The focus of this literature review is to investigate both what polyamory is and what it is about this lifestyle that can spark such widely differing opinions.  In order to achieve this it intends to look at what the current literature that is available to the public today says, sets polyamory apart from other lifestyle choices and asks what about polyamory could be seen as a threat by some, and a comfort to others.

It will critically examine a wide number of texts written on the subject of polyamory, sourced from varying arenas within both the culture of polyamory itself and outside of this lifestyle.  As the term polyamory has only been around for the past 20 years (Taormino, 2008, UK Polyamory), there has been relatively few academic textbooks printed about the subject; however, there are a few key texts that this author plans to examine in detail.  Indeed many of the texts that have been written explicitly state that the reason the authors had for writing their books in the first place was the lack of open discussion or information on the topic of polyamory and/or non-monogamous/open relationships (Matik, 2002, Easton, 2009, Benson, 2009).  There have been a number of articles written in varying journals, websites and personal blogs that cover a wide range of issues to do with not only the practice of polyamory itself, but the emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of this chosen lifestyle.  These websites in particular have formed a base resource for many individuals who seek to not only gather more information about polyamory, but who also wish to write about the subject (Bennett, 2009).  Notably alt.polyamory, xeromag.com/fvpoly, polyamory.org, polyamorysociety.org, polyamoryonline.org and polyamory.org.uk have been cited as major resource websites by Benson (2008), Easton and Hardy (2009), Taormino (2008) and Block (2009).  Websites such as these have helped form a base network of resources for polyamorous individuals throughout the world and have helped shape the polyamorous community because of this (Bennett, 2009).  The websites listed above will be used as a resource throughout this literature review, although this author does acknowledge that they have not been recognized as academic texts, they are constantly peer reviewed; and as such form both primary and secondary sources with which this author can explore the subject through its grassroots organizations.

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