Didn't this whole "free love" thing die out in the sixties?
It never really existed, even back then.
But that's irrelevant. Polyamory isn't free love. All these different flavors of polymory have their own dynamic, but ultimately, they are all about building relationships, not about sex.
Okay, so they are about sex as well. After all, if no sex is involved, then what you have is a monogamous relationship where the couple has other friends. It is, in a sense, the fact that sex is involved that defines polyamory as a distinct from monogamy. But the point is, it isn't just the sex.
And the ides of polyamory predates the sixties, anyway. In fact it's at least as old as human history. Examples of non-monogamous relationships can be found in many places at any time throughout history.
Isn't this all some sexist, misogynistic, male-dominated Mormon thing, like on that HBO show "Big Love"?
No. The image that many people have in their heads, of one man many women as in the recent HBO series, is technically "polygyny" Polygyny (from the Greek poly many + gynos woman) is the form of polygamy where a man can have more than one female partner, but women are not allowed to have more than one male partner.
In societies where polygyny is practiced, women are usually seen as little more than property. Since people have this mistaken notion of polyamory, it's easy to understand why they think "polyamory" means "disrespect of women."
But polyamory is not polygyny. Polyamory applies equally to everybody. In an ethical polyamorous relationship, the same opportunities are afforded to everyone, regardless of their sex. Polyamory is not about collecting abunch of women for your harem. Polyamory is about sharing some part of your life and sharing your love with more than one other person--and your lovers sharing some part of THEIR lives and some part of THEIR love with more than one other person. Polyamory is not about "owning" your lovers and hiring an army of eunucha to make sure they don't stray.
