Ayn Rand has a unique take on love. In “The Fountainhead”, Gail Wynand and his wife, Dominique Falcone, are chatting:
Gail: “… I don’t want anything- but to own you. Without any answer from you. It has to be without any answer…”i
And then,
Dominique: “I don’t love you, Gail.”
Gail: “I can’t even care about that.. …I love you, Dominique. I love you so much that nothing can matter to me, not even you… Only my love- not your answer. Not even your indifference… …it’s not the object that matters, it’s the desire. Not you, but I.”
The woman’s status is that of an owned object. She doesn’t matter, only he does. This kind of love, where the woman’s feelings are irrelevant to the man’s desire, is presented as admirable.ii
iPg 496, The Fountainhead, Signet, Penguin Books, 1952
iiPg 502 The Fountainhead, Signet, Penguin Books, 1952