The Brazil Files: Bela* or Bust (Introduction)

by Special Correspondent Wendi Muse

“So, are the girls hot?”

This is the most common question I receive from American men when I explain that I have been living in Brazil. These men come from all walks of life, are of various racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds, and of varying levels of education, exposure to other countries, etc. Long story short, this question seems to be on the minds of many men. It is, for better or for worse, a universal curiosity.

But in my response, I quickly put things in perspective.

“Well, for one, Ugly travels. I see just as many unattractive people in Brazil as I do in the States, and equally as many beautiful people on both sides as well. But I can safely say that the majority of women in Brazil work really hard to be beautiful, more so than the majority of American women.”

There are usually follow-up questions about body types (butts being the primary focus, of course) and clothing styles (are the clothes all skimpy?) and I handle those accordingly. The preoccupation with appearance in Brazil-related questions is to be expected considering that one of the primary portrayals of Brazil in the United States relates to beach culture, scantily-clad women, and sex. But when one takes the time to consider the reasons behind the high standards of beauty in Brazil, it is obvious that there is more to being beautiful and participating in the process of achieving that than just a bikini wax or the perfect nails. Beauty in Brazil is a complex matter involving gender, race and, most certainly, class.

In terms of statistics, Brazilian surgeons perform cosmetic plastic surgery at one of the highest volumes in the world. According to the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery, 1,157,540 cosmetic surgical procedures were performed in 2007, placing Brazil behind the United States in the volume of annual procedures (the U.S. ranks number one with 1.8 million, a number that does not include reconstructive surgery or non-invasive procedures like botox injections). For 2008, the Brazilian beauty industry (and this number only accounts for formal sectors) recorded $21.7 billion reais (about $11.8 billion USD) and a 10.6% growth in revenue since 2007. Articles upon articles remark at the growth of the beauty industry despite the pending doom of the global economic crisis. Coincidence? I think not.

In the upcoming weeks, this 3-part article on beauty in Brazil will continue with analysis based on race, class, gender, and media. Be sure to stay posted for more!

—–

*Bela (yes, just one L, aka that is not a spelling mistake) means “beautiful” in Portuguese
**Pictured: Brazilian model Adriana Lima
***For statistical citations, please see the following:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6430219/The-Plastic-Surgery-Capital-of-the-World
http://www.yourplasticsurgeryguide.com/trends/asps-2007.htm
http://www.esteticafacial.biz/cirurgia-plastica-0
http://www.revistamercado.com.br/vernoticia/45/2/

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The Brazil Files: Bela or Bust Part 1 - On Gender at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 16 Jul 2009 at 10:01 am

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Comments

Marcy Webb wrote:

Hopefully, the ignorant men with whom you’ve been dialoguing, Wendy, will read this post, and get edumacated.

That said, I’ve read similarly re: France. I can’t say to what degree French women access plastic surgeons. However, they place a much higher premium on beauty than does the average woman in the United States.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 8:22 am ¶
Naturally Leslie wrote:

I am so glad you will be discussing this. Rap videos and tv in general tend to over-emphasize this idea that in Brazil all you will find is light brown, straight haired, big-butted beauties just waiting to please American men in the way their boring, fat, unkempt, cold American wives won’t. I’ve heard it almost be used as an excuse to cheat for married men who take “vacations” with their boys to Brazil, saying how these women will do what “we” won’t for their men. What do I say to that? HELL TO THA NO! If you go you betta not come back! LOL
Seriously, it is a disservice to Brazilians to only portray them as exotic sexualized rump-shakers while simultaneously ignoring the poverty and simply the reality that they are regular people like everywhere else. Some men do go there for sex and the women selling it might just be hot. But if I were so poor that all I could do was sell my body I would probably make looks a priority, especially if I knew foreign men already had a preconceived notion of what “I” was supposed to look like. Can’t wait to read the rest of this series.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 8:54 am ¶
atlasien wrote:

An Italian woman once complained to me that she had to spend 90% of her disposable income on clothes when she lived in Italy, and that was one of the reasons she emigrated, because she didn’t really care that much about clothes and hated being forced to live up to that standard. That really amazed me…

I’ve heard the rate of eating disorders in Brazil is really high, too.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 8:54 am ¶
F. wrote:

If you ask an American to name a famous Brazilian person, I would guess there’s a like 90 percent chance they’ll name a Brazilian model, not a politician, singer, activist, actor.

