The Care of the "flesh"in the sexual socialization of youth.
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.
Rios
Luís Felipe
LF
Laboratório de Estudos da Sexualidade Humana (Lab-ESHU)/UFPE.
Paiva
Vera
V
Maksud
Ivia
I
Oliveira
Cinthia
C
da Silva Cruz
Claudia Maria
CM
da Silva
Cristiane Gonçalves
CG
Terto
Veriano
V
Parker
Richard
R
Am J Health Promot. 1997 Sep-Oct;12(1):38-48
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