Feminism and Love

Introduction Problem

Love is one of the most talked-about topics, even in our daily lives surrounded by various representations of love. Various works of art and literature, as well as music, movies, soap operas, and commercials, make love as the main theme. Love as often narrated in romantic tales is considered basically indefinable, mysterious and beyond the rational discourse. The meaning of love can only be achieved intuitively, at the level of feeling and cannot be communicated appropriately (Jackson 1999). Love is therefore often seen as a unique personal need and desire which then places love in the private realm. The idea of this kind of love is widely believed by society so that things that are part of the social and cultural construction of love tend to be taken for granted. While social and cultural constructs are influencing and determining the meaning and definition of love. It can be said that there are two dominant readings of love (Grossi 2014). On the one hand, love is seen to have a close relationship with patriarchy and heterosexuality. This is because the narrative of love is mostly associated with procreation, family, marriage and household, as well as with monogamous and / or polygamy and loyalty relationships. Thus for women love is easily translated as being a wife or mother. On the other hand, love is seen as not bound by social imperatives and constraints, on the contrary, it is related to the idea of freedom, equality and agency. In other words, love is seen as a force capable of overcoming existing social barriers. Therefore for women love is considered to be liberating and empowering. Both of these readings need to be understood in the talk of love.

Meanwhile, in feminist thought, love is one of the issues that have been studied even by the early thinkers from Simone de Beauvoir and then followed by the idea of feminists who criticize the role of love in perpetuating patriarchal relationships such as Shulamith Firestone and Ti-Grace Atkinson. Continued in the 80s by feminists who viewed love in more productive ways such as Luce Irigaray, Julia Kristeva, Audre Lorde and bell hooks. Referring to Jackson, feminist criticism of love is linked to the notion that love is seen as an ideology that legitimizes women's oppression and which keeps them trapped in exploitative heterosexual relationships. In addition, love is also seen to make women vulnerable, not only to exploitation but also hurt by men. Feminists also see romantic love (romantic love) critically. This is because romantic love is central to heterosexuality and contributes to gender inequality and violence against women.

On the other hand, there are also a number of feminists who view love as a site of resistance, transformation and agency. Lynne Pearce and Jackie Stacey who study the narrative romance argue that love retains its ability to free women from the patriarchal grip because of its "narrative" power. According to their union with the love, the narrative allows women to facilitate the "rewriting of other spheres of life" (Grossi 2014). Moreover, the idea of queer thinkers who try to move beyond a conventional understanding of love is also important in the discourse of love. This idea, for example, is related to the dismantling of the definition of love that is often associated with heterosexual sex or associated with nature. So also with the dismantling of the relationship between love with marriage, family, and procreation. Another thing that is also important to note, love is sometimes associated with other related concepts such as work, care, desire, and romance. Although often associated with romantic romance, but the meaning of love is really very broad. Questions such as how the relationship between love as the passion with love as caring/attention? How is romantic romance different from other forms of love? Or to what extent the specific forms of love are historically and culturally? Maybe an introduction to understanding love.

The study of feminism about love becomes important to be explored in the first place to see it as an important ethical, social and / or political force with an interdisciplinary approach. Feminist scholars need to undo the ideological work that subordinates women in love and sharpen the feminist theoretical framework of love and meet the mechanisms of change. Therefore, feminist perspective becomes very important. JP96 examines issues of love in the dimensions of philosophy, sociology, anthropology, culture, politics, psychology, etc., on a research basis including the promotion of literary and poetry.

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