Intimacy

One of Brazil's most sought-after and respected anthropologists, Mirian Goldenberg has become a leading figure in debates about relationships and gender differences in Brazilian culture. In over 20 years of research as a researcher and professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, she has written on controversial topics: sexuality, normality, body culture, and new desires. In her new book, INTIMIDADE, the author of titles such as "Why do men and women cheat?" and "The Body as Capital" brings together a series of articles that help piece together the puzzle of affective and sexual relationships between Brazilian men and women. In 20 texts, Mirian engages readers in intimate conversations about issues such as intimacy, infidelity, the body, and aging, and addresses with clarity and sensitivity the "gender gap regarding the value and meaning of intimacy in current marital arrangements." Based on her observation of everyday life (primarily that of Rio de Janeiro residents) and her research on the construction of contemporary love life, Mirian points to striking distinctions between the male and female worlds. For her, men and women are still far from achieving a truly intimate relationship, and she identifies the different expectations and desires of both: women complain about the lack of intimacy—which, for men, would be limited to physical closeness and sex, while for women it involves a special way of being together and communicating deeply—and their partners feel misunderstood, unfairly pressured, and unable to satisfy women's excessive and contradictory demands. Based on these fundamental differences, Mirian addresses current and relevant topics in contemporary romantic relationships—such as the reasons for male and female (in)fidelity, the controversial issue of online infidelity, the husband as a form of capital for Brazilian women, the valorization of a certain body type, the losses and gains of aging—and its enormous changes. And, in the end, she surprises the reader with a moving tale.