Bodies, pleasures, and passions : sexual culture in contemporary Brazil

Richard G. Parker

An 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. Parker argues that sexual life can only be fully understood through an analysis of the cultural logics that shape experience.