Objects of pleasure : Paolo Mantegazza's sexually-themed collection and the role of anthropological material culture in the development of nineteenth-century sexual science / Francesca Campani.
Abstract:
By exploring the connections between sexual science, anthropology, and material culture, this article sheds light on the role that the sexually-themed collection of the Italian anthropologist Paolo Mantegazza had in the development of scientific discourses on sexual behaviour between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. First, it shows that, far from being an oddity, the collection was created with precise scientific intents and represents a central element in Mantegazza's research. Second, it explains why the collection should be considered as the empirical transposition of Mantegazza's sexual science. Third, it demonstrates how Mantegazza used material culture to reveal connections between the ways in which individuals across the globe experienced sexuality and sexual pleasure. Finally, it brings attention to how Mantegazza influenced the so-called anthropological turn, particularly on Iwan Bloch's sexual science, by providing examples of non-pathologised perversions and claiming that the pursuit of pleasure was a fundamental human feature.
Nuncius Vol. 38 (2023), p. 520-552