Pros:
- Growth (communication, self awareness, emotional maturity)
- You can allow new connections to grow organically
- You don’t have to meet all of someones needs
- You can get different needs and wants met from different people
- More autonomy to be your own person
- Get to practice radical honesty with the people you love
- Shared economics
- Sense of community
- Compersion (if you have it)
- Make your own rules for your relationships
- A polycule is typically enough people for a board game night (Elizabeth)
- You develop next level time & relationships management skills (Shanti)
- First kisses (Kristina)
- More people to buy ice cream for you! (Tasha)
- Taking turns cooking (Heather P.)
- Petamours (Partner pets to love on) (Eve)
- Community encourages confidence (Eve)
- You break out of some really indoctrinated ideas you didn’t even know about. When there are no clear rules you gotta question everything and that leads to a lot of better ideology and exploration in life that’s fulfilling (Krys)
- More people to celebrate good news / more people to support you through difficult times (Mary)
Cons:
- Breakups/Heartbreak
- Potentionally having to hide who you are from coworkers, friends and/or family
- Jealousy and insecurity
- Scheduling and logistics of maintaining multiple relationships
- Judgement from society
- Snack sharing – House snacks are gone fast (Tasha)
- Sharing attention can be rough and make you feel insignificant (Tasha)
- Forgetting which stories and jokes you’ve already said to certain partners (Heather)
- Poly people love board games for some inexplicable reason (Emily)
- Lots and lots of processing, complicated coming-out experiences, so many schedules to attend to (Mz Ki)
- You’re never as good of a communicator as you’d like to be (Krys)
- Time is finite, you may not always get the quality you need from people who have multiple parnters and busy schedules (Lisa)
- Couples priviledge (Stacy)