(Reviewed by JD Jung)
Gabriela Wiener is not just any journalist. This Peruvian-born writer prefers to experience topics first-hand. That may even involve putting herself in extreme and often risky situations and then writing about her participation. So when it came to studying contemporary love and sex, she did just that. In between it all, she learned a lot about herself.
Sexographies is a series of thoughtful essays detailing these experiences. Wiener visited the home of Ricardo Ruiloba (Badani), a sex guru and his six wives. She reported on the Barcelona International Erotic Film Festival and interviewed and participated with Lady Monique, a well-known dominatrix. She further studied Barcelona’s sexual underground and participated in swingers clubs.
She’s not detached like traditional journalists, but personally relates these experiences to her own feelings and attitudes. This even includes exploring her own sexuality amidst the general topic of infidelity. There doesn’t appear to be anything off-limits.
I think that my favorite story is “Trans”, a study of the transgender community in Lima. Discrimination against trans people in Peru prompted them to migrate to Europe to work (usually in the sex industry) and send money back home to support their families and thus “buy their acceptance”. She tells very personal stories of individuals who don’t fall neatly into any gender category.
Not all essays relate directly to sex. She visited a prison in Lima to study inmates and their tattoos, their only “loyal companion”. She donated her eggs in Barcelona, and interviewed Peruvian writer Isabel Allende. She visited a shaman in the Amazon to try Ayahuasca , a substance reported to channel telepathic powers. She relates her feelings on having a darker complexion than most Europeans.
Though she has lived in Barcelona for over eight years she writes a powerful and heartfelt story about her mixed feelings when returning to Lima for visits. Yes, she misses the people, but excruciating childhood memories of what she experienced in the violent 1980s return. She then misses her new home. “…moving to another city is to change the accent of your affections. It is to pronounce love differently.”
In fact, Wiener’s feelings and experiences may introduce another view on sex and love to its readers. That makes Sexographies an enlightening and fascinating read.
