hooks uses this term to describe a particular philosophy to which people who wish to experience love should subscribe. Those who are committed to living a life a love should use a love ethic to guide their journey. A love ethic encourages its practitioners to use the pursuit of genuine love to “shape and inform the way we speak and act” (87).

This term describes the experience of living in the absence of genuine love. In the book’s introduction, she acknowledges that many people suffer from lovelessness and are unsure how to “end the lovelessness that is so pervasive in our society” (xxix). hooks explains throughout each chapter the various ways that lovelessness—which breeds loneliness and despair—can be challenged. By actively engaging in loving practice, readers can move away from lovelessness and embrace the pleasures of giving and receiving love.

Loving practice is a methodology through which readers can begin to pursue the love they wish to experience. hooks explains that engaging in a loving practice entails, perhaps more than anything, courage and an acute understanding and acceptance of oneself. The practice of love begins with the self; the path to self-acceptance is the path to self-love. hooks believes that people can know how to give and receive love—to engage in loving practice—only when they learn to love themselves first.