Bodies, Pleasures, and Passions: Sexual Culture in Contemporary Brazil

by Richard G. Parker

Winner of the Ruth Benedict Prize from the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists.Originally published in the early 1990s, Bodies, Pleasures, and Passions quickly became a classic ethnographic study of the social, cultural and historical construction of sexuality and sexual diversity. Drawing on extensive field research and interviews, together with the analysis of historical and literary texts, anthropologist Richard Parker mapped out the multiple cultural systems that structure gender, sexuality, and erotic practices in Brazil, and helped to open up a new wave of social science research on sexuality.Using ethnographic methods focusing on sexual meanings as an alternative to traditional surveys of sexual behavior, Parker argues that sexual life can only be fully understood through an analysis of the cultural logics that shape experience. Drawing on the tradition of interpretive anthropology, he focuses on the diverse sexual scripts that have been articulated in Brazilian culture and examines the often contradictory ways in which these scripts shape the sexual experience of different individuals. He highlights the sexual socialization of children and young people, and the changing sexual realities of adults living in a rapidly changing world. He underlines the ways in which complex cultural forms such as carnaval can be understood as stories that Brazilians tell themselves about themselves and about the meaning of sexuality in contemporary Brazilian life.The 1991 book was the winner of the Ruth Benedict Prize from the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists.

203 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Richard Guy Parker (born 1956) is a professor of sociomedical sciences and of anthropology, arts and sciences, at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, where he received an award for teaching excellence in 2004.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a rich, objective (inasmuch as that is possible) and revealing insight into the dynamics of sexuality as played out in Brazil.

[Karah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would love to read a recently published book on this subject. From what I've read, Brazil has regressed to ultraconservative beliefs. (I don't have admiration for that turn of events.)So, perhaps this book isn't outdated. Parker didn't include much on how Brazilian women perceive their sexual image. I noticed that women with strong sexual appetites were denigrated into whores or prostitutes. No praise for women who love sex.

This will suit a student of social sciences or a Brazil lover.