Sex and the Sacred in North American Indigenous Art

PDF version Anthropologist Charles Lindholm (2006) writes about romantic love as a yearning for the sacred. According to philosopher Irving Singer (1984), romantic love is a combination of various aspects of love, ranging from the libidinal to the ideal. The … Continue reading

How the Australian Bullroarer Invokes the Happiness of Sexual Love

PDF version Aboriginal Australians had a longstanding belief that tjurunga—the bullroarer—brings happiness in life and lovemaking. Why so and how? Over years, anthropologists explored the rituals associated with these culturally symbolic objects. What is the Bullroarer? The bullroarer is a … Continue reading

Polyamory Appears to Be a New Form of Love

PDF version. There is some evidence that polyamory appears to be a novel alternative to traditional monogamous romantic love. Polyamory is on the rise in many modern societies. Why so? Let’s consider what Americans think about polyamory and polygamy. What … Continue reading

How Passionate Love Emerges from Arousal

Here is a psychophysiological secret about why we fall in love with someone at first sight. It happens in special circumstances of autonomic arousal and the exciting context of a situation. In the appropriate conditions, the extrinsic arousal effect transforms … Continue reading

Is Kissing for Love Culturally Universal?

Is kissing cross-culturally universal? Who invented kissing to express love to each other? It could seem that sexual kissing is a universal cultural practice. Artists widely portrayed the acts of kissing in a variety of material cultures, including books, paintings, … Continue reading

How Our Brain Developed the Ability to Love

Love is one of our core psychological and biological needs. We need to love, and we need to be loved. These needs are cross-culturally universal, even though the way people experience and express their love may differ across societies and … Continue reading

Modern Intimate Practices in Online Dating Apps

According to previous research on online dating app practices, there are two groups of users. Some are seeking casual sex, while others are seeking a committed relationship, as an imposed normative framework suggests. Intimate Relationships in Online-Mediated Cultures Sociologists have … Continue reading

How to Avoid Date Night Boredom and Passion Decline

The article describes how a date night, and a romantic relationship can become boring and what partners can do to make them more passionate. Many love scholars consider passion to be a key feature of romantic love and the beginning … Continue reading

Family Evolution in the Late 20th Century

The 1950s and 1960s were the “golden age of marriage” and the triumph of romantic love in many modern Western societies. The cultural ideologies of “love marriage” and “sexual revolution” prevailed. Marriage rates rose above 90%, and people married younger … Continue reading

What Aphrodisiacs Are and What They Do for Love

Aphrodisiacs are substances and foods that heighten erotic arousal, sexual attraction, and pleasure in love and sexual relations. Aphrodisiacs can enhance the sensual pleasure that both men and women get from their sexual relationships. The term “aphrodisiacs” comes from the … Continue reading