Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Compersion - terms not specific to polyamory

 I think it's great that folks in the polyamory community come up with great terms to communicate dynamics in human relationships that were previously difficult to describe. It annoys me though, when sometimes they claim that those terms only apply to polyamorous relationships.

For example, this is how I explain "compersion" and jealousy. In my opinion, compersion is that happy feeling you get when you find out your best friend got vaccinated. Jealousy is what you feel when you can't get a vaccination appointment yourself then go on social media and see a picture of your happy best friend hugging their grandma; even though you're happy for them too. Moral of the story: compersion and jealousy are two separate things not polar opposites on a spectrum and not polyamory specific.