Seminar: Normalization of sexual appetite: the sense of sexual contemporariness in Maputo

The reflection of sexuality in Mozambique generally focuses on the dynamics of gender inequalities, disease, poverty and deviant behaviors, all of which are associated with the poor and rural and periphery groups. This seminar will give visibility to logics of sexuality and the intimate relationships of comparatively well-off young adults in Maputo city. Among this group, sex is perceived as a normal and natural desire that should be attained with partners to promote satisfaction. Conversely, satisfaction is associated with novelty and diversity, and is acknowledged as being unattainable with a single partner. This thus opens up the possibility of involvement with more than one partner but always with discretion and concealment. This theorization of sex, which I have coined as the normalization of sexual appetite, frames sexual liaisons as practices that contribute to social distinction.