The Buenos Aires International Book Fair, the largest in the sector in South America, celebrated ‘Italy Day’ yesterday, with a conference by the psychoanalyst and writer Luigi Zoja who presented the Spanish version of his work, ‘The Decline of desire’ (La pérdida del deseo’).
Introduced by the director of the Italian Institute of Culture, Livia Raponi, and after a greeting from the Italian consul general in Buenos Aires, Carmelo Barbera, Zoja indicated that years of research carried out by him at a global level have allowed him to identify a worrying phenomenon: “The decrease in the sexual activity of the population, especially among the younger ones” On the origin of her study, Zoja explained to ANSA that “I realized that, by participating in an international group of Jungian analysts in which topics are also discussed political-cultural, my friends in London and New York did not know this topic”.
“And everyone thought, perhaps projecting the fact of their belonging to the generation that experienced the sexual liberation of the 70s and 80s, that this trend would continue, whereas in fact the opposite is taking place.”
An important fact is that this decline in sexual desire, “which is aided by easy access to pornography via the internet”, does not only concern the West, but the entire planet. “Even in the East – he underlined – from what we know the phenomenon is confirmed in Japan and China, where there are no official statistics, but where I have colleagues with whom I have worked and who have confirmed the trend”.
Like every year, the Italian Cultural Institute of Buenos Aires is present at the fair taking place in the Argentine capital.
For the occasion, it has set up a stand dedicated to the anniversaries of the composer Giacomo Puccini and the actor Marcello Mastroianni.
At the Italia stand there will be meetings on literature (among these, insights into Puccini; the launch of a podcast, ‘Le voci di Fuori’, a perspective on Erri de Luca), short Italian language lessons, activities for children with reading workshops and drawing, and musical moments.
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