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mem_somerville

Ok, it's now overdue, but it's going back today--I swear.

The Other Significant Others by Raina Cohen.

Loved it. At first I thought it would just be a series of vignettes of people who lived out-of-bounds like I do, and I almost didn't press on.

Glad I did. She uses the quirky life scenarios as a way to illustrate the hurdles and barriers to life outside the cultural boundaries.

1/n

I was sort of hoping for more guidelines, but those just don't exist. A point she made with the individual stories.

Still, I found useful concepts, pointers to some research and/or organizations that help with the legal, cultural, and social hurdles around lives outside of the idea of marriage.

It was also nice to see examples of other people bucking the "monoculture of monogamous romantic partnerships" that society struggles with.

2/n

She summarizes nicely with this:

"American law is an outdated map of the real-life landscape of relationships. We live in a time when sex doesn't have to lead to procreation*, procreation can happen without sex, and marriage is far less pervasive and permanent than it used to be."

(Although this was always true and she touches on that, this chapter is about legal matters largely)

*Yes, I know, that's at risk today.

3/n

It also includes that "passed the first non-discrimination ordinance that explicitly protects nonnuclear families".

Her research notes also indicated that and Somerville "have Municipal domestic partnerships that don't have a romantic connotation to them."

I didn't even realize that.

So, it ended up being more than just stories of quirky friendships and life situations.

Worthwhile.

4/end

As a footnote, I'll also add the ordinance information, which I knew about but never really examined before.

I did not know partnerships outside of Somerville were also eligible to register.

polyamorylegal.org/somerville-

Polyamory Legal Advocacy CoalitionFAQs 1 — Polyamory Legal Advocacy Coalition

@mem_somerville she was on the Savage Lovecast a couple of weeks ago. The book sounded quite interesting.

@jbsegal I found the book through a WaPo excerpt that was intriguing. It was nice to see an example of a life like mine.

I will look for that podcast, thanks.

wapo.st/3PITPA0

The Washington Post · Marriage has a monopoly on legal benefits. It shouldn’t.By Rhaina Cohen

@mem_somerville Nice to hear! That's on my to-read list. (In fact, I might end up with that actual book sitting in front of you 😆 ) #interlibraryLoan

@constantorbit I gave it back! I swear! Took out all my post-it notes!

The new books have a shorter loan window. It threw me.