A treatise which defines a new theory on the nature and value of privacy, centred on the concept of intimacy.

This interdisciplinary book concerns personality, especially intimacy, principally love, and its absence in states of aloneness, primarily loneliness. The author argues that normal and preeminently supranormal personalities are chiefly constituted by intimate connections. Correspondingly, he proposes that the serious shortage of such shared inwardness is the nucleus of every type of personality abnormality.

First published in 1985, this book looks at the victimisation of women, focusing on the four main areas of incest, rape, physical violence, and sexual harassment. Elizabeth Stanko’s work is based on original research and interviews with police forces, victims and others involved. It examines women’s experiences of male violence and looks at the reactions of those to whom women complain, including police officers, judges and union officials. The book analyses the decision making process of the criminal justice system and of administrative personnel at the time of publication, and Stanko shows how such institutions can be carriers of a male point of view.

A behavioral scientist explores love, belongingness, and fulfillment, focusing on how modern technology can both help and hinder our need to connect. A Next Big Idea Club nominee. Millions of people around the world are not getting the physical, emotional, and intellectual intimacy they crave. Through the wonders of modern technology, we are connecting with more people more often than ever before, but are these connections what we long for? Pandemic isolation has made us even more alone. In Out of Touch, Professor of Psychology Michelle Drouin investigates what she calls our intimacy famine, exploring love, belongingness, and fulfillment and considering why relationships carried out on technological platforms may leave us starving for physical connection. Drouin puts it this way: when most of our interactions are through social media, we are taking tiny hits of dopamine rather than the huge shots of oxytocin that an intimate in-person relationship would provide. Drouin explains that intimacy is not just sex—although of course sex is an important part of intimacy. But how important? Drouin reports on surveys that millennials (perhaps distracted by constant Tinder-swiping) have less sex than previous generations. She discusses pandemic puppies, professional cuddlers, the importance of touch, “desire discrepancy” in marriage, and the value of friendships. Online dating, she suggests, might give users too many options; and the internet facilitates “infidelity-related behaviors.” Some technological advances will help us develop and maintain intimate relationships—our phones, for example, can be bridges to emotional support. Some, on the other hand, might leave us out of touch. Drouin explores both of these possibilities.

This text identifies the unconscious factors that influence the way people feel and behave in intimate relationships, covering the needs and fears that create and sustain dysfunctional patterns of relating. It illustrates concepts that should help to make relational transformation possible.

Until recently, domestic violence, as it has been referred to, was a problem to be dealt with inside the family. In this ground-breaking work, Hattery's unique approach provides a detailed theoretical discussion of race, class, and gender-effects on intimate partner violence and a thoughtful discussion of the interactions of these factors.