Passionate Love and Sexual Desire - Elaine Hatfield

42Naturally, cultural differences still exert a profound influence on young people’sattitudes, emotions, and behavior and such differences are not likely to disappear in ourlifetime. In Morocco, for example, marriage was once an alliance between families (ashistorically it was in most of the world before the 18 th century,) in which children hadlittle or no say. Today, although parents can no longer simply dictate whom theirchildren will marry, parental approval remains critically important. Important though itis, however, young men and women are at least allowed to have their say (see Davis andDavis, 1995.)Many have observed that today two powerful forces—globalization and culturalpride/identification with one’s country (what historians call “nationalism”)—arecontending for men’s and women’s souls. True, to some extent, the world’s citizens mayto some extent be becoming “one,” but in truth the delightful and divisive culturalvariations that have made our world both such an interesting, and simultaneouslydangerous place, are likely to add spice to that heady brew of love and sexual practicesfor some time to come. The convergence of cultures around the world may be reducingthe differences in the ways passionate love is experienced and expressed in our world, buttradition can be tenacious and the global future of passionate love cannot be predictedwith any certainty.