No mono: Normer, makt och politik inom relationsanarki.

Abstract

This essay aims to give a multi-faceted picture of the political dimensions and power structures within relationship anarchy. Relationship anarchy is a practice which strives to deconstruct relationship ideals by questioning norms, categorizations and hierarchies in monogamous as well as consensually non-monogamous relationships. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with seven people who practice relationship anarchy. The essay describes how the practitioners view relationship anarchy as a political practice through connections to norm critique, feminism and anarchism. However, the explicit reasons for practicing relationship anarchy stated by the interviewees are not always political. This leads me to analyzing the political dimension of relationship anarchy on three levels: on a theoretical level, a personal level and a practical level. Moreover, the essay relates relationship anarchy to power and intersectionality. I conclude that although practitioners see relationship anarchy as liberating, their practices are limited by mononormativity and affected by issues of gender, sexuality, class and race. Finally, I argue that descriptions of relationship anarchy coincide with ideals of the white middle-class, and discuss this through introducing the term hegemonic monogamy.