Multiple Choices - The Agony and the Ecstasy

It's never easy reconciling fairy tales to reality, especially when the reality is, to say the least, complicated. You know things are tough when young people don't expect a good relationship, let alone a perfect one, because as one young woman puts it, "all good things must come to an end." Participants discuss their expectations of marriage, homosexual relationships, and how the changing roles (and role models) of men and women have affected marital responsibilities.

What's love got to do with it? Not only has the importance we place on romantic love changed through the centuries, betrothal customs and rituals differ from culture to culture and between men and women. The participants discuss fidelity, monogamy, polygamy, arranged marriages, love and lust and how love has figured in their relationships.

While the idyllic image of the community may have disappeared in the whirlwind of urban living and the accompanying fragmentation of our lives, new communities develop, crossing boundaries of space, time and distance. As one participant puts it, "We are the community." Participants discuss different types of support networks inside and outside the family, the perceived stigma associated with asking for help from community services, and the changing definition of community.