Oliver James writes in the Guardian to argue the case for adults to be playful. He reports on a study by the Gestalt Institute in Italy that studied flirtation and sex among 1,000 employees, and which concludes that office flirtation is good for relieving workplace anxiety and stress and improves relationships with your partner. Apparently the benefits to productivity and relationships are gained in proportion to the way in which flirting behaviour mimics the play of children in being goal-less fun. Where it goes horribly wrong is not through the intervention of “Big Brother” but when people get stuck into power-seeking and use flirtation and the manipulation of desire to reach work goals…
He concludes
“And now it’s official: playful flirtation is good for you. Po-faced anti-flirts must learn to have more fun – but nobody should forget that it is only a game.”
