" romance in our day is a poor and shrunken thing. to some, it remains an explicit embarrassment, a discredited myth, the deceptive sugar that once coated the pill of women’s servility. to others, romance has become a recreational sport. stripped of big meanings, it has become simply another innocuous pastime. it has become “safe sex”, harmless fun, a good-natured grasping for physical pleasure with a convenient companion—or, indeed, with an object.

— cristina nehring, a vindication of love.