Cover story June 95

All about Eve

Throughout the world the Brazilian woman has earned a reputation for sensual indulgence and has been repeatedly portrayed as exuding sensuality and being easy to get while at the same time loyal and submissive. Those who have accepted this image might be in for a shock. More and more the so-called fragile sex in Brazil is asserting its rights and righting some wrongs.

Elma-Lia Nascimento

It wasn't until the 1934 Constitution that Brazilian women won the right to vote. In that same year the first female was elected to the Congress. Now, 50 years later, there are 119 women in Congress and in state assemblies, including Carioca (from Rio) senator Idalina da Silva, the first black woman senator in Brazilian history.

And the first woman governor in Brazilian history was elected in last year's November election. Her name is Roseana Sarney, daughter of former President José Sarney. She is now the governor of Maranhão, a northeastern state with a population of five million. Ruth Cardoso, the new first lady, is light years away from the first lady-image of Nancy Reagan or Imelda Marcos. In many ways, Ruth Cardoso is the Brazilian version of Hillary Clinton.

The 1991 Census shows Brazil with 74,381,317 women versus 72,536,142 men. What this means is that they represent 50.63% of the total population. This disparity, however, is bigger in the Northeast and Southeast (with the exception of Santa Catarina state). The lack of men is particularly dramatic in the big cities, where there are 3.5 million more women than men.

The city of São Paulo has 7.9 million women for 7.5 million men. In Rio, women outnumber men by about 320,000. Regions with a predominantly male population are those in the North and Center-West areas, which have drawn large contingents of men looking for job opportunities.

Adding to this dearth of men, Brazilian women have also become much pickier than their mothers or grandmothers. In a study about the female population, Elza Berquó, from CEBRAP (Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning) found out that women today "want a complete relationship in all aspects: affective, sexual and intellectual."

"The age of a woman is still very important," notes Berquó, analyzing what she sees as a dramatic shrinkage of the "marriage market", "when she turns 30, her chances of getting a partner are reduced." The most common age for Brazilian women to marry is 23.

The disparity between the male and female population has been a godsend for the matchmaking industry. At São Paulo's Happy End, for example, 63% of the 3,000 plus registrants are women. The vast majority of applicants have a college degree and belong to the so-called A & B classes, the most affluent.

In Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, the lack of men is so acute that even matrimonial agencies are not able to survive. This city with a population of 2 million has an excess of 100,000 women. Olympia Gazel, a radio personality, founded a matchmaking agency in 1982, but closed two years later due to the ratio of men to women on her books: 20 women for every man. She reopened the business in 1992 and now has a more manageable figure: four women for each man. But to get to this point she had to start recruiting males from other Brazilian states, especially from Bahia. In Belo Horizonte women as young as 15 are having trouble finding someone to date.

It hasn't always been like this. During the 1870's the lack of women was so dramatic that in places like the state of Minas Gerais where there was gold fever, the authorities appealed to families to not send their daughters to convents or even to other cities.

After 30 or so, never-married single women are called solteironas (spinsters). In a slightly more compassionate sense they are referred to as the "as que ficaram para tia" (the ones who will be aunts). To cope with the present situation, however, women seem to be overcoming the stigma tied to growing old without marrying. And they are marrying less and less. While the state of São Paulo registered the marriages of 207,089 women in 1980, this number fell to 196,231 in 1990, even though the state population increased by two percent during that period.

Sociologist Rosa Maria Vieira de Freitas from SEADE (State System for Data Analysis) says that the marriage document has lost much of its appeal and that the terms single and married don't mean what they used to. "Thanks to sexual liberation, women don't need to be married to have sexual relations," she explains.

A new way to marry - About 25% of marriages in Brazil end up in divorce. In order to deal with conjugal unions in a more businesslike matter, Congress is seriously studying the introduction of what is being called "office marriage". According to a bill already approved by the Senate's Constitution and Justice Commission, a couple would be able to get a valid marriage contract without any interference by the state. This contract can be converted into a civil marriage, but the law doesn't impose any deadline.

