SENTIMENTAL EROTICA - MAURA GANCITANO

Learning to manage the fuel of emotions is not a standard procedure, the same for everyone. Educating about relationships does not mean creating a decalogue of behaviors to adhere to, a morality to conform to, but making the person aware of who they are, what they desire, and how they can interact with the rest of the world. To live together with others without hurting too much.

Sentimental education is often confused with good manners, etiquette, and social codes, that is to say, with a set of rules and codes considered socially appropriate, to which one must conform obediently. The general idea is that it is a model of behavior aimed at rationally addressing impulses, emotions, feelings, and all those aspects of a person that by definition are romantic and overwhelming. But how can one invite control over something that is private, intimate, and should remain free by definition? Aren't those emotional experiences what truly make us ourselves? In reality, sentimental education is a personal practice, primarily concerning the care of one's intimacy. It is a process of analyzing and resolving the conditioning endured and one's cognitive biases. Each of us, in fact, has a different way of perceiving the world, an original sensitivity that should not be stifled in the name of a "normal" idea of living life. Educating to recognize impulses, emotions, and feelings and to understand how to relate to others cannot therefore foresee a uniform path for everyone. Instead, it means questioning the idea of normality and providing adequate tools for discovering one's uniqueness, self-care, and mental health, without censoring oneself or hiding one's desires.