Whether you’re trying to find love, save your relationship or justify that extra-marital affair with Bob (or Barb) from Accounts, the TED community has come up with some pretty compelling thoughts on love, desire and lasting relationships.
Helen Fisher: Why we love, why we cheat
Sociologist Helen Fisher investigates romantic love and argues that this emotion – not hunger or thirst or the sheer will to live – is the strongest human driver of all. She questions why we fall in love with particular people and why we desire others. Fisher ends by arguing that our widespread, long-term use of anti-depressants is hampering our ability to form attachments.
Jenna McCarthy: What you don’t know about marriage
Want to know the secret to a happy marriage? Writer Jenna McCarthy (pictured) shares a few tips on how to keep things together. Hint: focus on the positives and be thinner than your partner.
The secret to desire in a long-term relationship
Can we want what we already have? How do we sustain desire? Couples often expect their significant other to be both best friend and erotic plaything, but, as relationship therapist and writer Esther Perel argues, good and committed sex is all about erotic intelligence.
10 things you didn’t know about orgasm
Sexual climax has been represented in obscure sources for centuries and writer Mary Roach has delved into the archives to peruse the evidence, including an article titled ‘Observations of in-utero masturbation’, to bring you 10 surprising claims about the peak of pleasure.
New from TED Books: The Mathematics of Love
Here’s one for the data-driven TEDsters amongst us. The Mathematics of Love by Hannah Fry draws out the patterns that define our love lives, from finding love to keeping it. She even manages to address the age-old questions of when we should be settling down, how much compromise is too much, and whether game theory can help us decide whether or not to call it quits. And if that’s not quite raunchy enough for you, check out Clio Cresswell’s talk from TEDxSydney 2014 on Mathematics and Sex.
Words: Marina Cilona
Image of Jenna McCarthy courtesy of TED.com
