Image:Mobius-purple.jpg|thumb|165px|The Purple Mobius symbol for Polyamory, non-monogamy, and LGBT. Image:Love Outside The Box.svg|thumb|165px|The "love outside the box" symbol for Polyamory, non-monogamy, and LGBT. The term free love has been used since at least the 19th century to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage, especially for women. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It claimed that such issues were the concern of the people involved, and no one else. Much of the free-love tradition is an offshoot of anarchism, and reflects a civil libertarian philosophy that seeks freedom from state regulation and church interference in personal relationships. According to this concept, the free unions of adults are legitimate relations which should be respected by all third parties whether they are emotional or sexual relations. In addition, some free-love writing has argued that both men and women have the right to sexual pleasure. In the Victorian era, this was a radical notion. Later, a new theme developed, linking free love with radical social change, and depicting it as a harbinger of a new anti-authoritarian, anti-repressive pacifist sensibility. Many people in the early 19th century believed that marriage was an important aspect of life to “fulfill earthly human happiness.” Middle-class Americans wanted the home to be a place of stability in an uncertain world. This mentality created a vision on strongly defined gender roles, which lead to the advancement of the free love movement. While the phrase free love is often associated with promiscuity in the popular imagination, especially in reference to the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s, historically the free-love movement has not advocated multiple sexual partners or short-term sexual relationships. Rather, it has argued that love relations that are freely entered into should not be regulated by law. Thus, free-love practice may include long-term monogamous relationships or even celibacy, but would not include institutional forms of polygamy, such as a king and his wives and concubines. The term “sex radical” is also used with the term “free lover” although being referred, as a sex radical is what most people liked to be called; the term “free love” often had a negative connotation. Even though they had different names, they still fought for the same rights. No matter what they called themselves, these people shared two strong beliefs: opposition to the idea of forceful sexual activity in a relationship and advocacy for a woman to use her body in any way that she pleases. Laws of particular concern to free love movements have included those that prevent an unmarried couple from living together, and those that regulate adultery and divorce, as well as age of consent, birth control, homosexuality, abortion, and prostitution; although not all free love advocates agree on these issues. The abrogation of individual rights in marriage is also a concern—for example, some jurisdictions do not recognize spousal rape or treat it less seriously than non-spousal rape. Free-love movements since the 19th century have also defended the right to publicly discuss sexuality and have battled obscenity laws. In 1857, Francis Barry wrote that “marriage is a system of rape.” He states that the woman is a victim where she can do nothing but be oppressed by her husband, as he tortures her in her home, which becomes a house of bondage. In one of his articles, Francis Barry wrote:

“‘The Object of this women’s emancipation Society,’ according to article two of its free love constitution, ‘shall be to secure absolute freedom to woman, through the overthrow of the popular system of marriage.’”

In the 20th century, some free-love proponents extended the critique of marriage to argue that marriage as a social institution encourages emotional possessiveness and psychological enslavement. The Free Love movement mostly consisted of written articles, journals, and newspapers. The written word was what the free love movement chose to persuade their audience with; an act of civil disobedience.

[Last contributor : Wotnow , Content under LGPL licence]