Intimacies

No culture is ever completely successful or satisfied with its synthesis of romantic love, companionship, and sexual desire. Whether the setting is a busy metropolis or a quiet farming village, a tension always exists between a community's sexual habits and customs and what it believes to be the proper context for love. Even in Western societies, we prefer sexual passion to romance and companionship, and no study of any culture has shown that individuals regard passion and affection equally. The pursuit of love and sex has generated an infinite number of ambiguities and contradictions, yet every community hopes to find a resolution to this conflict either by joining, dividing, or stressing one act over the other. In this follow-up to Romantic Passion: A Universal Experience?, William R. Jankowiak examines how different cultures rationalize the expression of passionate and comfort love and physical sex. He begins by mapping out the intricacies of the love/sex conundrum and the psychological dilemma of reconciling these competing forces. He then follows with essays on sex, love, and intimacy among Central African foragers and farmers; the love dyad in Lithuania; intimacy among the Lahu of Southwestern China; the interplay of love, sex, and marriage in the High Himalayas; verbalized experiences of love and sexuality in Indonesia; love work as it relates to sex work among prostitutes; intimacies and estrangements in the marital and extramarital relationships of Huli men; infidelity and masculinity in Southwestern Nigeria; and the ritual of sex and the rejuvenation of the love bond among married couples in the United States.

ISBN 0231134371   Pages 304 ISBN13 9780231134378 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Columbia University Press   Weight (grammes) 408 Imprint Columbia University Press   Published in New York Format Paperback   Height (mm) 228 Publication date 22 Jan 2008   Width (mm) 161 Library of Congress 2007037939   Spine width (mm) 15 DEWEY 306.7   Academic level Tertiary education, Professional / Scholarly DEWEY edition DC22

1		Desiring sex, longing for love : a tripartite conundrum by William Jankowiak and Thomas Paladino		1
2		A biocultural approach to sex, love, and intimacy in Central African foragers and farmers by Bonnie L. Hewlett and Barry S. Hewlett		37
3		Self, other, and the love dyad in Lithuania : romantic love as fantasy and reality (or, when culture does and doesn't matter) by Victor C. De Munck		65
4		"With one word and one strength" : intimacy among the Lahu of southwest China by Shanshan Du		95
5		Interplay of love, sex, and marriage in a polyandrous society in the high Himalayas of India by Geetanjali Tiwari		122
6		Voiced intimacies : verbalized experiences of love and sexuality in an Indonesian society by Birgitt Rottger-Rossler		148
7		Love work in sex work (and after) : performing at love by Denise Brennan		174
8		"She liked it best when she was on top" : intimacies and estrangements in Huli men's marital and extramarital relationships by Holly Wardlow		194
9		Intimacy, infidelity, and masculinity in southeastern Nigeria by Daniel Jordan Smith		224
10		"I have his heart, swinging is just sex" : the ritualization of sex and the rejuvenation of the love bond in an American spouse exchange community by William Jankowiak and Laura Mixson		245
		Appendix		267
		Contributors		281
		Index		285

Recommended. Choice 3/1/2009

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