Manifesto

Inamorata, as defined by the venerable Urban Dictionary:

A woman whom one is in love with; a mistress.

Inamorata comes from Italian innamorata, feminine of innamorato, from the past participle of innamorare, "to inspire with love," from in- (from Latin) + amore, "love" (from Latin amor, from amare, "to love"). 

In the stories of our lives, we have played the inamorata, the inspiration for the romantic and sexual feelings of others. We have also encountered inspirations of our own. This blog exists to remember these intimacies, whatever form they took and whoever they were with.

We believe that our past and current friends-with-benefits, long-term monogamous relationships, one-night stands, unrequited crushes, first loves, erotic penpals, and everyone we have shared intimacy with are worthy of remembrance. We are affected by each person who has touched and been touched by us, not only our most recent embrace. But there is no appropriate cultural space to reminisce about these people, no appreciation for those who came before and helped make us who we are, and that's a shame. We need a space for remembrance.

This archive exists to create that space, to affirm that these intimacies existed and were what they were, and what they mean to us now.

A couple basics to get us started:

• Names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty alike
• Chronological ordering left to author discretion
• Traumatic experiences are fair game, but we are not planning to use content warnings presently. We are open to feedback about this and this may change, but for now, consider this your content warning. 
• If LGBTQ and/or polyamorous viewpoints make you uncomfortable, this isn't the blog for you. 

So, here we go. The Inamorata Archive.