ABSTRACT
Although the notion of romantic love as both natural and universal is commonplace in twenty-first-century Western society, this chapter shows that such love – understood as physical love between couples – does indeed have a history that can be traced across time and space. It is also an inherently unstable concept, with multiple shifting meanings, associated with violence and patriarchy as with liberation and equality. Using correspondence, material culture and the mass media, this chapter sifts through the varying meanings and languages of love as they shift over time and are shaped both by prevailing social norms and the forces of globalisation. Finally, it addresses how love was reimagined in the context of political radicalism, feminism and LGBT culture.
