‘LOVE WAS A FORCE OF POLITICAL ORDER’ (DIE LIEBE WAR EINE ORDNUNGSPOLITISCHE KRAFT)
Illustration 1 (opener): From the myth of Cupid to Zeus and Aphrodite, love emerges as the fire that rulers sought to control through power-based marriages. Multiple forms of love persisted: spiritual love, friendship, self-love, family love, polyamory, digital likes, and the long-silenced experiences of the LGBT+ community.
Illustration 2: The potted plant symbolized a desire that demanded too much, too soon. Linked to broken hearts, it represents loves that weigh heavily, that require constant care and ultimately wound.
Illustration 3: Society has long moved like puppets pulled by the politics of love. Marriages, desires, and bonds were never private choices but forces shaped by power, belief, and social order.
Illustration 4: Tradwives are the digital return of 19th-century ideals, repackaged for social media. They undermine modern womanhood and do little for women’s rights; the sink as a gift distills this regression.