Gabriela Wiener - Sexographies

For La Gatita

If Badani were an electrical appliance, he would be one that chops, dices, and shreds his interlocutor at a thousand revolutions per second. When he speaksor rather when he soliloquizeshe smooths out his mustache with a delicate movement of his thumb and index finger. Erecting an argument or even just assembling a phrase in his presence is impossible. Badani senses your intentions, anticipates your answers, reads your facial expressions, and is wary of your words. It would be foolish to expect any less from hima man who is a polygamist, tech expert, zealous anti-Catholic, sexual erudite, and devotee of the concept of freedom, which he understands as the liberty to choose ones own shackles. Badani is also addicted to etymology. Family, he says, comes from the Latin famulus , which means slave. He has six of them.

Since his life came into the public eye, Ricardo Badani has elicited the hatred of many. Hes been denounced as a misogynist and a homophobe, with good reason: his archaic worldview advocates for a return to the time of alpha males and female acolytes. He hasnt varied or nuanced his discourse in the slightest throughout the years. I, on the other hand, have become more radical, especially when it comes to feminism. Ive never ceased to disagree with himnot back then, and definitely not now. But his story continues to fascinate me for many reasons; not the least of them being his defiant choice to live on the fringe of convention, always challenging any sort of restraint.

The man has the beard of a prophet and a perpetual gleam in his eye. Hes sitting on a sofa in the lingerie store he runs with his wives in a shopping center in Miraflores, one of the most affluent districts of Lima. Hes spent several minutes talking at me about corsets, and I am yet to utter a single word. With a quiet gesturehe touches his throatone of his wives immediately gets him some Coca-Cola. Hes clearly showing off for me. His wives are constantly attending to his every need like abnegated serfs (who nonetheless claim to feel free as a bird). The protector and the slave: that is their ideal definition of a relationship. They become a part of him, and he bears the brunt of societys displeasure. A recycled but revolutionary formula for happiness.

The ideal of equality between men and women is, to him, stupidity masked as erudition. Males and females are united by what they lack, and for Badani, a family is a natural integration of complementary elements. A family is comparable, he says, to a ship. The man is the captain, the women are the officers, and the children are the crew. The crew does not have the right to voice its opinions. The officers can give advice to the captain, but they dont get much of a say when it comes to steering the ship. Captain Badani is solely responsible for the ship, the crew, the cargo, the passengers, and the route.

The second time I interviewed Badani in his shop he said, The girls liked you. It must be because you did your homework. Before contacting him, Id read his Windmill Blades , a book of short stories and poems featuring him on the front cover dressed as Don Quixote. The guru was aware that what I truly wanted was to visit his house, to spend a day in the Badani family home. To stoke my desire, Badani had delayed giving me an answer for as long as possible.

Years earlier, they had all moved to the outskirts of Lima, where the beastly tentacles of the press could not reach them. Once theyd settled into their new home, he and his wives had vowed to shut out anyone who intended to categorize or diagnose them. That meant no journalists, who in Badanis opinion trade in human misery. But Badani is like a pliant middle-aged father who enjoys making a show out of his leniencya display there was nothing left but to appear grateful for. And so they laid out the terms for the encounter: no camera, no tape recorder, no notebook.

I phoned the shop on the agreed-to date and spoke to one of his wives, Mara Abovich. Shed been appointed to tell me that Badani had consented to invite me from Tuesday to Thursday. The offer consisted of spending two nights at an unspecified location in Lima with the guru of sex and his six wives. Sensing my hesitation, Mara asked if going to their home was not what I had wanted. It was, but I hadnt imagined the guru would invite me to stay overnight. She told me to bring my toothbrush, and, if possible, some white marshmallows to toast on the fire. The way to the way is the way, says the Tao.

That Tuesday evening, to make sure Id fit in, I arrived at the shop wearing a skirt. Badani had mentioned that his wives never wear pants. Hed also mentioned that they were fully waxed, but I didnt go that far. When I got there, I glanced at one of the tags on the clothes on the rack: Badani, instruments of seduction. Mara, the sixth wife, had just arrived. She was carrying several shopping bags that held Italian sausages and other items requested by Badani.

Youll have to excuse me, Ricardo asked me to do this, she said. Mara then tested my honesty aura with a camera detector bought at RadioShack, where Badani likes to get electronic gadgets.