Download or read book Sexual Fluidity written by Lisa M. Diamond and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is love “blind” when it comes to gender? For women, it just might be. This unsettling and original book offers a radical new understanding of the context-dependent nature of female sexuality. Lisa M. Diamond argues that for some women, love and desire are not rigidly heterosexual or homosexual but fluid, changing as women move through the stages of life, various social groups, and, most important, different love relationships.This perspective clashes with traditional views of sexual orientation as a stable and fixed trait. But that view is based on research conducted almost entirely on men. Diamond is the first to study a large group of women over time. She has tracked one hundred women for more than ten years as they have emerged from adolescence into adulthood. She summarizes their experiences and reviews research ranging from the psychology of love to the biology of sex differences. Sexual Fluidity offers moving first-person accounts of women falling in and out of love with men or women at different times in their lives. For some, gender becomes irrelevant: “I fall in love with the person, not the gender,” say some respondents.Sexual Fluidity offers a new understanding of women’s sexuality—and of the central importance of love.

Download or read book Love and Sexuality Part 1 written by Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov and published by Editions Prosveta. This book was released on 2013-07-25 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Sexuality tends to be self-centred. It drives men and women to seek only their own pleasure, even to the detriment of others. Love, on the other hand, thinks of the other’s happiness above all else. It is based on self-denial and sacrifice: the sacrifice of one’s time, energy and money, even the sacrifice of one’s gratification, for the sake of helping the other, of allowing the other to blossom and develop his or her full potential. Nothing is more beautiful than love, when you are ready to do without, to give up what you have or what you enjoy. Spirituality begins precisely at the point where love prevails over sexuality, when you are willing to wrest something from yourself for the sake of another. As long as you are incapable of sacrifice, you will be unable to love.’ Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Download or read book Love the Sin written by Janet R. Jakobsen and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2003-02 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A timely study of the troubling links between religion, morality, and sex and the tendancies of secular institutions to use religion to regulate sexual life.

Download or read book Romantic Love and Sexual Behavior written by Victor C. de Munck and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1998-04-16 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Westerners believe that love makes life worth living; that sex is a natural desire different in kind from love; and that only cynics reduce our love life to a calculation of economic or genetic factors. In this volume, essays explore these and other assumptions about the relationship between romantic love and sex. This represents the first interdisciplinary social science study of love and sex. Contributors ask and answer questions such as: Is love just sex idealized, or is it a transcendent and divine emotion? Is love a cultural construct that is shared by members of the same culture, or is it a matter of personal taste? What keeps promiscuous people from using condoms even when they know they are at risk? Are black professional men so rare that their conceptions of love and sex differ from those of white professional men? Are brutal sexual fantasies an exclusively male domain, and are they always excluded from love fantasies among normal adolescents? Is divorce a culturally induced response to evolutionary reproductive strategies that compel individuals to maximize their genetic legacy? Are marriages or relationships less satisfying or stable when an actual mate falls short of the fantasy of the ideal mate? Is there a universal core to love and sex that is camouflaged by other cultural norms such as modesty and sexual segregation? Is rape perceived as more acceptable when the rapist says he was motivated by love? What do cult movements and romantic love have in common? As they attempt to answer these and other questions, the authors extend our understanding of the variety of ways that love and sex are conceptualized, connected, or separated.

Download or read book The Transformation of Intimacy written by Anthony Giddens and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-04-23 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The sexual revolution: an evocative term, but what meaning can be given to it today? How does 'sexuality' come into being and what connections does it have with the changes that have affected personal life on a more general plane? In answering these questions, Anthony Giddens disputes many of the dominant interpretations of the role of sexuality in modern culture. The emergence of what the author calls plastic sexuality - sexuality freed from its intrinsic relation to reproduction - is analysed in terms of the long-term development of the modern social order and social influences of the last few decades. Giddens argues that the transformation of intimacy, in which women have played the major part, holds out the possibility of a radical democratization of the personal sphere. This book will appeal to a large general audience as well as being essential reading for students and professionals.

Download or read book Covenant of Love written by Richard Hogan and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 1992-01-01 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pope John Paul II has had a profound theological and personal impact on Catholics and non-Catholics alike. In the scholarly tradition of Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas, he has found a new unity between faith and reason. The study of God, says John Paul, is also the study of humanity. He has come to vigorously insist on the rights and dignity of each human person, and on the divine importance of the family. John Paul teaches that the keystone of Christian living today is the communion of persons which is the family.ÊCovenant of LoveÊconveys this central message of his pontificate. It explores the influence of Christ on the modern family, human intimacy, and sexuality and illustrates the Pope's response to the violations of that familial communion: materialism, sterilization, pre-marital sex, abortion, polygamy, adultery and lust, contraception and artificial conception, and homosexuality. Written for the layman as well as for clerics, students, and educators, this volume will enhance the understanding and appreciation of Pope John Paul II's teachings.ÊCovenant of Love,Êpresents the extraordinary new way that John Paul II is using to present a new synthesis of the faith that can be the means of renewing the faith of all Christians and of bringing more people to Christ. It sets out his philosophical and theological design for every Christian who seeks a closer relationship with God--in the person of Christ, in the Church, and in the human heart.

