There Are Many Ways to Polyamory

Your guide to understanding it all.

- By Kayla Kibbe

Is it fair to say we've reached peak poly? Nearly half of dating-age Gen Zers are open to the idea of a non-monogamous setup, according to a recent Tinder survey. And 62 per cent say that they've fantasised about being in an open relationship, per a Feeld x Kinsey Institute poll. (The latter also found up to 80 per cent of millennials, Gen Xers and boomers fantasise about the same.) And, data aside, it honestly seems everyone is suddenly talking about, or curious to try, polyamory.

Of course, the practice of having multiple romantic partners at the same time isn’t exactly new, but the way it’s evolving, especially when it comes to its lexicon, is. Hence the importance of this handy cheat sheet for keeping you up to date with the terminology.

Unicorn Quad

It's when four partners are all in relationships with one another—named for how rarely this actually happens IRL, says sex educator Leanne Yau, founder of the blog Poly Philia. Other kinds of quads do exist, but not everyone is necessarily dating everyone else. Some non-unicorn ones may include two couples who partner swap or partners who are dating more of their fellow quad members than others are.

Hierarchical Non-Monogamy