The concept is nothing short of revolutionary. If and when approved the office marriage will make obsolete the present system of civil marriage or any other kind of cohabitation. Presently, a woman only acquires rights as a spouse after living together for five years. In the office marriage these rights start immediately.

Before the 1977 legalization of divorce in Brazil all marriages were in the so-called universal communion category. Nowadays people automatically marry in a category called partial communion, in which all possessions acquired before the marriage belong only to the individual.

Even though most Brazilian jurists believe that possessions acquired after marriage should be considered common property, law scholar Priscila Corrêa da Fonseca would like to see total separation of all assets all the time. Now, to be able to do this, couples have to enter into a pre-nuptial agreement in which they present a complete list of earnings and possessions of each of the partners.

All this new independence, however, hasn't changed macho attitudes and sexual harassment continues to be a common fact of life. Even though more women have been reporting these assaults to authorities, there is still a very small number who actually takes this step. In São Paulo, the State Counsel for the Female Condition has determined that 60% of the women who report sexual harassment never take the next step and register the same complaint with the Women's Bureaus which have the power to make a police investigation. For the most part they consider the official denunciation to be more humiliating than the offense itself. And since sexual harassment is not considered a crime under Brazilian law, it is very rare that somebody accused of doing it is condemned.

The new penal code being written defines sexual harassment in its article no. 195 as: "To annoy someone with proposals of sexual content using relationships that involve work, family or friendship ties with the victim."

Those convicted of the crime would be condemned to a prison term of between six months and one year.

As in the US and many other so-called civilized countries, physical abuse against women is still rampant. It's estimated that at least two women are assaulted every hour in Rio. On average, Rio's police receive complaints from 540 physically abused women and 40 who are violated, every month. About 40 others are killed during the same period. Police statistics show that for the most part those women who are victimized are between 25 and 36 years old, have no source of income and no place else to go. They present their grievances and go back to the home in which they are being abused.

Young blood - In a recent interview with the weekly magazine Isto É, Moacir Costa, a Paulista (from São Paulo) sexologist said that by the year 2000, half of the Brazilian women will be romancing young studs no more than 25 years old. Wishful thinking? Costa, who is the author of Sexo: o Dilema do Homem (Sex: the Man's Dilemma), a book already in its fourth edition, believes that this revolution has already started because a woman in her 40's is in her sexual prime while men of the same age are already "stressed out and without energy".

The scene of older women being escorted by younger guys is becoming more and more common in Brazil, with some well-known personalities leading the way. Actress Lady Francisco, 55, for example, who is a connoisseur of younger men, can't stand old fogies, calling them "grumpy". As for the under 30 crowd, she classifies them as "more attractive". Older men are also accused of working too much, being too prejudiced, and not interested in having fun.

"This new behavior," says Escola Paulista de Medicina's psychologist Maria Aznar Farias, "is part of the space conquered by women." Some men who've opted for romancing older women say that they are much better at being independent and going directly to the point, without "the circuitousness of a Forrest Gump", as expressed by Victor Martuchelli in the Isto É article.

Older women are also frequently credited for being more caring and attentive to their partners. Some themes as anal sex are still taboo among these mature Afrodites, but they don't seem afraid to chase pleasure in all places. They frequent single's bars, pay for sex, and carry condoms together with their make-up.

About 90% of all advertisers at a Folha de São Paulo classified section called "Over 50 looking for over 50" are women. Among the most cited attributes they look for in a prospective candidate are sincerity, financial stability, readiness for commitment, willingness to travel and have fun, culture, good humor, and no vices.