I think it’s been noted here at Racialicious before that the “Brazilian Model Craze” that swept through the fashion industry mostly featured Brazilian models that physically did not look too different from their German or Russian counterparts.

Gisele Bundchen, the ultimate Brazilian model, is blonde and blue-eyed and when not tanned for a photo shoot, is actually pretty fair-skinned. Raquel Zimmerman, a Vogue favorite, is blonde and blue-eyed. Isabeli Fontana, another Vogue and Victoria’s Secret favorite, is blue-eyed and fair-skinned. Ana Claudia Michels, Ana Beatriz Barros, Michelle Alves, Leticia Birkheuer, all light-haired, blue-eyed.

Would Adriana Lima be Adriana Lima without those blue, blue eyes?

The point is the whiter-looking Brazilian models are beautiful and sexy but not *too* exotic. They have just the right “ethnic mystique”– they’re from Brazil!– without actually being “ethnic.” That’s why they’re so marketable to white western women. Even the brown-eyed, brown-haired Brazilian models like Alessandra Ambrosio or Izabel Goulart, if they said they were from Italy or France, no one would bat an eyelash.

Americans think Brazilian women are beautiful, but they have a specific *type* of Brazilian woman in mind. Where are the dark-skinned, dark-haired, dark-eyed Brazilian models going to storm the fashion industry?

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 9:07 am ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:

hey f,

if you are interested in fashion related racism, check out my article on Sao Paulo fashion week here:
http://www.racialicious.com/2009/06/19/the-brazil-files-race-the-runway-sao-paulo-fashion-week-dabbles-in-color

it gives you a glimpse into the racism that happens even within the brazilian fashion industry that limits many of those darker models from reaching fame here (brazil) or anywhere else

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 9:11 am ¶
Marcy Webb wrote:

In response to F: I would seem to me that the Western European standards of beauty have been imported around the globe. There probably aren’t too many progressive modeling agencies who are willing to show the diversity of beauty that actually exists. Would require a modeling agency consisting of a very special group of people.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 9:54 am ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist! wrote:

I’ve never been to Brazil and I don’t know much about Brazil, but please tell me: what the hell does “Brazilian beauty” mean?

I keep hearing how “hot” Brazilian women are, when in fact they’re talking about white skinned women like Gisele and Adriana Lima. No offense, but uhhh… they look perfectly white to me and I don’t see any difference between “Brazilian” beauty as opposed to “European” beauty. I just don’t see the difference there. Maybe I’m being an asshole, but whatever.

Can anyone clue me in?

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 11:18 am ¶
Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist! wrote:

yeah, what F said.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 11:18 am ¶
gueralola wrote:

@ atlasien
I read in vivir Latino that brazils not American are the highest consumers on diet pills. on what F said that reminded me that in Latino pop culture most if not all are pale skin and light color hair/ eye color. It sad for someone whose family do not have enough to eat and cannot go to school and here are women(pressured by society/ family) spending thousands on P.S
I’m depressed since I see it in a lot in Latino culture (I’m majoring in Anthropology) that women are expected to be beautiful and frowned a pond if they have a career and have expectations outside of motherhood . The idea that women are supposed to look good in order to please the man/husband it pretty common (But lucky it declining in number thanks to feminism) pressure on girls to be beauty pageants queen in Brazil(and other countries too) since to them that the only way to get out of poverty. It a viscous cycle

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 1:48 pm ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:

Wendi I greatly look forward to your upcoming posts on this subject! I don’t get it when people try to compare different cultures and societies to each other based on how beautiful their women are. It’s like hello! no one culture/society has a monopoly upon beauty/ugliness! And you can bet most of the “really deep” discussions about the beauty of women devolves into discussions about race and ethnicity.

And I cosign everything F said! Looking at the Brazilian models you’d think all of Brazil was white!

