The decline of traditions, institutions and paternal authority in present times has been largely discussed in psychoanalytical literature. Heir of Romanticism and Individualism forged in modernity, romantic love as a cultural value and the last subjective refugee, has ruined. Sexuality understood as absolute pleasure and multiplicity of sensations has been more and more considered as a condition for love relationships. Considering this state of affairs, and based on a theoretical discussion and clinical vignettes, we argue that jealousy is "old-fashioned". The absence of jealousy points at a new ideal for love, not so much romantic, but most of all narcissistic, erotic, multiple and excessive. Based on psychoanalytical studies about love and jealousy, in this paper, we intend to reflect about how today´s narcissistic cultural model, still permeated by the remains of Romanticism, continues to interfere with contemporary subjectivity. In an ambiguous way, the absence of jealousy and its opposite correlate "primitive jealousy" take turns in the field of contemporary love relationships.
jealousy; eroticism; romantic love; clinical psychoanalysis; contemporary society