe.
There's just not as much diversity in the purpose of polyamorist groups as
there is diversity in the beliefs and behaviors of polyamorist individuals.
It is the purpose of groups, though, that organize the beliefs and/or
behaviors of individuals to accomplish the changes that occur in social
movements.