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Romantic love is a form of love that is often regarded as different from simply sexual love, or lust. Romantic love generally means both an emotional and sexual love, as opposed to Platonic love. There is more emphasis on the emotions than on the bodily pleasures and, as far as physical intimacy is involved, less emphasis on the intimate parts. Western society has historically emphasized romantic love far more than other cultures in which arranged marriages are the rule. However, the globalization of Western culture has spread Western ideas about love and romance.
Romantic love is the idealization of another person, and of a relationship with that person. Other ideas of love have been advanced by several philosophers and have been popular in different cultures.
Properties of romantic love purported by Western culture that might not appear elsewhere include:
- It must take you by surprise
- It cannot be controlled
- It should be the basis for a lifelong commitment
- It is the highest form of self-fulfillment
See:
See also
- personal relationship
- the idealization of romantic love
- limerence
- erotomania
- Romanticism
- Love-shynessThe term love-shyness is sometimes used to designate a specific type of severe chronic shyness. Love-shy people find it difficult to be assertive in informal situations involving potential romantic or sexual partners. For example, a love-shy heterosexual
- erotophobiaErotophobia is the fear of marriage or romantic relationships, especially by a man or in regards to heterosexual romance. Many bachelors are sometimes thought to be erotophobes. The word erotophobia is derived from the name of Eros the Greek god of romant
- marriage strikeMarriage strike is a term coined by some masculist authors to describe the idea that a substantial fraction of men avoid (or should avoid) marriage out of a conscious fear of financial devastation in the event of divorce. Advocates of the marriage strike
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