Download or read book Our Power to Love written by Ruth S. Taylor and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Courtly Love the Love of Courtliness and the History of Sexuality written by James A. Schultz and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2006-08-15 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the great achievements of the Middle Ages, Europe’s courtly culture gave the world the tournament, the festival, the knighting ceremony, and also courtly love. But courtly love has strangely been ignored by historians of sexuality. With Courtly Love, the Love of Courtliness, and the History of Sexuality, James Schultz corrects this oversight with careful analysis of key courtly texts of the medieval German literary tradition. Courtly love, Schultz finds, was provoked not by the biological and intrinsic factors that play such a large role in our contemporary thinking about sexuality—sex difference or desire—but by extrinsic signs of class: bodies that were visibly noble and behaviors that represented exemplary courtliness. Individuals became “subjects” of courtly love only to the extent that their love took the shape of certain courtly roles such as singer, lady, or knight. They hoped not only for physical union but also for the social distinction that comes from realizing these roles to perfection. To an extraordinary extent, courtly love represented the love of courtliness—the eroticization of noble status and the courtly culture that celebrated noble power and refinement

Download or read book Purposeful Sexuality written by Ed Shaw and published by Inter-Varsity Press. This book was released on 2021-01-21 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If God means for us to save sex for marriage, why doesn't he just zap us with sexuality on our wedding night? Why do most of us experience sexual feelings throughout our adult lives, not just in the safe confines of marriage? Is limiting marriage to the union of a man and a woman anything but outdated prejudice? What is our sexuality actually for? Today's culture overwhelmingly tells us that sex is essential for human flourishing. Far too often the church perpetuates the same message - as long as you are married. But far from being liberating, this idolising of sex leaves us even more sexually broken than before. With refreshing honesty and clarity, Ed Shaw calls on the church to rediscover its confidence in the Bible's teaching about our ability to experience or express sexual feelings. He points us to how God's word reveals that sexuality's ultimate purpose is to help us better know God and the full power of his passionate love. He shows us how this is surprisingly good news for all our joys and struggles with sexuality.

Download or read book Rethinking Sexuality written by Dr. Juli Slattery and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 2018-07-24 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This ground-breaking resource challenges and equips Christians to think and act biblically and compassionately in matters of sexuality. Sexual abuse, sex addiction, gender confusion, brokenness, and shame plague today's world, and people are seeking clarity and hope. By contesting long-held cultural paradigms, this book equips you to see how sexuality is rooted in the broader context of God's heart and His work for us on earth. It provides a framework from which to understand the big picture of sexual challenges and wholeness, and helps you recognize that every sexual question is ultimately a spiritual one. It shifts the paradigm from combating sexual problems to confidently proclaiming and modeling the road to sacred sexuality. Instead of arguing with the world about what's right and wrong about sexual choices, this practical resource equips you to share the love and grace of Jesus as you encounter the pain of sexual brokenness--your own or someone else's.

Download or read book Love Thy Body written by Nancy R. Pearcey and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why the call to Love Thy Body? To counter a pervasive hostility toward the body and biology that drives today's headline stories: Transgenderism: Activists detach gender from biology. Kids down to kindergarten are being taught their bodies are irrelevant. Is this affirming--or does it demean the body? Homosexuality: Advocates disconnect sexuality from biological identity. Is this liberating--or does it denigrate biology? Abortion: Supporters deny the fetus is a person, though it is biologically human. Does this mean equality for women--or does it threaten the intrinsic value of all humans? Euthanasia: Those who lack certain cognitive abilities are said to be no longer persons. Is this compassionate--or does it ultimately put everyone at risk? In Love Thy Body, bestselling author Nancy Pearcey goes beyond politically correct slogans with a riveting exposé of the dehumanizing worldview that shapes current watershed moral issues. Pearcey then turns the tables on media boilerplate that misportrays Christianity as harsh or hateful. A former agnostic, she makes a surprising and persuasive case that Christianity is holistic, sustaining the dignity of the body and biology. Throughout she entrances readers with compassionate stories of people wrestling with hard questions in their own lives--their pain, their struggles, their triumphs. "Liberal secularist ideology rests on a mistake and Nancy Pearcey in her terrific new book puts her finger right on it. In embracing abortion, euthanasia, homosexual conduct and relationships, transgenderism, and the like, liberal secularism . . . is philosophically as well as theologically untenable."--Robert P. George, Princeton University "Wonderful guide."--Sam Allberry, author, Is God Anti-Gay? "A must-read."--Rosaria Butterfield, former professor, Syracuse University; author, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert "An astute but accessible analysis of the intellectual roots of the most important moral ills facing us today: abortion, euthanasia, and redefining the family."--Richard Weikart, California State University, Stanislaus "Highly readable, insightful, and informative."--Mary Poplin, Claremont Graduate University; author, Is Reality Secular? "Unmasks the far-reaching practical consequences of mind-body dualism better than anyone I have ever seen."--Jennifer Roback Morse, founder and president, The Ruth Institute "Love Thy Body richly enhances the treasure box that is Pearcey's collective work."--Glenn T. Stanton, Focus on the Family "Essential reading . . . Love Thy Body brings clarity and understanding to the multitude of complex and confusing views in discussions about love and sexuality."--Becky Norton Dunlop, Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow, The Heritage Foundation "Pearcey gets straight to the issue of our day: What makes humans valuable in the first place? You must get this book. Don't just read it. Master it."--Scott Klusendorf, president, Life Training Institute

