Anna, a self-described “queer” woman, said in a viral TikTok video that she’s in a “polyamorous relationship” involving eight people in total, including her spouse, girlfriend, and a third partner of undetermined gender.
Her video, which was posted in early May, has received about 1.2 million views as of Wednesday afternoon.
What are the details?
Anna kicked things off by defining a “polyamorous relationship,” noting that people usually define it as involving three people. However, she noted that’s merely one kind of polyamorous relationship.
In fact, she called her eight-member polyamorous relationship a “poly-cule or constellation — because it looks like a molecule or constellation” — and then cut to clips of the names of the people in her polyamorous relationship written on notecards and tacked to a board and connected with yarn.
First, Anna said she’s married to Jake. But Anna added that she’s also dating Spencer — the individual of yet-to-be-determined gender — as well as Ellie, a new relationship partner for Anna.
Things get more complicated when Anna introduces Izzy, who’s Ellie’s “platonic life partner,” which means the two of them “plan on spending the rest of their lives together without any sex or romance involved.”
The plot thickens when we learn Izzy also is “casually seeing” Spencer. (Remember Spencer, the individual of yet-to-be-determined gender who’s also dating Anna? How could you forget?)
Going back to Jake, Anna’s spouse, we soon learn he’s also dating a person named Rocket — who somehow uses “He/They” pronouns. Anna added that Rocket also is in a long-term relationship with “his girlfriend” as well as a “queer platonic relationship” with yet another partner.
Got it? No? Well, here’s the clip:
How are folks reacting to the video?
A cursory look at the initial batch of the video’s nearly 2,200 comments seems to indicate viewers generally support the complicated polyamorous relationship.
But Libs of TikTok posted the clip, too — and reactions from Twitter users are a bit less charitable:
- “It’s called you are all swingers. It’s nothing new; you’re just trying to sound important. And also, no thanks!” one commenter wrote.
- “Sodom and Gomorrah is happening,” another user said.
- “Imagine storming the beaches of Normandy only to have your granddaughter become this lady,” another commenter quipped.
- “We have defined deviance down so far that people either think this is healthy behavior or are at least afraid to criticize it,” another user observed. “We have destroyed many of the key rules that once helped maintain a healthy society.”
Oh, and there was this gem: “So your math question of the day: Anna goes to see new Downton Abbey movie on date night. The movie tickets cost $12.50. How much does Anna spend?”