I recently had a friend ask me if I thought an emotional affair was dangerous. She asked me this question because she has been having some difficulty in her marriage and she found herself being drawn to a close family friend. They had a lot of shared history and she felt comfortable talking to him. …
Continue ReadingMonogamy and desire.
Author Esther Perel wrote the book, Mating in Captivity, in 2006. This is a great book for looking at the complicated relationship between long term monogamy and ongoing desire. Perel articulately explores how often our longing for stability and comfort can annihilate passion and desire. Perel furthered her research by traveling the world and asking …
Continue ReadingWhat IS a girl to do?
I found Caitlin Flanagan’s January 22, 2012 essay, “What’s A Girl To Do”, both intriguing and moving, and although my initial reaction was enthusiastic because what she wrote aligned so well with my personal values , I found I was challenging myself on her very thesis. Basically, she made the case that the book Forever …
Continue ReadingAdversity and desire.
It happens all the time. A tearful, distraught woman sits down and informs us that: Her husband is leaving her/has left her. Her husband is having/was having an affair. She believes this is due to the fact that they haven’t had sex in (you fill in the blank: 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 …
Continue ReadingOnline dating in “The New Yorker.”
The recent article on online dating in The New Yorker by Nick Paumgarten was most interesting for its research. I had never heard about the history of online dating, and I was certainly not aware of the complicated algorithms that underpin the search process. He explained it all in a really interesting and accessible way. …
Continue Reading