A gender theme by Lorena Juan Gutiérrez

To love someone romantically is to experience a strong desire for union with someone who is deemed entirely unique. But is this intense emotional experience a universal experience, something that is quintessentially human, or is it merely an artificial emotion that belongs to a particular time and place? Is romantic love a highly gendered, but workable deal in which men provide women with social status and material goods while women provide men with sex/affective labor?

With the rise of queer cultures, the ideals of romantic love have been challenged. Polyamory, fuck-friendships and open relationships arrange a new set of intimacies where traditional romance is confronted. Conventional romantic rules are becoming more and more oppressive for the young individuals, and the need of “rethinking romantic love” in the Western society seems unavoidable. Which “romantic” transformations are due to occur during the next decades? Will this be the end of romance as we know it? Which gender-related consequences may this cultural shift lead to?

Lo Pecado/Lorena Juan Gutiérrez is an intercultural mediator and translator living in Berlin. She currently writes her PhD dissertation on gender roles and women’s representation on the Internet. Lo/Lorena is also the co-founder and editor-in-chief of COVEN Berlin. She works transdisciplinary with gender, age, sex and race issues, as well as body politics and immigration affairs.