"She'd Laid in Bed with a Pillow to her Head..."

[psalm_onethirtyone]

[Poll #1463754]

Comments

[gileonnen.livejournal.com]

That is exactly my reaction. ^_^

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, nobody would be comfy being just poly. Or, rather, everybody is comfy with an exclusive relationship.

[gileonnen.livejournal.com]

I'm more the latter, really. I'm comfortable being in an exclusive relationship if my partner wants that, but I'm also comfortable being open.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Actually, the way you phrased the question, I could see people answering that they'd be comfortable poly without actually having tried it (I thought I would be long before I tried it, and I mostly am, but we've had some really rough patches).

I also know quite a few poly folks, my boyfriend included, who would not be comfy with an exclusive relationship (we've done it for periods while working on stuff, but long-term, it's not a possibility for him. I'm not sure it is for me, either). So they're out there.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Thank you! You're right, I can see where my phrasing would make certain assumptions.

I keep trying to hone this survey, so hopefully next year I will be able to make one that's better, based on feedback like this.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

I think it's probably impossible to cover all the possibilities (especially wrt gender) with tickyboxes. But I always find these surveys interesting.

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

It also occurs to me that there are going to be definition differences--I don't identify as pansexual because I just find the word a bit silly, but I'm not bisexual in the sense that I'm only attracted to people who identify as male or female. Other people might use "bisexual" in a more limited way.

[gileonnen.livejournal.com]

I see what you're getting at here--I don't like the term 'bisexual' mainly because (as a genderqueer person) I don't like the way that it connotes only two options; however, I recognize that this is an entirely (and unnecessarily?) political statement on my part. For me, pansexuality is an oppositional identity; bisexuals probably mean the same fool thing I do when they self-identify, but they're not the same kind of aggressive about it. ^_~

[holyschist.livejournal.com]

Hmm. It probably depends on the bisexual person? Some bisexual people are definitely believers in binary gender. But I haven't surveyed what people mean by bisexual. That would be interesting.

I just personally find "pansexual" to be a really weird term that I'm not comfortable using, although I guess it might be more precise. "Multisexual" is worse.

I actually mostly use "queer" to describe myself as a way of getting around all of that. Instead of struggling to be precise, I will be vague! O_O

[gileonnen.livejournal.com]

XD I, too, take refuge in vagueness!

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. But I like to try to get at least a range.