Sensualism

sensual :

1	of or relating to any of the senses or sense organs; bodily

2	strongly or unduly inclined to gratification of the senses

3	tending to arouse the bodily appetites, esp. the sexual appetite

4	of or relating to sensualism

[ETYMOLOGY: 15th Century: from Late Latin sensualis, from Latin sensus sense. Compare French sensuel, Italian sensuale]
sensually
sensualness sensitive sensitize sensor sensory sensory deprivation sensualism sensuality sensuous sent sentence

Sensualism gives primacy to the senses. That is, it emphasises both sensual perception and emotion as valid routes to the divine. Notice, in English, we use the same word "feelings" to describe sensual perception and emotion. It is a clear indication that we conceive the senses and the emotions as inextricably linked, and essentially equivalent.
Sensualists (people who trust the senses more than the intellect) tend to see our perceptions as measurable, provable, tangible, and therefore more reliable than the elusive intricacies of the intellect. They also tend to see the emotions as stronger motivators than the intellect, especially associating them with spiritual sincerity such as repentance, faith, hope, love. It is no accident, either, that from the Mannerist period onwards, increasing spiritual emphasis was placed on achieving the Beatific Vision.

Sensualism is tactile and emotional, where Classicism is intellectual and rarefied. Classicism appeals to the educated and cultural elite. Sensualism appeals to educated and uneducated alike. We find it beginning in the Mannerist period, where it coexists with exhausted Classicism. It is greatly developed in the Baroque period, where goes into partnership with Classicism and gives it a new lease of life. Finally, it takes over completely with Romanticism.
Sensualism - Sensualisme : sensual feelings, subjection understanding sensation transformed sensationalism


The length of the leg is an arousal,
and the foot and shoe are...

High heels are considered symbols of playful defiance, and heightened sexuality. These shoes became the trademarks of the naughty girl. The height and size of shoes have erotic connotations. High heels are considered to make even the average bottom look more pert, round and trim. According to experts buttocks protrude by 25% just by wearing ankle breakers. Effects on the posture have been studied and the change in the body's centre of mass causes the back to curve, breasts to jut forward, the buttocks to hike up and the legs to look and sexy. The calves and ankles appear shapelier and the arches heave from the shoes.

Erotic symbolism idealises the feet. In art, they are the most worshipped. Points of attraction are the size of the foot, curve of the arch and instep, the length and straightness of the toes, the texture and complexion of the skin, contours of the heel and ankle, the softness of the sole, and if possible, even the foot odour. Each segment is exalted to an ideal perfection and an exquisite part to kiss, bite, caress, lick and fondle. The fetishists attraction to the foot (or shoe) is because it has exactly the characteristics considered most attractive and elegant in the female personality. Foot adoration is a variation of normal intimacy. The foot is a very tactile organ which gives sensual pleasure to both partners. Foot tickling can itself provide a pleasant foreplay as well as an erotic response. The devoted foot artist will "voyeur" feet in the same way others seek the opportunity to view people dressed in tight clothing. They are naturally attracted to feet dressed in open design footwear such as high heel sandals, dancing shoes with strings. The focus of their attention is on the behaviour of the owner especially in the way the person uses their feet in non verbal ways. Also the act of lacing does it, especially in a milonga salon with its shoe rituals, the way the cord is being drawn through eyelets, around hooks and the female ankle. This is a ritual, an important ceremony prior to the the dance of opposites.

In the beginnings of tango, a man’s superior skill at dancing was counted as a determining factor in his popularity, a measure of his machismo. At that time, there was a shortage of the opposite sex and much competition. The macho seducer typically thinks he is the active party but in fact is in bondage to the seducee, in slavery. The genuine seducer has to devote all his attentions to the seduction for a period to accomplish the seduction, and in the process, is effectively enslaved by the seducee until the seduction is successful.

The immigration wave did the Buenos Aires city population rate swell with lonely men, resuling in a demographic sex ratio population of 1 male to 0,6 female in 1914. Approximately 30.000 garotas were working in 2000 brothels. As tango was related to the brothels, it was a scandelizing act for a woman. The fact that it was danced by prostitutes broke dancing habits. In this way, their provoking behaviour anticipated an emancipation. As women have been stimulated throughout the striving ages to keep their bodies square and linear while walking, it strucks them now how unbelievably empowering it is to do tangosteps in a relaxed, conscious way.

