Romantic Love, Sex and Marriage Lithuania Style

Abstract

Recent cross-cultural studies indicate that sexual permissiveness is culturally accepted, endorsed and practised in the Baltic states. Flaws in these studies are pointed out and a more extensive multi-method approach is used to examine Lithuanian conceptions and practices of romantic love and to propose a cultural model of romantic love. It is shown that young adult Lithuanians tend to view romantic love as an initial and temporary “dreaming” stage in a love relation. This stage is differentiated from ordinary life and is very “poetic” but ends either in separation or in a transformation into “real” or “true” love. Romantic love, as a temporary and poetic form of love, is typically practised during the period when males and females are pursuing career goals. Thus, young adult Lithuanians may adopt values of sexual-romantic permissiveness during this time. Once they are established on a career path they are more likely to attend to the business of marriage. “True” rather than “romantic” love then becomes the criterion for a successful marriage.