This seems to be in part continuing from the previous post regarding exclusivity. Presently, I’m exploring the questions: What is marriage? What makes marriage marriage and not something else? Or another way of putting it, What is exclusive to marriage? I explore these questions with some trepidation. I am not married, nor have I been
Category: Gender, Relationships, and Sexuality
Rethinking Friendships and “Romance”: Exclusivity
There is a certain exclusivity expected in “romantic”/marriage type relationships. This seems right. But how much and what type of exclusivity is needed? As mentioned earlier, we’ve generally expected that “romantic” relationships must fulfill most all of our relational needs. Along with the “romantic myth” and exclusivity, or perhaps a specific expression of it, comes
Rethinking Friendships and “Romance”: Expressions of Love
Love can be expressed in all types of relationships. The ways in which love are expressed (“love languages”) are the same for all types of relationships: words of affirmation, quality time, giving and receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. Our culture has a weak paradigm for love and the expression of love outside
Rethinking Friendships and “Romance”: The Romantic Myth
My thoughts in this section are a bit less solidified. I may revisit and update them later. I’m trying to be as honest and realistic as possible, but it’s a bit difficult. This is in part because I know people have a wide range of experiences, though I only have limited experience myself. “Falling in
Rethinking Friendships and “Romance”: Our Need for Relationships
In sorting out what I’ve been thinking, I’ve come up with a number of “bullet point” style ideas. They are either beliefs which I have, or ideas I’m seriously considering. I’m posting them here to communicate my overall paradigm, and numbering them for easy reference. I believe that we—human beings—are made to be in relationships.
Rethinking Friendships and “Romance”: Initial Thoughts
The main idea I took from the
Rethinking Friendships and “Romance”: Quotes
For the past several days to a week or so, I’ve been trying to sort out some ideas sparked by the following quotes. The area of friendship, marriage and “romantic” relationships is wide and complex. For that reason it’s taking me quite a while to process all of my thoughts. I plan to blog more
Can Conservative Rules Harm Women?
“I felt shame every time I was in a situation where a man would not meet with me, or ride with me, or talk with me simply because I was female. Those situations told me that there was something fundamentally wrong, and that my gender was a big problem.” (read the whole article for context)
Friendship With the Opposite Sex, Addendum
Recently I wrote about non-“romantic” friendships between people of the opposite sex. After reviewing the comments and doing some pondering, I came up with a couple of further thoughts. First, I believe part of the idea is that it is healthy for us to have close friendships with multiple people. Generally speaking, we all need
Differing Attitudes Toward Friendships With the Opposite Sex
I recently read a blog post by Dan Brennan which I thought was very good. (Unfortunately, at the time of this writing I have not yet had a chance to read his book, “Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions” though it is high on my list.) I wanted to take the time to unpack my explanation of