Home Page  Writing the Relationships Chapter: How a Conversation
Became the Text  When putting together the 2011 edition of "Our
Bodies, Ourselves," we -- the editorial team -- knew we didn't
want to write a Relationships chapter that told readers
relationships require work, or being by yourself is OK. We
wanted to offer something more real -- and useful.     The
participants introduced themselves on a password-protected
Google site we set up just for this conversation, and then they
took off, enthusiastically answering questions we posted about
love, sex, cultural pressures, family expectations, power
differences within relationships, sexual violence,
representations of couples in popular culture -- you name it.
They also came up with their own questions and left comments on
each other's posts that were heartbreaking in their honesty and
wisdom. It felt, truly, like a conversation.   We then showed
the chapter draft to the participants to ensure their stories
had been condensed accurately and sensitively --