Drawing the Line: Slippery Slopes, Sex Panics, and Polyamorous Marriages

Gretchen A. Myers, Stetson University College of Law

Abstract

This Note uses the unique example of polyamorous relationships to argue that the state should reject the number, sexual, and gender requirements in marriage and instead should regulate intimate relationships only to support caretaking families, in whatever forms those families happen to take. It suggests that marriage law historically has been and continues to be used as a tool for policing the boundaries of “proper” sexuality. Relationships outside of the “proper” boundaries—interracial relationships, same-sex relationships, nonmonogamous relationships—have been unfairly sexualized and labeled as deviant even though they actually provide caretaking and stability.