What is the meaning of Love in American Society?

[Chaoticmoogle]

Hey, I am writing a term paper for my psychological Anthropology class and I decided to do it on love in America. I came up with a set of questions that I hope some of you could take the time to answer. I want this to be as anonymous as possible so I just would only like to know your age, sex, and State you live in. If you want my email, message me (it wont let me post it unless I have 15 posts for some reason) and I will provide it since these are intimate questions and perhaps you would not like to share. Otherwise, feel free to post on this thread. Perhaps, it can help other people in the process. Anyway, these are the following questions:

1) What does it mean to love someone?

2) What makes you happy?

3) (If applicable) When you had sex with someone did you grow an attachment? Describe it and for how long.

4) If you like someone (or have a boyfriend/girlfriend), what qualities attracted you to him/her?

5)Describe the situation in which you fell in love for the first time.

6)have you ever experienced "one sided love" (either you like someone or someone likes you) and if so would you consider it lust? (Describe the situation).

7) Do you believe "love" just happens or do you make it happen?

8) What is your definition of love?

9) Would you have sex with someone you did not love? Have you had sex with someone you did not love?

10) What is the most important physical action toward the feeling of love?(ie. touching, smiling, other gestures)

[dcalrokundess]

19, M, UT

1. I feel that loving someone means to recognize someone as a significant being whose happiness and wellbeing are important to you.

2. Ah, not sure exactly what kind of answer you're looking for here. Spending time with people who appreciate me, working on projects with worthwhile results, and finding the time to enjoy the little things all make me happy.

3. I haven't had sex yet.

4. Of course, initially it was physical attraction. I wouldn't have really noticed her otherwise. It was in a very busy area, with lots of turn-over in terms of employees. Her beauty drew me to action. After that, it was her determination. She is the type of person who will do the work to get what she wants. I tend to visualize without following through. Her strength in taking action towards goals impressed me.

5. Not sure if I've ever really fallen in love, to be honest.

6. Several yeses to the first question, and the answer to the second depends on which situation. I'm rather shallow (I can't help it, I am), so the one-sided attractions I've felt have been primarily based on lust. One-sided attractions towards me likely weren't based on lust, otherwise I'd like to think that they would've made a move quicker.

7. Under the assumption that this is romantic love, I believe both are applicable. Sometimes love just creeps up on people, but people must make the conscious decision to act on it. Love can exist without an "official" relationship, but deeper levels of love must be worked towards in order to be attained.

8. I've done a bit of surveying for this question myself. I don't think I can provide a satisfactory response (total cop-out, I know, I'm just trying to power through before I go to bed, haha).

9. It depends on the situation. I'd like to say that I wouldn't have sex with someone I didn't love. If I were in charge of repopulating the earth or something, I'd do it.

10. I'd say that the most important physical action towards love is restraint. One must be able to restrain their physical, lustful urges for other people, out of love and respect for his/her soulmate.

[Bo]

19, F. WA

1. Love means caring for someone enough to be able to put them above yourself AT TIMES and compromising in order to make the relationship work. It means truly and whole-heartedly accepting your partner for who he/she is and be willing to work with their flaws. There's no set definition love means something different to everyone but those are a couple that immediately come to mind for me.

2. If we're talking relationship-wise the keys aspects would be trust, dedication, honesty, and loyalty

3. Well my bf and i made it official after we had sex but i'd say that it definitely cemented our relationship we've been together for about 5 1/2 months now

4. Well physically my bf didn't appeal to me right away, more so because we were just friends. Physically he is pretty attractive he's tall 6'4" and he works out a ton so he is buff. Otherwise he is just a fun, and smart person. I remember times when he was protective of me from strangers or ppl that i was having issues w/ and that was definitely a good quality that made me feel attracted to him.

5. I was very young and naive, enough said.

6. yes, and it wasn't lust on my part...i an't speak for the other end but it was just a very toxic relationship that drove me nearly nuts

7. I honestly believe it just happens. My bf and i's relationship was the LASTTTT thing i EVER would have imagined happening

8. isn't this the same as question num 1??

9. I have and if i could go back and change it i would.

10. Any kind of affection, i love just spending time in bed cuddling and talking