A experiência contemporânea da nudez

Abstract

This text takes as its starting point the perception of an important theoretical rupture in the field of the sociology of the body. Indeed, running counter to a part of modernist culture, Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality ushered in a new philosophical attitude towards eroticism. It argued that shame [pudeur] and the repression of sexuality are no longer ways of exerting control over bodies, as eroticism has itself been appropriated by the biopolitical strategies of our times. Psychoanalysis and surrealism, however, have led us to believe that eroticism was an escape route from the iron cage of modernity. Was Foucault right? Judging from Derrida’s reflections on shame in The Animal that Therefore I Am, the answer would be negative. For him, shame is an ontological experience of liminality and difference, similar to what Freud theorized as Unheimlichkeit; as such, it is humanly inescapable. This article uses that argument to question whether certain contemporary technological interventions in the body (such as cosmetic surgery or the use of sexual stimulants) might reflect a new way of experiencing shame.

Keywords

• sociology of the body
• body
• nakedness
• sexual repression
• Foucault
• Derrida