{"id":1769,"date":"2014-08-25T10:22:06","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T17:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=1769"},"modified":"2019-05-19T06:30:39","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T13:30:39","slug":"has-free-sex-killed-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2014\/writing\/has-free-sex-killed-romance\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Free Sex Killed Romance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, unlike a few generations ago, couples engage in sex easily without a commitment. But has free sex killed romance?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Big Romantic Films<\/h4>\n

Is that why Hollywood gave up on making big romantic movies? It used to make great ones like: Gone With The Wind (1939), Casablanca (1942), Dr. Zhivago<\/span><\/a><\/strong> <\/span>(1965), Love Story (1970). There was even that wonderful time \u00a0in the nineties that saw the production of When Harry Met Sally (1989), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), While You Were Sleeping (1995), The Bridges of Madison County (1995) and then more recently, The Notebook (2004).<\/p>\n

Today’s Couplings<\/h4>\n

Since then, the romance genre has evolved into supposed love stories, where couples connect\u2014kissing and fondling are fast tracked\u2014and before long, they’re ripping each other\u2019s clothes off and having sex.<\/p>\n

Films and books, reflecting our times, no longer tell stories of couples moving slowly towards commitment. The so-called courtship period seems to have vanished.<\/p>\n

Nor are there many contemporary books that show a couple falling in love and taking time to consummate their relationship. In the fifties, magazine articles asked, \u201cShould you kiss on a first date?\u201d By the seventies, it was \u201cShould you have sex on a first date?\u201d Today, the magazines are explicit about orgasms, how to please your mate, and oral sex, and whether Miley Cyrus went too far with her twerking.<\/p>\n

\"bridgesIn 2011, the number one bestseller was Fifty Shades of Grey. It was no Bridges of Madison County<\/strong><\/span><\/span>, where a photographer passing through a town falls in love with a married woman hungering for romance and passion. Fifty Shades of Grey is largely a sex story, with all manners of S & M propelling the characters and the simple plot forward. This book would\u2019ve been considered pornography a decade ago, but with every sexual barrier between men and women removed, erotic stories have entered the mainstream.<\/p>\n

A Romantic Story<\/h4>\n

Perhaps I wrote my debut novel, A Cry From The Deep<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>a romantic mystery\/adventure, because I wanted to read a good romance. A relationship that took its time.<\/p>\n

I’ve had very good reviews but there was one reviewer who complained I hadn’t gone far enough in my sex scenes. I have no problem with that.\u00a0 She’d expected something more graphic and was disappointed.<\/p>\n

What Do You Think?<\/h4>\n

But has all this free sex killed romance? \u00a0Is this why more than fifty per cent of young people are living alone? Do they need company if they can have sex without marriage? I\u2019d love to know what you think.<\/strong> <\/span>If you think romance still exists\u2014more than on just on Valentine\u2019s Day\u2014why \u00a0aren\u2019t films and books in recent years reflecting this more?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, unlike a few generations ago, couples engage in sex easily without a commitment. But has free sex killed romance? The Big Romantic Films Is that why Hollywood gave up… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,82],"tags":[609,232,643,642,380,639,641,640],"class_list":["post-1769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","category-film-2","tag-a-cry-from-the-deep","tag-bestseller","tag-bridges-of-madison-county","tag-casablanca","tag-fifty-shades-of-grey","tag-gone-with-the-wind","tag-love-story","tag-romance"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-sx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1762,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2014\/writing\/a-sucker-for-romance\/","url_meta":{"origin":1769,"position":0},"title":"A SUCKER FOR ROMANCE","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"4 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve always been a sucker for romance. 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