Is Jenny Erikson Stir Crazy?

Jenny Erikson decided to spew confusion and ignorance at thestir.cafemom.com in a piece titled "Forget Gay Marriage & Polygamy -- It's Open Marriages That Destroy Families"...

You know the story: Boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy invites another girl into their bed, and girl is strangely ok with it, because she has her own lesbian lover on the side anyway.

Wait, what?

Welcome to polyamory, the strange perversion of what love in marriage looks like.

Perversion?

The situation described is only one example of polyamory. Polyamory takes many, many forms.



She references Showtime's Polyamory series.

They claim that polyamory is the answer to our “divorce woes.”

Greater acceptance of polyamory, but even more so full marriage equality and relationship right for all adults, is one thing that will reduce divorces. Fewer people will be pressured into marriages they shouldn't get into. Fewer married people will feel a need to divorce.

Half of all marriages end in divorce, so the best way to combat that statistic is to eradicate the stability of marriage between committed partners?

She makes the mistake of equating polyamory with destabilization. In many cases, polyamory increases stability. Need a word picture? OK. How stable in a bicycle? How stable is a tricycle?

Agree or not, at least gay and polygamous marriages show some sort of committed union between adults -- promises to stay together for life. Of course promises get broken, but how can you raise children in such chaos that no promise is ever even made, let alone attempted to be lived?

Ah, so her problem (or so she wants us to believe) is that they are not legally married. Well, support the polyamorous freedom to marry and you'll see more polyamorists get married. Meanwhile, many monogamists are together, many raising children, while unmarried.

Kids with gay parents or more than one mom will have some stuff to overcome, even if for no other reason than it’s not the societal norm -- but at least they know where they belong.

So do children of polyamorists.

When parents are committed, the child’s home life is stable. But what happens when Dad’s girlfriend, who is acting as a surrogate mother, decides it’s time for her to move on? I can only imagine the psychological damage to a child who has to live with a revolving door of his parents’ various love interests.

By "committed" she means "legally married." And yet, there are many children in unstable homes with parents who are married and professed monogamists. She writes as though there is no such thing as unilateral no-fault divorce, when it is happening every day, in every neighborhood. Many children of  "monogamous" parents "live with a revolving door" of parents' various love interests. Where is her evidence that children in polyamorous homes are suffering? She doesn't have any, because there isn't any; rather, the studies so far appear to demonstrate that children in polyamorous families do quite well. I've seen it personally. Has she bothered to see for herself?

Then readers get this question tagged on to the end...

Do you think open marriages are a viable alternative to divorce?

Open marriages and polyamory are not synonymous. But to answer the question, some divorces are going to happen regardless. Perhaps in some divorces can be avoided by opening up the marriage or transitioning to polyfidelity.

Then I saw this "about the author"...

Jenny Erikson is a conservative chick living in Southern California with her two daughters.

Two daughters. No husband? No wife? What happened to monogamous stability? What happened to commitment?

The opinion piece focuses entirely on imagined detriments to children. What about polyamorists who do not have children? What does Erikson have to say about them, I wonder?

People who equate polyamory with a lack of commitment are speaking either from ignorance or hostility. Polamory often involves more commitment than monogamy.

Polyamorous family exist, including with young children. The sooner we recognize in our laws and our lives that an adult, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, or religion, should be free to share love, sex, residence, and marriage (or any of those without the others) with any and all consenting adults, the better off those families, especially the children, will be. Rather than snidely attacking the parents of these children, why not help us reach full marriage equality sooner rather than later?"item"'>

Jenny Erikson decided to spew confusion and ignorance at thestir.cafemom.com in a piece titled "Forget Gay Marriage & Polygamy -- It's Open Marriages That Destroy Families"...

You know the story: Boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy invites another girl into their bed, and girl is strangely ok with it, because she has her own lesbian lover on the side anyway.

Wait, what?

Welcome to polyamory, the strange perversion of what love in marriage looks like.

Perversion?

The situation described is only one example of polyamory. Polyamory takes many, many forms.



She references Showtime's Polyamory series.

They claim that polyamory is the answer to our “divorce woes.”

Greater acceptance of polyamory, but even more so full marriage equality and relationship right for all adults, is one thing that will reduce divorces. Fewer people will be pressured into marriages they shouldn't get into. Fewer married people will feel a need to divorce.

Half of all marriages end in divorce, so the best way to combat that statistic is to eradicate the stability of marriage between committed partners?

She makes the mistake of equating polyamory with destabilization. In many cases, polyamory increases stability. Need a word picture? OK. How stable in a bicycle? How stable is a tricycle?

Agree or not, at least gay and polygamous marriages show some sort of committed union between adults -- promises to stay together for life. Of course promises get broken, but how can you raise children in such chaos that no promise is ever even made, let alone attempted to be lived?

Ah, so her problem (or so she wants us to believe) is that they are not legally married. Well, support the polyamorous freedom to marry and you'll see more polyamorists get married. Meanwhile, many monogamists are together, many raising children, while unmarried.

Kids with gay parents or more than one mom will have some stuff to overcome, even if for no other reason than it’s not the societal norm -- but at least they know where they belong.

So do children of polyamorists.

When parents are committed, the child’s home life is stable. But what happens when Dad’s girlfriend, who is acting as a surrogate mother, decides it’s time for her to move on? I can only imagine the psychological damage to a child who has to live with a revolving door of his parents’ various love interests.

By "committed" she means "legally married." And yet, there are many children in unstable homes with parents who are married and professed monogamists. She writes as though there is no such thing as unilateral no-fault divorce, when it is happening every day, in every neighborhood. Many children of  "monogamous" parents "live with a revolving door" of parents' various love interests. Where is her evidence that children in polyamorous homes are suffering? She doesn't have any, because there isn't any; rather, the studies so far appear to demonstrate that children in polyamorous families do quite well. I've seen it personally. Has she bothered to see for herself?

Then readers get this question tagged on to the end...

Do you think open marriages are a viable alternative to divorce?

Open marriages and polyamory are not synonymous. But to answer the question, some divorces are going to happen regardless. Perhaps in some divorces can be avoided by opening up the marriage or transitioning to polyfidelity.

Then I saw this "about the author"...

Jenny Erikson is a conservative chick living in Southern California with her two daughters.

Two daughters. No husband? No wife? What happened to monogamous stability? What happened to commitment?

The opinion piece focuses entirely on imagined detriments to children. What about polyamorists who do not have children? What does Erikson have to say about them, I wonder?

People who equate polyamory with a lack of commitment are speaking either from ignorance or hostility. Polamory often involves more commitment than monogamy.

Polyamorous family exist, including with young children. The sooner we recognize in our laws and our lives that an adult, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, or religion, should be free to share love, sex, residence, and marriage (or any of those without the others) with any and all consenting adults, the better off those families, especially the children, will be. Rather than snidely attacking the parents of these children, why not help us reach full marriage equality sooner rather than later?

Posted in: children,freedom to marry,media,open,polyamory,prejudice