“A detailed, eye-opening account of the real sexual underground in America . . . a thorough and serious study.”—Playboy From Different Loving: In order to understand unusual sexualities such as dominance and submission, one first has to consider the question ‘What is normal?‘ If the unique function of sex is reproductive—and the only reason men and women should engage in sex is for the purpose of creating a new life—then only heterosexual intercourse is normal. By this standard, many common acts, even contraception, must be considered aberrant. Reproductive relevance was the Victorian standard of normalcy, and even today many of the laws in the United States still abide by that model. But people have always pursued sex for both reproduction and for pleasure and well-being. We start from the premise that sex for pleasure is a normal human drive and is acceptable when it brings pleasure to both partners. From this perspective, D&S is simply a ‘different‘ kind of loving. We hope to add to the greater body of knowledge about what people really do behind closed doors with the people they most love and trust. Perhaps Different Loving will help open the door for further research into the mystery, beauty, and complexity of human life and its diverse expressions. Praise for Different Loving “The definitive guide to the sexual styles of those who walk on the wild side.”—Kirkus Reviews “As a window on largely unexplored territory, Different Loving is a breakthrough in the dialogue on human sexuality, and a significant work of popular sociology.”—South Bend Tribune “A comprehensive primer on loving with leather and romance by riding crop.”—Michael Musto, New York Daily News

Quintessentially fascinating, love intrigues and perplexes us, and drives much of what we do in life. As wary as we may be of its illusions and disappointments, many of us fall blindly into its traps and become ensnared time and again. Deliriously mad excitement turns to disenchantment, if not deadening repetition, and we wonder how we shall ever break out of this vicious cycle. Can psychoanalysis – with ample assistance from philosophers, poets, novelists, and songwriters – give us a new perspective on the wellsprings and course of love? Can it help us fathom how and why we are often looking for love in all the wrong places, and are fundamentally confused about “what love really is”? In this lively and wide-ranging exploration of love throughout the ages, Fink argues that it can. Taking within his compass a vast array of traditions – from Antiquity to the courtly love poets, Christian love, and Romanticism – and providing an in-depth examination of Freud and Lacan on love and libido, Fink unpacks Lacan’s paradoxical claim that “love is giving what you don’t have.” He shows how the emptiness or lack we feel within ourselves gets covered over or entwined in love, and how it is possible and indeed vital to give something to another that we feel we ourselves don’t have. This first-ever commentary on Lacan’s Seminar VIII, Transference, provides readers with a clear and systematic introduction to Lacan’s views on love. It will be of great value to students and scholars of psychology and of the humanities generally, and to analysts of all persuasions.

YOUCAT is short for Youth ; Catechism of the Catholic Church, which was launched ; on World Youth Day, 2011. Developed with the help of young ; Catholics and written for high-school age people and young ; adults, YOUCAT is an accessible, ; contemporary expression of the Catholic Faith. The ; appealing graphic format includes Questions-and-Answers, ; highly-readable commentary, summary definitions of key ; terms, Bible citations and inspiring and thought-provoking ; quotes from Saints and others in the margins. What's more, ; YOUCAT is keyed to the Catechism of the ; Catholic Church, so people can go deeper. It explains: ; What Catholics believe and why (doctrine) ; How Catholics celebrate the mysteries of the ; faith (sacraments) How Catholics are to live ; (moral life) How they should pray (prayer and ; spirituality) The questions are direct and ; honest, even at times tough; the answers straightforward, ; relevant, and compelling. YOUCAT will likely become the ; "go-to" place for young people to learn the truth ; about the Catholic faith. Illustrated. ;

Most people believe that intimacy is a unitary construct-that is, that it is made up of only one component. Dr. Bagarozzi demonstrates how intimacy is comprised of at least nine separate subcomponents. The degree to which partners can meet the intimacy needs of their mates in all nine areas is critical to marital satisfaction. Building upon the foundations of the author's Enhancing Intimacy Program, which he developed and utilized in his own practice with clients, Enhancing Intimacy in Marriage explores the ways in which intimacy is demonstrated and communicated between married partners. A simple questionnaire, the Intimacy Needs Survey, is used to help couples identify areas of satisfaction and areas where intimacy needs are not being met. Clinical strategies for helping couples improve their intimacy are presented in case examples. This book is unique in that it offers clinicians a step-by-step approach for both assessment and intervention

Despite the recent turn to affects and emotions in the humanities and despite the unceasing popularity of romantic and erotic love as a motif in fictional works of all genres, the subject has received surprisingly little attention in academic studies of contemporary drama. Love in Contemporary British Drama reflects the appeal of love as a topic and driving force in dramatic works with in-depth analyses of eight pivotal plays from the past three decades. Following an interdisciplinary and historical approach, the study collects and condenses theories of love from philosophy and sociology to derive persisting discourses and to examine their reoccurrence and transformation in contemporary plays. Special emphasis is put on narratives of love’s compensatory function and precariousness and on how modifications of these narratives epitomise the peculiarities of emotional life in the social and cultural context of the present. Based on the assumption that drama is especially inclined to draw on shared narratives for representations of love, the book demonstrates that love is both a window to remnants of the past in the present and a proper subject matter for drama in times in which the suitability of the dramatic form has been questioned.