37. What is relationship anarchy? With Natasha McKeever and Luke Brunning

Relationship anarchy is a radical approach to relationships that goes beyond just rejecting traditional monogamy. Relationship anarchists believe that relationships should never involve having power over each other, in the form of holding each other to obligations. So, for example, relationship anarchists reject the idea of restricting one's partner from entering into any form of intimacy with anyone, even with mutual friends. They also reject any hierarchy of relationships - for example having a central relationship with one person whose agreement is needed for you to have relationships with other people. For relationship anarchists, all relationships should be approached individually and no relationship should involve placing restrictions on any partner. Natasha McKeever, and Luke Brunning, all based at the IDEA Centre, have been looking critically at the ethics of relationship anarchy, and I spoke to them in a wide-ranging conversation about this fascinating topic. 

Some links to further reading:

An article by Luke in The Conversation about relationship anarchy.

An ABC article about relationship anarchy.

A new book about relationship anarchy.

A 'Short Instructional Manifesto for Relationship Anarchy'

An article by Aleksander Sørlie, Ole Martin Moen on The Ethics of Relationship Anarchy.

A book about relationship anarchy by by Juan-Carlos Pérez-Cortés.

Ethics Untangled is produced by IDEA, The Ethics Centre at the University of Leeds.

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