My mother’s business card describes her as a shaman, but she introduces herself as a sex teacher. After a traumatic sexual history, my mother experimented with many modes of sexual reclamation and empowerment—kundalini, tantra, qigong.

“I think hot pregnancy sex,” my friend on FB says, “is evolution’s way of keeping the man in the cave when every other instinct tells him to run, run, run.”

Google “love” for a quick glimpse at the overwhelming response human culture has to a seemingly unknowable condition. Whether it’s the ancient Greeks, contemporary psychologists or rock ’n’ roll lyricists, everyone (or, at least, 1.8 billion web pages) has an opinion, a story and a classification system for this defining emotion.

Around the SFR offices, I get hassled for the allegedly frequent sexualizing of the food reviews I write. Apparently, there are a lot of people for whom food and flavors don’t correlate to sex. The result is metaphorical confusion and, occasionally, mild disgust.

Valentine’s Day—scourge of the single girl; bane of the unromantic boyfriend—is almost here again, and whether you’re planning to spend it drowning your luckless love life in tequila shots, cuddling with your darling or alone with your cat, there should be at least some alcohol involved.

Artists who haven’t yet made it to the venerable walls of Sotheby’s and art lovers who don’t yet hold buying power there, take heart. This Valentine’s Day, the Santa Fe Art Co-op extends open arms.

Even in an age in which married adults run personal ads on Craigslist and eHarmony tries to advertise in World of Warcraft, good old-fashioned face-to-face meetings are still many people’s preferred interactions. For this year’s Love & Sex issue, SFR meets some of Santa Fe’s upcoming and established singles groups to see how they bring people together.

According to last year’s Facebook statistics, 43,869,800 people changed their relationship statuses to “single,” while only 28,460,516 people changed their statuses to “in a relationship.” Maybe it’s time to drop some serious bills to show you appreciate your special someone—or at least having one.

Few things are as romantic as partner dancing. Alternately, partner dancing is one of the few activities that enables one to put one’s hands (respectfully) on a complete stranger, twirl him or her around for several minutes and then walk away with a smile and thank-you.

Tallulah St. James likes to peel off her evening gown and prance across a stage twirling tassels from her ta-tas. But in real life, the woman who plays St. James is a married 30-something who works at a very not-sexy real job where even a hint of cleavage would be a no-no.