Love, sexuality, fluidity and uncertainties among young people: a comparison between men and women

Abstract

This article evaluates the affective/sexual relations among young people, seeking to identify possible remnants of the so-called “romantic love”, from the comparison between genders. Among other things, we work with values, expectations and behaviors related to several topics, such as: friendship, marriage, family, the desire to have children, professional recognition, perspective of permanence, stability, machismo, individualism, fluidity of relationships, fidelity. And for this matter, we analyzed a sample of 1,282 responses received from heterosexual students from the University of Brasília. In general, we found a wide dispersion in students´s opinions. However, it does not result from the difference between genders: male and female students presented themselves very similar to each other.