1. Local Culture Sexuality in Rio
1.1. sexuality is central at a social and cultural level of Brazilians
1.1.1. Sexual joking or teasing acts as a verbal confirmation of the centrality of sexuality in social interaction
1.2. "O Amor Natural"
1.2.1. a 1996 documentary film by Heddy Honigmann that captures the "...permissive and celebraotry sexuality of Rio..." (Goldstein, p.229)
1.2.2. the premise of the film is the interpretation of individuals of the unpublished erotic work of Carlos Drummond de Andrade,a Brazilian poet
1.2.3. interviewees included an aging Olympic swimmer, 2 women sun btahing on a beach on Zona Sul, and an elderly widower
1.2.4. interviewees read the poetry without any embarrassment and with a good natured humor
1.2.5. attitudes of interviewees reflected a "sex-positive" attitude
1.2.6. nobody talked about male and female homoerotic behaviours not did the women talk about extramarital affairs
1.3. Felicidade Eterna
1.3.1. sexual banter and teasing is common here
1.3.2. sexual jokes and teasing reveals local sexual culture
1.3.3. Gloria
1.3.3.1. talked about her mother, Valdirene, and how she became more strict and prudish after joining and devoting to the Assembly of God Church
1.3.3.2. on a visit, Valdirene told Gloria and Goldstein about her sex dream about her husband's erected penis; the dream becomes some sort of a joke as Gloria retells it to the her family and friends back at Felicidade Eterna
1.3.3.3. Elis
1.3.3.3.1. a male to female transgendered friend of Gloria and adopted parent of a boy, Nelsinho
1.3.3.3.2. his partner is Eber
1.3.3.3.3. Elis despite being addressed as "she" by many of the people in Felicidade still has a male sex organ
2. Carnivalization of Desire
2.1. Brazil promotes itself as an eroticized "tropical paradise"
2.2. people express themselves physically and liberaly through body language, dress, flirtation, and exuberent dance - the kind that we see in carnival; in other cultures, the breast is the focus of sexiness and desirability in women but in Brazil, the buttocks is the focus of the idea of "the bigger, the better"
2.3. women dress in close fitting clothes that accentuates their figure
2.4. public flirting is an elaborate and beloved game
2.5. to be ignored and not considered to be sexually desirable is a fate worse than death to Brazillian women
2.6. Peter Fry's two distinct type of male homosexuality
2.6.1. upper-class model: an import from Europe and North America; one's sexual and social identity is connected with one's sexual object of choice
2.6.2. lower-class model: "homes" (men) and "bichas" (worm; a derogatory term)
2.7. feminist writers write about Brazilian sexulality in a "sex-negative" way
3. Local Sexual Culture in Felicidade Eterna and Food Metaphors
3.1. metaphors about food and eating often used to express ideas about sexuality
3.2. consmuption metaphors for sexual identities- you are either the person who eats it the one who is eaten
3.2.1. homosexuality: the man who penetrates ("homem") maintains his musculinity but the the person who receives ("bicha" or "viado") penetration looses his
3.2.2. in this view, women are ought to be "eaten" and are viewed negatively if they become the active consumer
3.2.3. women who consumes too many sexual partners are referred to as "galinhas" or chickens, and "piranhas"
3.2.4. men are the "eaters" and women are those being eaten
3.3. men are expected to be the providers by women and this is the key elemnt in a woman's recognition of a good quality in a man
3.3.1. Gloria would use her power as a woman by refusing sex to her partners to force them to become better providers
3.3.2. Gloria and her friends would complain about their men not adequately provide them economically and men can't be trusted to be faithful
3.3.3. Gloria left her long time partner/lover Zezinho because he consumes, "eats", more than he contributes- he spent his earned money on booze
3.3.4. during ecomomic difficulty, to avoid starvation, Gloria would obtain a lover to help provide for her needs; her daughters, Soneca for example, did the same thing when she was in the same difficult situation
3.3.5. Darlene, a sex worker friend of Gloria's, was seeing a man 20 years her senior who earns 5 salries a month; but she said that if someone better come along, she would leave him
3.4. metaphors of eating and sexuality are turned upside down through humor
4. Musculinity and Heterosexuality
4.1. among the working class of Rio, it's considered unhealthy for men to go too long without sex, it can provoke insanity
4.2. boys are encouraged and expected to become active seducers
4.2.1. Gloria wanted Roberto, the eldest among her boys, to take Lucas to a prostitute because he's still a virgin
4.2.2. Gloria believes that men are like animals and must satisfy their their basic sexual needs
4.2.3. Gloria however desired her daughter to remain virgins as long as possible, which is the total oppoaite of what she wants for her boys