The Monogamy Contest

topic: MONOGAMY. medium: ALL

You know that I’d never cheat on a man/ Cuz I’m not like that…You’re my babe right thru/I was made for you”

-Lady Gaga

Rebellious of conformity and steadfastly devoted to celebrating the non-traditional, Lady Gaga’s song “Fashion of his Love,” shows her to be a believer in at least one traditional value: MONOGAMY.

Surprising though it may seem, and despite the barrage of tabloids gleefully reporting the latest celebrity cheating scandals, many people still hold monogamy as the ideal in their relationships. Yet, with all the hoopla over a married Anthony Weiner sending pics of his, well, wiener on Twitter, the revelation of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love child, and Eva Longoria’s recent split from ex-hubby Tony Parker due to rumors of infidelity, monogamy can seem like a long-forgotten relic of the past.

So we at PenTales began thinking: maybe Lady Gaga had it all wrong, maybe monogamy really isn’t the ideal. Imagine this: what would the world look like if non-monogamous relationships were normalized? More happy marriages, less divorce? Do happy marriages even exist now? What are the benefits and sacrifices of different types of relationships? When you think of monogamy, do you think of the word pertaining strictly to the physical realm, or to the emotional as well.

Until July 31, 2011 we’re inviting you to submit your story (text, audio, image, video) to the “Monogamy Contest”. The idea is to go beyond the dictionary definition and get people’s creative and personal takes on what it means.

Why do we care? PenTales is a community (with outposts in 25 different cities around the world) that is trying to bring the dictionary to life through people’s personal stories (in all different mediums).

Find us everywhere:
pentales.com / facebook.com/pentales / twitter.com/pentales / youtube.com/pentales

Send in your original work (photo’s/prose/poems/artwo​rk/music/video) to writepentales@gmail.com
In the subject line please write “Monogamy Contest, your name, the medium of the work you are submitting, and the title of the piece”
If you are submitting a word file, please copy and paste it into the body of the email. Photos/artwork/music should be hosted by a site (flikr/youtube/ect) and forward us the link.

There’s no bigger prize than getting your story out there and heard (well, maybe a million dollars would be better, but we’re not quite there yet). So, beyond having your perspective represented in the PenTales definition of monogamy onpentales.com, we’ll be giving the most innovative works (one per medium) added exposure by doing a feature on the contributors in our newsletter (which reaches into creative circles in over 40 countries worldwide). The contributors will also be invited to help judge the next contest. Not bad, right? Most importantly though, you’ll be celebrated by us for your ingenuity and we might even give you a chunk of that million bucks – when we get it 😉

Winners will be notified via email by August 7, 2011.

So, go ahead, tell us: What’s the deal with monogamy anyway?