Yes, romance, love, marriage, all of ‘it’ basically presupposes a sexual bond at the root or as the ground of the relationship. There is no way around it. Anyone trying to look at it without this recognition is just putting on ‘rosy glasses.’
And many try to put on ‘rosy glasses.’ St. Augustine was one of them, after all. However, the Reverend Moon was not exactly one of them, although he tried to sanctify the sexual bond in terms of casting it in the context of God’s love. But he made no fuss of the sexual organs as the ground of life and love.
That was the refreshing and fascinating aspect of his presence and sayings. However, the story of the sexual bond is just so much more diverse, and pervasive, that listening to just one man explaining his perspective is a rather retarding act.
Sociologist Eva Illouz’s book The End of Love is a study of the fragility of intimate relationships under late capitalism. The premise of the book is that the freedom to casually enter and exit romantic or sexual entanglements is either a concerning or a new phenomenon, citing nineteenth-century proponents of free love like Mary Wollstonecraft and her anarchist partner William Godwin, who called monogamy “the most odious of all monopolies,” sounding not so far off from any of Brooklyn’s young polyamorists.
So, what do you think?
