ABSTRACT
For Chapter 5, I draw on the empirical data collected from interviewing gay and bisexual men. From this data, and for the purposes of this chapter, I focus on how these men define, construct and conceptualise love. I also draw on existing literature that attempts to define love. I theorize the data using sociological, cultural and post-structural theoretical frameworks to help us make sense of how these men are defining love. I draw on Michel Foucault’s work on discourse to argue that discourse, a way of thinking and a language that contains particular meanings, is how men come to learn about, think about, and define love. In short, discourses about love, romance and sex are omnipresent, which shapes how men come to learn about, construct and define love. However, these constructions and definitions of love are always changing, negotiated, and fluid through social relations.
