Love's Refraction
Jealousy and Compersion in Queer Women's Polyamorous Relationships
Popular wisdom might suggest that jealousy is an invevitable outcome of non-monogamous relationships. In Love's Refraction, Jillian Deri explores the distinctive question of how and why polyamorists -people who practise consensual non-monogamy -manage jealousy. Her focus is on the polyamorist concept of "compersion" -taking pleasure in a lover's other romantic and sexual encounters. By discussing the experiences of queer, lesbian, and bisexual polyamorous women, Deri highlights the social and structural context that surrounds jealousy. Her analysis, making use of the sociology of emotion and feminist intersectionality theory, shows how polyamory challenges traditional emotional and sexual norms.
