How are sex and romance linked (and unlinked) in the brain? Can casual sex remain casual? Do men and women mix sex and love in different ways?

Dr. Fisher explains why the brain chemistry of romantic love can trigger sexual desire, and why sex can trigger feelings of romance (and attachment) to illustrate why and how romantic love is biologically linked to the sex drive and feelings of deep union with a partner.

She discovers why casual sex can become far less casual than planned—for biological reasons. She also examines love and sex in polygynous families where wives openly share a husband, and love and sex among couples in the West who practice “polyamory” and/or “swinging.”

There is also evidence that people taking serotonin-enhancing antidepressants, thereby suppressing the sex drive and sexual arousal, can jeopardize feelings of romantic love and attachment to a partner.

Like the craving for food, romantic love is a powerful physiological need, an urge, a motivation, an instinct that evolved specifically to enable men and women to court and win a preferred mating partner.

The drive to love is stronger than the sex drive. Few people kill themselves when someone denies them sex; many have committed suicide after being rejected by a beloved.

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	Love and Sex