Symbolizing Libertango

Europeans who go to Buenos Aires to dance a passionate tango in the milongas, may find the formal codes and behavior rules, such as the strict separation between men, women and couples, a bit outdated. Others will find it nostalgic, as if concealing mystic darkness, as in the old days of Catholicism.
A history of social dance is a history of morality and as 83% of the Argentinians are Catholics, it reflects some Catholic morality. A Catholic morality with its restrictions and rebellions, such as between the Catholic Church and the Liberation Theology. Admit, for a single Catholic woman it isn’t always easy to make the step to tango dancing, tango with it's, nearly sacramental, intimacy and passion. But, quite true, dance portrays the beauty of the person as made in the image of God. Regarding Tango and the Theology of the Body, click here: Katrina J. Zeno

Buenos Aires is often called the Paris of South America, mainly because of its architectural image. Regarding the man-woman relation however, it is much different from the Parisian mind. The Argentine Catholic church has focused its advocacy in three areas: ferm opposition to nearly all forms of modern contraception, to sex education, and to abortion. At the heart of this opposition lie views about women’s role in the family, and about maternity and reproduction as key parts of women’s identity. Increasingly, especially at the present difficult economic situation in Argentina, Catholic church officials have sought to justify their faith-based opposition to contraception and abortion in less doctrinal and more “pragmatic” terms, such as “scientific” proof that condoms prevent neither pregnancy nor sexually transmitted infections or nationalist concerns with population size and growth. Historically, a central part of the identity of the political elite in Argentina has been that of a frontier nation to be colonized and populated by Caucasian immigrants from Europe. The most famous expression of this identity is the phrase to rule is to populate attributed to Juan Bautista Alberdi, a central figure in Argentina’s political history known as the “father of the Argentine constitution.” Over the years, the refrain to rule is to populate has been used by various political actors to justify the limitations on women’s reproductive autonomy and rights, by reference to women’s essential role as childbearers and as such tools for population growth. Across the South American region, many governments and legislators have historically declared their opposition to modern birth control methods, usually with reference to Catholic church doctrine. However, in Argentina the government went so far as to prohibit the sale of all contraceptives for several decades in the late twentieth century, an extreme display of opposition to birth control even by regional standards. This pro-natalist approach has historically set Argentina apart from the rest of South America, so much so that Argentina in 1996 was the only country in the region to provide no public support of any kind for access to contraception.
Only in 2002 did the Argentine congress enact meaningful reform, overcoming vocal opposition from the Catholic church as well as several conservative legislators to pass the National Law on Sexual Health and Responsible Procreation. This law placed reproductive and sexual health on the national political agenda for the first time in Argentina’s history. Argentina’s health minister indicated publicly that he thought women’s health and lives probably would improve if abortion were decriminalized. In response, President Nestor Kirchner (elected in 2003) was quick to emphasize that the government’s position continued to be a “clear rejection of the legalization of abortion.” However, Kirchner also defended his government’s health minister against subsequent attacks from the Catholic church, including by asking the Vatican to retire a bishop who had suggested the health minister should be thrown into the sea with a stone around his neck for his comments.

President Néstor Kirchner, while professing belief in the Catholic faith, has often had a troubled relationship with the hierarchy of the Church. Kirchner belongs to the center-left of Peronism and has placed emphasis on certain progressive views that do not go well with some conservative Catholics. The Argentine national government passed laws and began a program to the effect of providing assistance on sex education to all citizens, including the provision of free oral contraceptives and condoms. The Church opposes artificial contraception and has placed conditions on its acceptance of sex education in schools. At the beginning of 2005, the minister of Health made public his support for the legalization of abortion, and Kirchner's silence on the matter angered the Church. In October 2005 conflict erupted again as the Argentine Chamber of Deputies took steps to pass a Sex Education Law that would encompass the whole school system (public and private, including confessional schools), forcing educational establishments to teach students about gender roles and contraception, among other topics. The Archbishop of La Plata accused the state of "promoting sexual corruption" and "inciting fornication, lust and promiscuity". On the issue of the 1970's, - the Vatican Embassy here kept a secret list of thousands of people who "disappeared" during Argentina's dirty wars of the late 1970s - Kirchner called attention on the many bishops "who weren't there while children were disappearing" and who "gave [the sacrament of] confession to torturers" of the Dirty War. Members of the opposition later qualified Kirchner as "Liberation Theology", "unjust" and "intolerant". At the present time, old milonga codes are changing, and more.

Aerticle from Tango-E-Vita