INTERNATIONAL LOVE AFFAIR

Most people are used to hearing CNN’s Christiane Amanpour interview world leaders and report from war zones. These days she’s having a very different sort of conversation. “Let’s talk about sex,” the decorated correspondent tells a group of Japanese women as they sip cocktails at a restaurant in Tokyo.

Yes, sex. That’s the subject of hernewseries,ChristianeAmanpour: Sex and Love Around the World, a shift from the political and conflict coverage that earned her global acclaim and the title of the network’s chief international correspondent. She says the idea for the series came to her three years ago while brushing her teeth and listening to a radio broadcast about Syrian refugees fleeing to border camps. As she listened, Amanpour’s mind wondered about more intimate questions about the refugeeexperience.

“How do they maintain their relationships? How do they keep their intimacy? How do they stay human? How do they have sex? Do they have sex? They clearly are still having babies,” Amanpour says. “How do you seek your physical pleasure, your sexual satisfaction, when you can’t have a shower even?”

It was these types of questions thatledtohersix-episodeseries, in which Amanpour travels the globe to explore the nuances of modern love, sex and intimacy. One episode features dating in Ghana, while another reveals what it’s like to be married and sexless in Tokyo.

The following is an interview with Amanpour which has been edited for clarity and length. human. It’s not just about getting through the day and surviving; it’s also about loving and having relationships and being intimate, whether you are with your partner or a parent.

I spent my career in war zones. What I’ve discovered about that, when I finish interviewing the leaders, the military and the militants’ victims ... andallofthattragedyandthe violation of human rights, I have slowly come to realize that is only one side of what makes people tick. People also need to

I am very used to covering war, and those are not the most difficult things to talk about. They are difficult and dangerous to cover. But the emotional and intellectual reach (to do this series) for me was more. I’ve never asked these questions before in public, on television. Not only that, but what if people didn’t want to talk to me about it? I had dreaded the idea of having to get pushy about it. I was absolutely stunned and gratified to find how many people just wanted to talk about it.

I hope men can learn what women have on their minds, what they are saying and what they are feeling, and knowing that (women) want to have these experienceswiththeirchosen partner. Maybe learning ... what it means to be in a relationship.

I think people in the West, whethertheyaremenorwomen, will see a lot of what they share with people all over the world, and some differences. In the United States, we have constitutionally, legally guaranteed rights. We are protected from being forced into marriage. There is accountability, presumably, orthereshouldbeforrapeand other types of abuse. That is in our laws, in our constitution, in our human relations departments at work. None of that exists in much of the rest of the world. Women don’t have those rights, and if they do, nominally, they are not enforced. So you see the courage of so many of these women and girls who seek their own safety and own freedom and happiness despite the overwhelming odds that are stacked against them. The world out there is changing ... the younger generations who are exposed to the whole gamut of the internet are seeing what is on offer and what could be theirs. A lot of them are refusing to put up with the traditional patriarchy.

There are so many feisty, powerful and empowered and want-to-be-empowered women around the world who are on the cusp of understanding that now is the historic time to seek out their own sexual and emotional fulfilment, and to dig deeper into what it means to be intimate and to love and to be loved. What does all of that meantothem,andhowcanthey getit?ThatiswhatIlearned: There is a lot of joy out there — and a lot of excitement and exploration.