Love"Business":The Intimate Relationship Practice of"Love and Companion Ship"Youths
In the past,"love is not something you can buy if you want to",but nowadays,with the development of the platform economy,romantic accompanying chat services have created a new narrative of commoditized intimacy,providing a choice for contemporary youths to experience"realistic love".Based on participatory observation and in-depth interviews,the study finds that intimate relationships based on romantic accompanying chat services are characterised by fluidity and painlessness.The rise of this new type of intimacy practice is not only a result of the commodification of emotions,but is also a clever strategy for youths who adopt romantic accompanying chat services to adapt to the time structure of the accelerated society,as well as an autonomous behavior of seeking emotional redemption and repair to resist the social flooding of loneliness,which is both expedient and emancipatory in nature.
Romantic Accompanying ChatCommoditized LoveUrban Single YouthIntimacy