The Discourses of Individuals From Different Sexual Orientations On Romantic Love

The aim of this study is to examine how individuals from different sexual orientations living in Turkey construct the meaning of “romantic love” and on which discursive resources they base their explanations. The participants of the study consist of 15 individuals from different sexual orientations between the ages of 21-43. The interviews were conducted individually, recorded with the approval of the participants, and then transcribed. Interview texts were analyzed within the framework of the “interpretative repertoires” approach developed by Wetherell and Potter (1988). As a result of the analysis, seven interpretative repertoires are obtained; ‘love as opposed affection', ‘first love', ‘love based on strategy', ‘love fed by obscurity', ‘love affecting functionality', ‘love as need' and ‘non-heterosexual love'. When the findings are examined, it is observed that romantic love has reflections in different fields and different discursive contexts. As a result, while romantic love, in the patriarchal order of dominant culture, is molded by the love representations and subjective experiences shaped by gender norms, heteronormative discourses and popular culture, it does not seem to be possible to define it in a single way.