THE (RE)SEXUALIZATION OF PLEASURE:

SEXUAL PRACTICES IN THE WORKS OF PIETRO ARETINO

Abstract

This paper aims to reflect about the insertions of sexual practices in the works Pornólogos I (1534) and Sonetos Luxuriosos (c.1525). Written by the Italian writer Pietro Aretino, called by Jacob Burckhardt as “the greatest detractor of the new times”, they are strongly marked by inflamed writing and strong sexual appeal. As theoretical reference are proposed the studies related to the diverse and heterogeneous representation of a sexual treatment by Paul B. Preciado and Jacques Rancière. Preciado's concepts of “desexualization of the anus” and “dildotectonic”, allied to the rancierian “distribution of the sensible”, collaborate to think a "shared common" of the writing of sex and its practices. Aretino's writing, on this point of view, extrapolates the contemporary dimension of the author himself, to be then evoked in the present and shared in the political environment, in dialogue with the gender discussions.