Introduction: "It's only a word".
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Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
Biomedical subjects
R Mendès-Leite
Publications and source records attributed to R Mendès-Leite.
On the esthetics of pleasures: guidelines for a socio-anthropology of (homo)sexualities.
The goal of this article is to contribute to the elaboration of a socio-anthropology of the sexualities in an epistemological perspective by setting forward some theoretical guidelines I have been adopting in my present research project. I propose the notion of "culture of sexualities" like a system that focuses on the socio-cultural and historical construction of sexualities in relation with the global culture's internal logic in each given society. It includes biological sex, social sex, gender problematics, sexual identities, sexual roles, sexual orientations, and social stereotypes in its inter-relations and in connection with social and historical changing. I also give attention to the relations between the "sexual" and the "non sexual" sociabilities ("homosocial" or "heterosocial") and to the importance of sexualities' social imaginary in the elaboration of a relativist and constructivist approach.
Anthropology, Cultural↗
A game of appearances: the "ambigusexuality" in Brazilian culture of sexuality.
In this article I would like to present some aspects of the Brazilian culture of sexuality and I will do so in a comprehensive (Maffesoli, 1985) and constructivist way (Weeks, 1986). Therefore I will treat this subject of sexual orientation as something that has to be analysed in a historical and cultural context that particularly insists upon the specific context in which sexual orientation and gender role are found. The models of sexual behavior reflect the system of values and the social structure of society they are dealing with. Moreover, the perspectives of sexuality within a larger social universe, have to be seen as one of the numerous possible forms of behaviour. Consequently, in my opinion, it is very important for methodology, to use an approach that ceases to emphasize only the sexual aspect of homosocial relationships; they should be considered far more as one of the various ways of interpersonal relationships, in which sexualization is just one of all the possible facets (Aerts et al., 1983; Duyvendak and Mejer, 1988).
Bisexuality↗