This unique, timely book of original essays sets the stage for a new materialist feminist debate on the analysis, ethics and politics of love. The contributors raise questions about social power and domination, situating their research in a materialist feminist perspective that investigates love historically, in order to understand changing ideologies, representations and practices. The essays range from studies of particular representations and examples of love - feminist translation, mass media images and internet love blogs - to feminist theories of love and marriage, to ethical and political theories describing, critiquing or advocating the use of love in groups as a radical force. They break new ground in bringing together questions of gendered interests in love, temporal dimensions of loving practices and the politics of love in radical transformations of society.

"Love is a collection of feminist essays which aims to contribute to the development of a new interdisciplinary academic field of 'Love Studies'. The motivation for the book lies in the important insight that love, sex, and personal relationships remain significant areas for the exercise of gendered power, even if gender divisions in the market and public sphere come to be less pronounced. This is an issue of considerable relevance to Gender and Development (GAD) as both an area of practice and a field of scholarship." - Gender & Development