Overview

Is lifelong, exclusive monogamy a universal human instinct-or a social structure shaped by history, property, and power? Unchaining Intimacy is a work of social and ethical analysis that examines compulsory monogamy as a historically contingent institution rather than a natural default. Drawing on anthropology, philosophy, and cultural history, Demosthenes Ignis traces how modern relationship norms emerged through economic systems, religious authority, and state governance. Rather than treating intimacy as a private preference, this book analyzes relationships as social infrastructure-shaped by inheritance laws, gendered labor, moral regulation, and political stability. It explores how the nuclear family model became standardized, what pressures it imposes on individuals, and why alternative relationship structures have repeatedly emerged across cultures and historical periods. The book also examines contemporary forms of relationship diversity, including ethical non-monogamy, polyamory, and non-exclusive partnership models, not as prescriptions but as responses to structural constraints. Issues of consent, autonomy, child well-being, and social resilience are addressed through ethical reasoning rather than lifestyle advocacy. Unchaining Intimacy is not a guide to personal relationships. It offers no instructions or endorsements. It is a critical inquiry into how intimacy is organized, regulated, and normalized-and how expanding relational choice may alter the social systems built upon it. Written for readers interested in ethics, social science, and cultural transformation, this book invites a reconsideration of one of the most deeply embedded assumptions of modern life: that there is only one legitimate way to form a family.

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