Download or read book Eros Love and Sexuality written by John C. Pierrakos and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sexuality Love and Partnership written by Rudolf Steiner and published by Rudolf Steiner Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Rudolf Steiner presents the human soul dilemma, split into male and female attributes...but offers a path of development that will eventually lead to overcoming these--what Jung called 'individuation, ' a merging with the true self or true ego of the human being." (from the introduction) We live in a sexualized society, surrounded by sexual imagery and content in almost every area of life. This condition presents us with many challenges. These include decreased clarity and increasing confusion about the distinction between love and sex; strife between men and women over their roles in society; and a persistent assault on childhood innocence. Despite the sensibilities of his time, Steiner made a huge contribution to our understanding of the complex theme of sexuality. In this freshly compiled anthology, Steiner describes the point in evolution at which human beings split from being androgynous, single-sexed beings to becoming beings of male and female genders. He traces the changing roles of the sexes in society, from the matriarchal past to today's patriarchal dominance. The division of the sexes brings suffering, but also the possibility of achieving higher stages of love. In the distant future, humanity can evolve sexuality into a new form, with the possibility that even the process of reproduction will be transformed. Steiner is refreshingly nonjudgmental and does not preach asceticism. He recognizes the all-too-human frailty with which people confront their personal lives, even in the case of such a great individual as Goethe. Sex is a necessary stage of human evolution, and the split nature of the human being is a fact of our time. Its healing will be gradual, but like Amfortas in the Grail story--whose wounded groin was a metaphor for amorous misadventure--we can all be healed through love and compassion.

Download or read book Just Love written by Margaret A. Farley and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the sexual beliefs and practices of different religions, cultures, genders, and relationships to propose a modern-day framework on the topic that is more focused on love rather than sex.

Download or read book Mating in Captivity written by Esther Perel and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2007-10-30 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the world’s most respected voices on erotic intelligence, Esther Perel offers a bold, provocative new take on intimacy and sex. Mating in Captivity invites us to explore the paradoxical union of domesticity and sexual desire, and explains what it takes to bring lust home. Drawing on more than twenty years of experience as a couples therapist, Perel examines the complexities of sustaining desire. Through case studies and lively discussion, Perel demonstrates how more exciting, playful, and even poetic sex is possible in long-term relationships. Wise, witty, and as revelatory as it is straightforward, Mating in Captivity is a sensational book that will transform the way you live and love.

Download or read book Loveology written by John Mark Comer and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finally--a theology of love that will help you navigate the confusing waters of modern relationship. In the beginning, God created Adam. Then he made Eve. And ever since we've been picking up the pieces. With an autobiographical thread that turns a book into a story, pastor and speaker John Mark Comer shares about what is right in male/female relationships--what God intended in the Garden. And about what is wrong--the fallout in a post-Eden world. Loveology starts with marriage and works backward. Comer deals with sexuality, romance, singleness, and what it means to be male and female; ending with a raw, uncut, anything goes Q and A dealing with the most asked questions about sexuality and relationships. This is a book for singles, engaged couples, and the newly married--both inside and outside the church--who want to learn what the Scriptures have to say about sexuality and relationships. For those who are tired of Hollywood's propaganda, and the church's silence. And for people who want to ask the why questions and get intelligent, nuanced, grace-and-truth answers, rooted in the Scriptures.

Download or read book The Freedom of Sexual Love Complete and Unabridged written by Joseph Bird and published by Galilee Trade. This book was released on 1967 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a love story. It is the story of sexual love, the love of man and woman united in the mystery of a sacrament which joins them in one flesh." On this compelling note, Joseph and Lois Bird begin a detailed and sympathetic treatment of the Christian concept of sexuality in marriage. The authors examine--candidly and explicitly--the physical, psychological, and spiritual dimension of the marital union as well as the responsibilities of marriage. A mature, comprehensive guide to the subject of human sexuality, The Freedom of Sexual Love covers all aspects of love-making with wholesomeness and reverence. The authors emphasize the inseparability of spirit and flesh in Christian marriage, stressing the involvement of the total personality. Thus, they consider fully the psychological and spiritual meaning found in sexual relations and the nature of man and woman as they interact as husband and wife. Throughout the book the authors stress that sexuality permeates every aspect of the human relationship in marriage and there is a need for the marriage partners to understand this fully. Drawing upon the countless experiences of the many couples they have counseled, and especially upon their own marriage, the authors have succeeded in portraying the marital union as a commitment in love. The Freedom of Sexual Love is an invaluable reading experience for anyone married, about to be married, or contemplating the sacrament of marriage.