Romance
From Encyclopedia of Sex and Sexuality
The idea of romantic love developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was a very idealized concept of love—courtly love, celebrated by troubadours—one that put a very high value on feelings and emotions. In fact, those who accepted the romantic ideal believed that sexual relations were dishonorable and obscene if they occurred without love. Today some people today still share this notion. But many feel that we are living in unromantic times.
What exactly is romance? Is it walking in the moonlight with someone you love? Is it candlelight and roses? Is it the belief that there is only one true love, a perfect mate that each person is fated to meet? Romance is best described as a state of mind, an attitude toward sex that celebrates love and works to keep it alive.
Romance really belongs to all lovers: both sexes must cultivate and nourish it. Send your lover roses. Send yourself roses. Share a bubble-bath. Take time to say, “I love you.” Even after fifty years of marriage, you can have romance without sex, and sex without romance. Still, the combination of sex and romance is unbeatable.
