Sexuality
What does ENM mean?
Acronym for ethical non-monogamy: more than one romantic or sexual bond, with everyone informed and agreeing.
Definition
In English the acronym is the umbrella. Under it sit forms that search mixes up. Polyamory is one of them: several romantic bonds, not the name of everything. An open relationship usually keeps a couple and authorises sex outside. There is also swinging, relationship anarchy and mixes midway. Ethical marks the difference the group wants from cheating: the third person is not a secret. Jealousy does not vanish because a bio says ENM.
In the papers the older cousin is CNM (consensual non-monogamy), nearly a synonym. Profiles prefer the three letters that fit in place of non-monogamous.
Origin
English ethical non-monogamy. CNM already shows up in academic and community writing in the 1990s and mid-2000s; ENM caught on in bios in the 2010s–20s, and people often reverse that order. The Ethical Slut, by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy (1997; a 1994 workshop at Mensa/Big Sur), gave the vocabulary of agreed non-monogamy before the short acronym.
History
From books and lists to the bio, where three letters fit in place of non-monogamous. Papers still say CNM; profiles say ENM. Haupert and colleagues (2017) estimated about one in five U.S. adults had ever had a consensual non-monogamous arrangement — CNM research, not a coinage date for ENM.
How it emerged
Non-monogamous did not fit a profile. Three letters did. Ethics in the name is the point: the agreement, not the secret. The practice already had books and lists; the acronym compressed the umbrella.
Usage examples
The bio says ENM, not single.
ENM without a conversation is only three letters.
Translations
- pt não-monogamia ética / ENM
- en ENM / ethical non-monogamy
- es no monogamia ética / ENM
Synonyms
- ethical non-monogamy
- CNM
- consensual non-monogamy
Acronyms
- ENM