Perhaps because among feminists, love, especially sexual love and maternal love, has been a politically loaded issue for a long time, the subject of love as such has been even more diffi cult to deal with seriously than in nonfeminist fi elds. Yet, even among feminists, love has become more visible (again) as a contested theoretical problem and political issue. Why? What is

this new, wide-ranging research interest in love about? What does it imply for feminist theory and knowledge interests?