The acts conducted by one young man fell a bit short of traditional polyamory. One could not really say that he had had an open romantic relationship with two different girls. He had an open dating relationship with two different women. For that reason the male student’s behavior more properly belonged under the heading “alt polyamory.”
One Dartmouth student decided to try dating two girls on the same weekend. He would spend some time with one dating partner at his dormitory, and then he would hurry over to a different structure. The second structure was one in which the young man could house his second date. The weekend’s activities kept that one Dartmouth student very busy.
His problem began on Friday night, when the Weekend program called for a huge bonfire. The young man had to let one girl stay warm by the fire, while he chased back to the dorm, where his second date sat in a warm room. He no doubt assured his second date that it was too cold a night for participating in the outdoor activities.
His act of alt polyamory forced him to scurry over the bleachers during the football game. He took one date to the game with him, and then he hurried back to his dorm room during halftime. While his one date enjoyed the school band, the young man fixed his eyes on the face of his second date.
Later the same young man found himself pressed to stick with a similar routine during the evening concert. While most students stood on their seats, that young man jumped off his seat, and he again hurried back to the girl whom he had left behind. The next day, only a few male friends saw the way the two-timer deftly said good bye to both young women. Perhaps by then at least one of the two girls had become suspicious about all of her date’s many comings and goings.
As the other girls who had come for the weekend became aware of that boy’s antics, they began to discuss the situation. Their conversation suggested a condemnation for such “cheating moves.” The females could not, however, know how the other male students viewed the alt polyamory.
An analysis of the male view would have required a look for signs of widespread acceptance of any form of polyamory. At that time, such evidence would have been hard to find. Today one might look for evidence that any New England newspaper contains polyamory personals. An editor printing polyamory personals might well be a former Dartmouth student.
Perhaps another student, one with writing skills, had been impressed by the results of the deviant student’s alt polyamory. Maybe those results pointed out the merits of off-color behavior. One wonders if any editor, assuming one might exist, actually condoned such behavior. Would such an editor approve of polyamory that affected his own sister or daughter?