Polyamorous Relationship: Trendy or a Lifestyle?

While scrolling on social media, a new trendy relationship style has arisen. It wasn’t a fast process; it was a slow process that had been brewing for the last couple of years, but now the kettle is yelling. 

The trend is a polyamorous relationship.

What!

Polyamorous (Poly or Polyamory) is a type of sexual orientation that deals with more than one partner in a romantic or sexual relationship; everyone in the party agrees to these terms.

Polyamorous relationships have always been around, but never talked about. They occurred in the 1800s but were seen as “complex or diverse relationships.” These relationships weren’t public information; they were known only by the individuals involved. The movement around polyamory grew in the 1960s when sexual love was everywhere. But in the 1990s, the term was coined and somewhat normalized; it was still seen as taboo by the older generations or religious groups. It wasn’t until later in the 21st century that sharing is caring, which equals acceptance. 

The typical relationship styles are either two girls, one boy, or two boys, one girl. 

From the 2010s to Now

In the late 2010s, the rise of polyamorous relationships grew with videos of people in real poly relationships talking about their personal experiences. Some of the videos would be them highlighting their everyday life or discussing the boundaries they set. When these videos were uploaded onto social media, many viewers would hate on the idea, and the couple themselves were deemed unattractive by the viewers. The idea was that if you were poly, then you were probably “unattractive” since no “pretty” people are seen in those relationships. 

However, a shift occurred in the 2020s when people began to accept the poly relationship style. This is correlated to the 2020 lockdowns because of COVID-19, and the space restrictions for the following years. During this people re-evaluated life and their ideas of normal relationships. They wanted to experiment after surviving a deadly virus. Still popular in certain communities, but not to the general public. Until one tennis movie was released in 2024. The movie is Challengers.

Challengers (2024) is a tennis movie about two childhood friends/tennis partners, Art and Patrick, who later split their friendship because of a famous tennis player, Tasha. In one of the scenes, the three of them are in a hotel room where sexual tension is high. The main takeaway from these scenes is that the three of them have an intense 3 way kiss, and then Art and Patrick just make out in the end. The general public accepted this way more since “hot people” were indulging themselves in this taboo idea.

After this movie was released, the general public became obsessed with the idea of having sexual interactions and dating multiple people, especially multiple partners of the same gender. Because of the movie, it became a safe space for people to explore things they never imagined trying and to express their past experiences. The hashtag “Challenger” has around 100k videos, ranging from movie synopses to people recreating the kissing scene. 

SO ACTUALLY

I believe many people don’t identify themselves as polyamorous. They just see two people make out or two hot TV hockey players they want for themselves. It isn’t their orientation but more of a way to explore the other kinky sides of themselves. Challengers or even Heated Rivalry awoke something in many people. For some, it is a temporary fling or threesome. While for other situationships and cheating on their partners, they will be labeled as polyamorous even if they aren’t. 

Be respectful, have fun, be kinky and horny. The world is crazy and mad, fuck it, where are my boyfriends at?

• polyamory
• relationship