Kanisa George
Relationships are a complex, out-of-this-world equation that knock us off our feet, are a source of great happiness, and other times bring us unbearable pain. Yet, as daunting as our interaction with others can sometimes be, there is nothing more fulfilling than a relationship that meets our emotional needs.
And just like relationships, emotions are equally vast and complicated, and when the two become embroiled together, a toxic potion can invariably be the inevitable outcome.
The state of intimate relations today differs considerably from how they did a couple of centuries ago. Blame it on the onset of the industrial revolution for whittling away aristocracy and Victorian niceties; the more we develop liberal perspectives and opinions, the more inventive we become regarding the accepted standards of relationships.
Many applaud society's fervour to move away from reductionist ideologies that had far greater consequences on a woman's freedom and their right to be master of her own choice than on a man's. Whether we have achieved a state of equity on the topic is still up for debate, but there is undoubtedly a marked difference in the way we approach intimate relationships and varied perspectives on expectations now to what existed before.
Having moved the marker to reflect a free-thinking, open-minded approach to love and intimacy, did we inadvertently ascend into the arena of instability masquerading as progression? Did we mess the whole thing up by eradicating long-standing moral codes that clearly served some utility? Or maybe we are still working out teething issues.
With over seven billion of us roaming the earth, why is it near impossible to find meaningful, lasting intimate interactions that give us the John Keats and Fanny Brawne feels? Why can't we seem to get it right?
Give a man an inch, and he'll take a mile seems like an odd idiom to base our lives on, but truthfully, that might be exactly what we've done. Naturally, no one wants to conform to the strict dating codes of yesteryear that left women with little to no say on the concept of love and intimacy, but by way of small concessions granted decade after decade, is it possible that expectations continue to grow in response?
We moved from chaperoned interactions to public displays of affection, to a woman's right to choose her partner, and somehow, with a few steps in between, we've arrived at friends with benefits, entanglements and the highly regarded situationship.
Perspectives once regarded as downright taboo are not only commonplace but somewhat encouraged as they can be mutually satisfying without all the complexities associated with commitment, especially when both parties aren't quite ready to settle down. We are all emotional and sexual beings, and luckily, we live in a time where we have the power of choice, and maybe a friends-with-benefits regimen might be precisely what the doctor ordered.
Despite that, living in a time of such li
