Conceptualization Of Intimacy Essay

Heterosexual intimate relationships are relationships between men and women that involve emotional, psychological, and physical closeness. Intimate relationships involve physical and sexual attraction between people, liking and loving, romantic feelings and sexual relationships (Miller & Perlman 2008). In relationship research, intimacy is posed as an indicator of relationship satisfaction and has been described as a transactional process in which individuals interact with each other, collaborate in personal validation, and coordinate their relational well-being (Burke & Young 2012). A common conceptualization of intimacy is: “a couple’s level of closeness, sharing of ideas and values, shared activities, sexuality, knowledge about each other,

According to Weingarten (1991) a discourse: “consists of ideas and practices that share common values, reflects a specific world view, constrains what we can feel, think and do, shapes our experiences, and evolves through collective conversations people have about their lives” (p. 290, as cited in Langan & Davidson; 2010: 12). Weingarten (1991) explained and criticized two main discourses on the subject of intimacy and then clarified her own suggestion of theorizing intimacy as a discourse. Therefore, three main discourses of intimacy are as

According to this discourse, “achieving intimacy depends upon an individual’s ability to talk about his or her private thoughts and feelings of intimacy” (Weingarten1991: 292 as cited in Langan & Davidson 2010: 12). Weingarten however, argued that unlike the individual capacity discourse that sees the self as a coherent entity, the self is socially constructed through narratives, and this means that “individuals sometimes may have the capacity to be intimate and sometimes may not” (Weingarten 1991: 289 as cited in Langan & Davidson 2010: 13). Accordingly, intimacy would not be seen as an innate entity in individuals, but as a fluctuated status that is