Constructions Of Polyamory on Mainstream Social Media: A Critical Discursive Analysis

Abstract Book of the 7th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality

Year: 2026

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Constructions Of Polyamory on Mainstream Social Media: A Critical Discursive Analysis

Cameron Glen

ABSTRACT:

Polyamory – a relationship practice that falls under the broader umbrella of consensual non-monogamy – has only recently found a limited foothold in academic research. This is problematic given the extent polyamory potentially raises questions about how we conceptualise relationships, and at a time where we are witnessing a diversity of challenges to normative assumptions about intimacy, family, gender and sexuality. Due to the increasing digitalisation of public and social life, including intimate and sexual relationships, it is important to understand how polyamory is being represented within everyday conversation on social media. The current study addresses this gap by employing critical discursive psychology to analyse how discursive constructions of polyamory are being negotiated, contested and performed on Twitter/X. Findings from 3561 posts and replies reveal how the validity of polyamory, and subsequent claims to intimate and sexual citizenship, are being contested around two prevalent interpretive repertoires. A ‘social threat’ repertoire was typically drawn upon to (dis)associate polyamory from “civilised” society. In contrast, a ‘personal deficit’ repertoire, often intersected with gender, was routinely deployed to contest the desirability of polyamory and the inherent character of those who practice polyamorous relationships. This presentation focuses on the latter, demonstrating how various discourses – sometimes mutually reinforcing and at other times contradictory – were mobilised to work up constructions of polyamory within a personal deficit repertoire. Implications for how polyamory is being constructed within social media are discussed, noting the ideological compromises made necessary to validate polyamory within the broader discursive landscape around relationships and sexualities.

Keywords: Consensual Non-Monogamies; Sexualities; Gender; Popular Culture; Discourse