title: The Care of the "flesh"in the sexual socialization of youth.
abstract: In this paper we discuss the positions of Christian leaders about "managing" the sexuality of young people, as contextualized by the sexual politics of the state. These reflections are a result of an ethnographic study, conducted through archival work, participant observation, and interviews with 47 religious leaders in Recife. The analysis shows the space of religion as a disciplinary site, operating through transcendent reasoning ("responsibility"). The person is expected to incorporate such reasoning, and thus, make the appropriate differentiations between "right" and "wrong". AIDS and adolescent pregnancy appear as a result of "temptations of the erotic flesh". Through the perspective of human rights and health, the article deconstructs the idea of the "flesh" as dominated by "temptation" and an "essential force", which leads the person to stray/sin/"risk"; resituating sexuality as a positive instance for subjects (of rights), and a condition for social fertility.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Estudos da Sexualidade Humana (Lab-ESHU)/UFPE.
authors.forename: Luís Felipe
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Rios
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Paiva
authors.forename: Ivia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maksud
authors.forename: Cinthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: Claudia Maria
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: da Silva Cruz
authors.forename: Cristiane Gonçalves
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: Veriano
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Terto
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Parker
references.citation: Am J Health Promot. 1997 Sep-Oct;12(1):38-48
references.pmid: 10170434