Font-rubí author and social researcher Arcadi Bages, who writes under the name Na Pai, has published El capital sexual, a new book about attraction, seduction and the way people form and keep relationships across Catalonia.
In the book, Na Pai argues that sexuality goes far beyond physical contact and affects many parts of life, often without people noticing. He says attraction is shaped by physical, economic, cultural and social factors, and that these can all play a role in what he calls sexual capital.
The book follows La nostra atenció ha estat raptada and En defensa d'Afrodita, his earlier work published by Tigre de Paper. Na Pai says his thinking has changed over time, and that El capital sexual reflects a slower and more developed reflection on sexuality than his first book.
He also looks back on En defensa d'Afrodita, which became a reference point in debates on polyamory. Speaking to VilaWeb, he said it was written for a very specific activist audience and that its language was, in his words, a bit intransigent and very moralistic. He also said the book received deserved criticism because some readers used it to question their partners about jealousy.
Na Pai says attitudes to non-monogamy have shifted, but he believes it is still only suitable for a minority. He also argues that labels such as relational anarchist or agamia can be used to gain sexual capital, and that relationships are no longer necessarily for life, while child-rearing is. In his view, this makes community-based models more useful than a purely individual approach. More Catalonia news
He defines sexual capital as everything that makes people attractive and everything they do to please others. He says the most visible forms are economic, physical and cultural, but that social capital, which he divides into charisma and empathy, is the most important for real connection. Na Pai also says his book starts from his own experience of sexuality through the autistic spectrum, where reading subtle social cues can be harder and must often be learned consciously.