On another front, many women are still dying from preventable causes such as gynecological diseases, parturition (there are 150 maternal deaths for every 100 thousand births), pregnancy, and certain curable cancers. Only 10% of women have periodical Pap smears, a procedure that might prevent cervical cancer. As for birth control, tubal ligation seems to be the method of choice. A 1986 study by IBGE (Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics) has shown that while 41% of women take the pill -- generally without medical supervision -- other 44.4% opt for the surgical tying of their fallopian tubes. Abortion -- an illegal practice -- is also frequently used as a contraceptive measure. It's estimated that every year there are 1.5 million abortions in Brazil and that 10,000 women end up dying from the operation. The complications of badly done abortions are the fifth largest cause for hospital admission in the country and represent almost $26 million a year in expenses to the state.

Officially 72 women die for each 100,00 live births. Some doctors say the real number is closer to 150 deaths for 100,000 newborn children. The World Health Organization accepts no more than 20 deaths for 100,000 births.

The causes of this high mortality rate are toxemia (53%), hemorrhage (21.4%), infection (17%), other direct complications (14.8%) and abortion (9.7%).

Despite opposition by the powerful National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB), Congress is studying a bill that would give free access to men and women to procedures like vasectomies or tubal ligations. This last operation, however, wouldn't be allowed before the woman is 30 years old.

Numbers from IBGE's National Research by House Sample show that about 15.8% of women between the ages of 15 and 54 are sterilized, this amounts to around 6 million Brazilians. By comparison, this rate is about 7% in developed countries.

Some experts, however, believe that there are at least 10 million women sterilized in Brazil. One of these scholars is Ana Maria Costa, a doctor specializing in the area of reproduction. "There is an absurd amount of misinformation," she says. "Women don't know about diaphragms, IUD's, condoms or other alternatives, and end up considering tubal ligation as the only safe method to avoid children." Costa observes that the absence of the State and the pressure of international organizations interested in zero growth, have established a sterilization culture in the country. The fertility rate among women has fallen from 6.5 children for every woman during the 1940's to 2 children nowadays. In the past the incentive to have children was considered a national security issue by the military. On the other hand, advances in medicine have allowed women who have ended their fertile years to have children. Dozens of them, many older than 50, are trying to have a child right now through less conventional methods.

Killer on the loose

Some murders of women in Brazil became international causes célèbres and have been used as examples of the lawlessness in the country. Among the most famous cases is the murder of Mineira (from Minas Gerais) socialite Ângela Diniz who was shot and killed in Búzios (Rio) in 1976 by Raul Doca Street, her boyfriend. Thanks to the defense who turned Diniz from victim into defendant, and to the argument that it was a crime of passion, Doca was condemned to only two years in prison. The sentence so outraged women that they were able to organize and force a second trial which ended up condemning the killer to 15 years in prison.

Another infamous case where justice hasn't prevailed involved Rio's Cláudia Lessin Rodrigues a student, who was raped and then murdered during a party at the apartment of young millionaire Michel Frank. Once more the defense was able to turn the situation around insisting that Lessin Rodrigues in some way called death upon herself by being in a place in which she wasn't supposed to be. When weeks after the murder the law finally decided to detain Frank, he already had left the country.

Contraceptives

Tubal ligation 44.4%

Pills 41.0%

Rhythm table 6.2%

Coitus interruptus 1.8%

Condom 1.8%

IUD 1.5%

Other 2.6%

In the mirror

Asked by polling company Datafolha to indicate what part of their own body they appreciate the most, 21% of Brazilian women chose their breasts. Judging by the number of plastic surgeries performed it seems that this is the body part they are most worried about. Contrary to American women, however, Brazilian women are more likely to reduce their breasts instead of enlarging them when they look for a plastic surgeon. Only two in ten breast operations are enlargements. Curiously, even though the buttocks are the part most valued by the Brazilian man in a woman (due to the American influence, breasts are rising fast in popularity) only 8% of women consider this their most valued body part, after legs (17%), face (14%), and "all parts" (9%). But which are the parts women like the least in themselves? The belly was chosen by 27%, followed by legs (12%), breasts (11%), none (11%), and feet (8%).