Love, gender, whiteness and power in societies with a Western symbolic matrix

This theoretical essay aims to discuss the complexities of “romantic love” in societies with a Western symbolic matrix and its implications for the power dynamics that permeate gender and race. The text is structured in three parts: the first addresses love and its main features in societies with a Western symbolic matrix, pointing out how these societies have produced, unlike other sociocultural contexts, a grammar that links love and marriage; in the second part, we explore how such characteristics of love permeate gender relations, verifying implications in terms of inequalities; finally, we conclude with a brief reflection on romantic love and whiteness. The results suggest that the ideals of romantic love, deeply rooted in the institution of marriage, perpetuate gender inequalities, subtly reinforcing power structures that are linked to other social markers, such as race.

Keywords
Monogamy; Gender; Race; Love; Power