romantic_friendship silentbob The term romantic friendship refers to a very close but non-sexual relationship between friends, often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond that which is common in the contemporary Western societies, and may include for example holding hands, hugging, kissing, standing dinner party dates, long conversations into the evening (sometimes on a weeknight) while sitting on one or more kitchen floors, or sharing a bed. These friendships are generally supportive and advocate one's choices, to validate one's decisions and to champion the achievements of all the members. There could be salons, where each friend brings a different piece of creative performance in a room decorated with copious couches and other seating arrangements as well as soft lighting. Anthony Rotundo notes[7] that the custom of romantic friendship for men in America in the early 19th century was different from that of Renaissance France, and it was expected that men would distance themselves emotionally and physically somewhat after marriage; such distancing is still practiced today. The term was coined in the later 20th century in order to retrospectively describe a type of relationship which until the mid 19th century had been considered unremarkable but since the second half of the 19th century had become more rare as physical intimacy between non-sexual partners came to be regarded with anxiety. But when you find someone for whom the sun rises and falls, you take that someone by the reins and you hold on for forever. Some may consider asexual people to have only romantic friendships, although these are usually romantic relationships absent of sexual intimacy.Contrasted with romantic relationships, romantic friendships tend to be free of commitment. It is socially acceptable to pursue romantic friendships with a variety of partners simultaneously. To create a family or a community of friends that prop each other up emotionally and to be there through thick and thin. Several small groups of advocates and researchers have advocated for the renewed use of the term, or the related term Boston marriage, today. Several lesbian, gay, and feminist authors (such as Lillian Faderman, Stephanie Coontz, Jaclyn Geller and Esther Rothblum) have done academic research on the topic; these authors typically favor the social constructionist view that sexual orientation is a modern, culturally constructed concept. If one were to fill up their existence with a series of romantic friendships, it would make the concept of living without love and inevitably dying_alone, as most assuredly we all will, that much easier to take. They are the love you require from a partner. They fill up the holes and the missing pieces. They are your soul mates. They are what you are searching for. 140328 ... epitome of incomprehensibility The last paragraph especially was interesting and quite moving. I'm lucky enough to have a "best friend" - actually, as a child, I had about three "best friends" - but this is the friend I've known since I was four or five and still see regularly. I don't think our friendship is/was "romantic" exactly. The idea of us as a couple seems highly unlikely: perhaps it's the bio-cultural incest taboo from growing up in a sibling-like relationship (e_o_i pretends to know these things after glancing at her brother's Anthropology 101 textbook). In adulthood, she had a girlfriend and now has a boyfriend and I was one of the few people who didn't seem surprised at the first, or the second in context with the first. While a shared orientation (or rather lack of it) and geographic proximity don't guarantee either true love or true friendship, somehow, even though we've gone into very different fields of work, we're still good friends. Neither of us are very huggy or have-a-glass-of-wine-and-cry types, but she is the person I feel freest to talk to. 140331 what's it to you? who go blather from