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 2:29 pm ¶
Paz wrote:

I spent some time in Brazil, and YES! Not just from men, but women automatically assumed that everyone there are supermodels. One (extremely ignorant) girl that was with me on my study abroad trip there complained, “The girls aren’t that hot. There’s no one that takes my breath away.”
I have to say though that Brazilian media does a good job of pushing the sexy woman stereotype on its own. The giant media conglomerate Globo’s site features sexy pictures of celebrities on its front page pretty much every day, and there are actually titles like Miss Melhancia (Miss Watermelon) given to women with the largest butt. And there really is a strong emphasis on physical appearance.
But the whole sex tourism, not just in Brazil but in any country, is just repulsive.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 2:39 pm ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:

omg mulher melancia is HORRIBLE…but those titles are awarded within a somewhat “lower” (imagine, d-list) circle. it’s more of the funk carioca crowd (these are the girls the big brazilian funk (a refashioning of miami bass music with super graphic lyrics…a la 2 live crew) artists hire to be in their videos)…so that competition is not really accepted as “beautiful.” most of the people i know consider those girls trashy and ugly (it’s the equivalent of what would happen, more or less, if we had a beauty contest with the women from BET UnCut or something). but it’s definitely worth including in the section on class, so if i remember, i will stick some info in the piece about that!

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 2:52 pm ¶
Louise wrote:

Cosigning withF on everything!
ps
sex tourism is the same seedy shady sleazy business that goes on here, it’s just in the sunshine! The sunshine does not make it noble nor desirable any one who disagrees is an arse!!

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 5:12 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:

Seriously, it is a disservice to Brazilians to only portray them as exotic sexualized rump-shakers while simultaneously ignoring the poverty and simply the reality that they are regular people like everywhere else.

THIS times a million!

If I had a dollar for every idiot who made comments about going to Carnaval for “the hot hot women, WOOT” I’d be rich. And it’s always angered me that the beautiful diversity in its people is never represented…all you see is Giselle Bundchen knockoffs and I’m sorry, but there is only one Giselle. Let’s see some range here.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 5:23 pm ¶
mixedqueer wrote:

i’m brazilian-american, and after spending 24 years in the states, am now living in brazil.

i have to agree that almost every single one of my straight male friends asked me that question right off the bat. i’m glad our responses are similar. hopefully we’re making a small impact on that ignorance.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 11:55 pm ¶
David wrote:

F, I would assume that if you asked an American to name a Brazilian the majority would choose a soccer player, maybe Pele, Ronaldinho, or Kaka. Maybe that is just Americans interested in sports, but there is likely a large amount of sports followers in America.

Posted 30 Jun 2009 at 11:58 pm ¶
Eyes On Brazil wrote:

According to figures from the Wikipedia’s “Immigration to Brazil” page, Brazil is mostly made up of the following…

Africans (4 million)
Portuguese (2.4 million)
Italians (1.6 million)
Spaniards (700,000)
Japanese (240,000)
Germans (240,000)

Those figures correspond to the number of initial settlers between 1500-1970. Combine that with the several million indigenous peoples who lived in Brazil prior to and partially during settlement, and you have a recipe for beauty, in my opinion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Brazil

Posted 01 Jul 2009 at 5:32 pm ¶
Moni wrote:

I did a study abroad in Bahia, Brazil a couple of years ago and I remember some of the white American women that were with me remarking on how the Brazilian women were not that pretty…we were in Salvador and the majority of the women there look like me, brown with African features….I really did not know how to respond to their statements, so I didn’t.

The mullato or the mixed Brazilian woman is seen as the ideal…but mixed only in the sense that there is a touch of the non-European…for the most part, European features (hair and skin especially) are highly prized…I am sure that Wendi is going to cover this issue…I would especially like to see an analysis of hair politics…I have my own thoughts about it and probably will write about it soon….

Posted 02 Jul 2009 at 8:25 am ¶
Sparkle wrote:

I agree with some other posters. The world only sees the blonde blue-eyed white models from Southern Brazil. Brazil’s highest paid female entertainer is the blonde Xuxa of German/Italian descent. Many white Brazilians will deny racism and condemn the US for her “racism” but from what I have heard, Brazilian racism is much worse than the US with blacks still being BLATANTLY discriminated.

Posted 19 Jul 2009 at 2:57 pm ¶