User:Eivind/sandbox

Relationship Anarchy (abbreviated RA) is a relationship-structure based on the belief that relationships should not be bound by set rules, aside from the rules the people involved mutually agree upon. Relationship Anarchists apply this thinking to all personal relationships and reject the idea of a formal distinction between different types of relationships (such as "friend", "lover", "partner", etc.)

Relationship anarchy is a form of polyamory, and started within the polyamorous community. Relationship anarchy does share an overall rejection of sexual and romantic monogamy with polyamory, however, RA also seeks to completely break down the amatonormative relationship hierarchy by erasing relationship categories determined by the presence or absence of sex and/or romance. Relationship anarchy advocates that all personal/intimate relationships start as equal, behaviorally and emotionally. With one’s relationships starting as a blank slate, the act of distributing physical intimacy, sexual intimacy, emotional intimacy, etc. is according to one’s desires rather than preexisting "rules" based on categories of relationship types.

For these reasons relationship anarchy is also popular within the asexual and aromantic communities, particularly nonamorous aromantics, or aromantics who want relationships that don't fall into traditional "platonic" or "romantic" categories. Many asexuals and aromantics already have relationships that do not involve sex and/or romance and therefore are in a position to easily break down amatonormative relationship ideas.

History

The term relationship anarchy was coined by Andi Nordgren, through discussion on a blog they ran during the early 2000s. Andi also discusses relationship anarchy in Deborah Anapol’s book in 2010. It began as a subsection of the polyamorous community with roots in the free love movement of the 20th century, which in some forms rejects the idea of monogamous marriage, seeing it as a form of social and financial bondage.