Polyamory in the News
. . . by Alan M.



May 17, 2008

"Ik hou van twee mannen"
("I love two men")

Nederland 1 TV

This one got by me when it appeared. The first-ever TV report on polyamorie in the Netherlands (according to a tribe poster who lives there) aired on February 14th, on EénVandaag (Channel 1 Today). The report is more than 7 minutes long and looks wonderful, with happy, glowing people who make me want to go live there — though they might as well be speaking Sumerian. Watch the show (may require Internet Explorer or a Firefox plug-in).

One of the stars is Ageeth Veenemans, a poly activist now becoming known in the English-speaking world. She runs the big, busy Polyamorie Nederlandse website, which has also a smaller English edition. The Dutch site includes links to many recent mass-media articles about poly in Dutch and other European languages. Clearly I've been missing most of them!

(By the way, you can view a rough English translation of most foreign-language websites by using Google Language Tools.)

Veenemans has published a book, Ik Hou Van Twee Mannen, now in its third printing, which she hopes to get published in English, Spanish, and German. She sends out a free monthly newsletter.

About her book, Veenemans writes:


When I discovered polyamory on the internet, I knew: “This is what I want!” It turned out to be possible: to have two simultaneous love relationships without lying and deceit. And I discovered I am not alone in wanting two loves. Why had I not found out earlier? Polyamory was unknown in The Netherlands. There was no Dutch literature.

I started to write in September 2004. I am convinced that polyamory may be a good alternative for others, too. It saved my marriage.

In writing my book and by participating in a [Dutch] polyamory forum on the internet, I overcame my inhibitions. I learned to talk about what had been the unspeakable for four years, which was, that I had fallen in love with two men and that I wanted to express it.


Also: Pieter Schultz has created a huge resource list in Dutch, polyamorie.startpagina.nl, with much content in English. It includes a big list of European poly groups and sites by country.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Having been poly most of my life - it has been my knowledge that poly was a way of life in much of Europe - tevooren the new awakening of poly today.

Here I refer specifically to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, France and Germany.

In Suide Afrika, ek glo desielfde was yaare lank bestandbaar in die meer akademisie and kustelike wereld ... in die 1970's alhoewel dit mense van kleur heeltmal uitgesluit het.

May 18, 2008 8:27 AM  
Blogger Anita Wagner Illig said...

Also, for an English translation of this website, click "international sites" in the upper right corner and then "English site" in the dropdown box.

May 19, 2008 8:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Alan,

You've found me :)! Since my book came out in the Netherlands there has been a lot of publicity about polyamory: over 40 articles in glossys and newspapers; 15 times on de radio, 12 times on television in the Netherlands and Belgium. TV-teams from Spain and Sweden also came to the Netherlands to make a documentary about polyamory.

I've made my job of it to spread knowledge about polyamory. Every day I receive mails. People, who's life changed after reading it, thank me for writing my book.

I think the time is right now for polyamory, and I feel grateful I'm able to do this job.

Loving regards,
Ageeth Veenemans

May 19, 2008 8:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello Alan and Anita,

A little mistake is made in the posting above. Ageeth is not the the composer or author of the link directory http://polyamorie.startpagina.nl
It's me. I've just finished my 13th so called 'granddaughter' (that's a subpage of the mainpage or 'daughter' polyamorie.startpagina.nl). It deals with mormon polygamy. The page gas first to check by Startpagina (owner of startpages) before it goes online.

Polyamory I take on my startpage in a broad sense (Gr. 'poly' = many / plural and 'amory' = love). Polyamory as a modern way of live in this way I understand as a form of plural love / relationships.

My next 'granddaughter' deals about monogamy (serial monogamy, etc.).

I put a link on my startpage about polyamory to this excellent website. I would appriciate it when you refer to my startpage! To do so we can increase the traffic to our websites and make polyamory more known!

I wish you good luck! Happy 2009 or in our context happy 'polyyear'!!!

Warm regards,

Pieter Schultz
(The Hague, Holland)

January 03, 2009 5:19 PM  
Blogger Alan said...

Pieter--

Oops, my mistake! I've fixed it. Thanks for the correction.

--Alan

January 04, 2009 9:53 AM  

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