Love has a wide variety of interpretations ranging from the sentimentalized version that defines it as the most powerful human emotion to the religious version that relates to creating goodness in the world among others (Lanas & Zembylas, 2015). Despite all these interpretations, it without a doubt carries the possibility for creating consistent mutual relationships between human beings and it is indeed an important part of human actuality. It is important to note that according to Berlant (2011), how people think about love has widespread consequences to relationships that people make within the course of time. There have been massive discussions about who should get married based on sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, socio-economic status and religion among others over the past few years and this has raised the question: is love political? In my own experience, the way people talk about love and feelings affiliated to love influence their political actions around issues such as sexual orientation, gender and race among others. Therefore, love is no longer about an individual or their intuitive feelings and practices. In light of this, love is therefore political.
Different authors use very diverse scientific and ideological approaches to love. Some of them believe that love is part of human’s eternal nature while others affirm that love is related to the concepts of femininity and masculinity that are constantly changing over time (Lanas & Zembylas, 2015). Others like Berlant (2011) take a different approach to love including an individual perspective or a psychological perspective that is outbound by either time or space. Others believe that the concept of love relates to the economic system and people’s position. In short, everybody has their position when it comes to this concept. However, in this scenario, the most important distinction lies between its personal and political nature.
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Almost everything related to love has presently been made political. For instance, when people talk about a calling from God to love all human beings despite their social status or backgrounds, apparently they are making a political statement, when people express their love for an unwanted child and call out abortion, a political statement is going to be made. Love has become an absolute political tool because it has been made an opposition tool towards forces of inequality, oppression, and prejudice to mention but a few (Lanas & Zembylas, 2015). In this case, love is no longer a personal act, but it is relatively a social compulsion that creates change through empowering people and creating a sense of belonging by forming the right mutual relationships that can influence institutional structures for better performance (Berlant, 2011).
In an article named “all about love, new visions,” Hooks (2018) refers to love as an ethic by explaining that love ethic drives people towards working with each other, it drives people towards giving their all in the relationships they establish and it also drives people to welcome a global vision whereby their providence and their lives, in general, are harmoniously connected to those of everyone else in the world. This is to mean that people deliberately make a choice to follow different values, which in turn model their living. Therefore, Hooks (2018) finally concludes that love is not a mere feeling, but rather it is a practice because it is a way in which people choose to act. She further argues that in order to awaken such kind of love, people have to let go of their obsessions with domination and power. This proves enough that love is no longer personal in the world we live in but it is more political.
In addition, love has been politicalized in all aspects of life including in the music industry. For instance, in a song by a Palestinian musician named Maysa, the lyrics are such that she had been in a relationship with a guy from the west bank, but unfortunately the Israeli borders separated them (In this reality, even love political': A Palestinian artist's song of love kept apart by borders CBC Arts. 2018). The fact that these two lovers did not have control over their relationship because of political laws that exert a social force towards personal relationships makes love political.
If I were Lois Burnham, I would still hold the same sentiments that love is political because after Lois married Bill Wilson, she was bound by the vows that they made at the altar. When Bill went to fight in the World War 1, which was a political obligation, Lois had no say in the matter. Their own personal relationship was controlled by outside forces that is to fight for their country. It was Bill’s political obligation to fight in the war, and not even the love he had for his wife could stop him. When he returned, he became an alcoholic, and even thou Lois’ mother wondered why she could not leave him, the fact that she could not bore him a child held her back from ending the relationship. All these eternal forces that controlled this relationship that was bound by love make love political.
In conclusion, love is political because it is a practice that reflects the power relations in a society. This means that love is not an individual or a subjective feeling, but rather it is a practice that has the capability of sticking people together. Love has stopped being an individual experience and just like anything else in the world that is personal; it has become political.
References
Berlant, L. (2011). A properly political concept of love: Three approaches in ten pages. Cultural Anthropology , 26 (4), 683-691.
Hooks, B. (2018). All about love: New visions . William Morrow Paperbacks.
'In this reality, even love is political': A Palestinian artist's song of love kept apart by borders | CBC Arts. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/arts/interruptthisprogram/in-this-reality-even-love-is-political-a-palestinian-artist-s-song-of-love-kept-apart-by-borders-1.3984942
Lanas, M., & Zembylas, M. (2015). Towards a transformational political concept of love in critical education. Studies in Philosophy and Education , 34 (1), 31-44.
