Session 2: What Ever Happened to Romance on the Revolutionary Road?

Participants: Janice Lieberman, Chair, Danielle Knafo, Arlene Heyman, and Isaac Tylim

Date: October 26, 2024

Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET

Registration Link: https://wbcp.memberclicks.net/registration_cowap_women_revolution_2024-2025

Click Here to View the Program Flyer

Registration Deadline: October 23, 2024

Description: It has been observed by many that there seems to be an absence of “romance” in courtship, dating and marriage today, whether the partners are straight or gay. Many feminists have written that romance creates more inequality between men and women. Juliet Mitchell, in her book “Women: The Longest Revolution” writes that:” Romantic love seems to me to seek an ideal; if it attains its idealized object, then it ceases to be romantic love”. It can turn to disillusionment or even hate. Comparisons will be made between notions of romance 50 years ago vs. today: changes in meeting and dating one another, the use of technology to communicate:  dating apps, texting, sexting, the social media will be discussed. Cultural norms (monogamy, polyamory) and interpsychic patterns ( more fragile narcissism)  as well as the breakdown of the traditional gender binary (chronic fatigue of working parents) are part of the explanation.