Why would you take the TIME article at face value on this?
It doesn’t even get the language right. I’m poly, and I have never once heard people talk about “joining a polycule” as the thing someone chooses to do. That’s not how it works. You choose to date someone. “Polycule” just describes the set of people who you are dating, who your partner(s) are dating, who their partner(s) are dating, and so on. Dating someone doesn’t imply anything about how you have to relate to your metamours, much less people farther distant in the polycule. Sometimes you may never even know the full extent of your polycule.
I don’t know of a single poly person who would approve of the dynamic that the TIME article seems to describe, or any reason to think it is an accurate description of how EA works. Of course you shouldn’t shame people into dating you. Of course you shouldn’t leverage professional power for sexual benefit. Of course it’s good to be an EA and buy bed nets whether you are poly or monogomous. Nobody that I know of, poly or monogomous, disagrees with this. The fact that you think poly people do is what shows your prejudice. I suggest you try getting to know a poly person, talk to a poly person about their relationship(s), before opening your mouth on the subject again.
Why would you take the TIME article at face value on this?
It doesn’t even get the language right. I’m poly, and I have never once heard people talk about “joining a polycule” as the thing someone chooses to do. That’s not how it works. You choose to date someone. “Polycule” just describes the set of people who you are dating, who your partner(s) are dating, who their partner(s) are dating, and so on. Dating someone doesn’t imply anything about how you have to relate to your metamours, much less people farther distant in the polycule. Sometimes you may never even know the full extent of your polycule.
I don’t know of a single poly person who would approve of the dynamic that the TIME article seems to describe, or any reason to think it is an accurate description of how EA works. Of course you shouldn’t shame people into dating you. Of course you shouldn’t leverage professional power for sexual benefit. Of course it’s good to be an EA and buy bed nets whether you are poly or monogomous. Nobody that I know of, poly or monogomous, disagrees with this. The fact that you think poly people do is what shows your prejudice. I suggest you try getting to know a poly person, talk to a poly person about their relationship(s), before opening your mouth on the subject again.