1. Chapter 6 - Partial Truths, or the Carnivalization of Desire
1.1. Goldstein talks about the challenge of her project brought by how easy it is to distort information when doing research on poverty and sexuality.
1.2. Machismo
1.2.1. "The carnivalization of desire is largely, although not entirely, a masculinist vision of desire and transgression. As a result, counterdiscourses to this particular vision are difficult to develop"
1.2.2. "Among working-class Cariocas, it is considered unhealthy for men to go too long without sex: it can provoke insanity."
1.2.3. "Glória believes that men "naturally" must have access to sex. Men are like animals, and it is natural for them to fulfill what she considers a basic need. On the other hand, she would like her daughters to remain virgins for as long as possible, if only because their enforced virginity guarantees that they do not become pregnant and bring another mouth to feed into her house."
1.2.3.1. "This double standard is consistent with a broader set of ideas about how male and female sexuality naturally operates."
1.2.4. Men sometimes take advantage of women, especially if they are in need of something.
1.2.4.1. Children are sometimes abused by step-fathers, uncles, etc..
1.2.5. "It is hard for women to protest male infidelity or to govern transgressive male sexuality because it is considered "normal".
1.3. Sexuality
1.3.1. Sexuality is a central part of Brazilian culture and social life.
1.3.2. "Sexual teasing and banter are common in Felicidade Eterna."
1.3.3. Cariocas are very open about their sexuality, even elders publicly express interest in sex.
1.3.4. Richard Parker suggests that sexuality in Brazil has a liberatory quality, one that "encourages various forms of transgressive play".
1.3.5. James Green suggests that "subcultures of effeminate and noneffeminate men with homoerotic desires existed prior to the introduction of Western European medicolegal ideas."
1.4. Sacanagem
1.4.1. Parker describes sacanagem as linking “notions of aggression and hostility, play and amusement, sexual excitement and erotic practice in a single symbolic complex.” Sacanagem can be good or bad—it can describe an act that gives pleasure as well as one that hurts or humiliates another.
1.4.1.1. "Parker points out, boys are sometimes initiated into anal eroticism with other boys through such same-sex games as fazendo meia or troca-troca. But these homoerotic games are usually initiated by older and stronger males who exert their power over younger and weaker boys, claiming masculine sexual identities for themselves in the process of violating and symbolically feminizing others."
1.4.1.1.1. "This aspect of sacanagem points to the more ambivalent and negative aspects of transgression in the context of sexuality."
1.4.2. "Sacanagem is often applied in the context of sexuality that borders on the transgressive; in the context of focus-group interviews with women, it came up in discussions about their feelings about anal sex. For some, it was fun and pleasurable. For others, it became a point of contention because men seemed to request it, whereas women usually expressed more ambivalence about it."
2. Chapter 7 - What's so Funny about Rape?
2.1. "Male economic participation is often the main issue for women in a romantic relationship, and it is hotly contested territory."
2.2. Marilia tries to kill her husband
2.2.1. Marilia tried to kill her husband Celso, by slipping rat poison in his drink, but he didn't die.
2.2.1.1. Celso was a drug-user so she figured they would just think it was a drug overdose.
2.2.1.2. Marilia wanted to kill Cleos, because he cheated on her and abused her.
2.3. The Rape story
2.3.1. Two men came into Gloria's house and raped Anita and Claudia (Gloria's daughter and niece) in Gloria's house. They were only 14 and 15 years old. Gloria and the rest of the kids were in the room next door.
2.3.1.1. Claudia was a virgin at the time.
2.3.1.2. Anita was not a virgin, but she screamed a lot during the rape, so that Gloria would not suspect that she wasn't a virgin, since Claudia was screaming a lot.
2.3.1.2.1. They think its funny that Anita was fake screaming while being raped so her mom wouldn't think she was already sexually active.
2.4. Class Differences
2.4.1. "Esteves found that lower-class women making accusations of rape in court were forced to adopt a more elite view of sexuality in order to approximate judiciary views of sexuality that were dominant in elite culture at the time. Because the local cultures of women differ according to class position, women from the lower classes, who might not place much importance on their loss of virginity, would be forced to feign an interest in their own virginity to prove their credentials as “honest” women. These young women from the lower classes had to hide their true values and beliefs about sexuality from their middle-class neighbors and bosses."
2.4.2. "although procedural democratic practices may have returned for the middle classes, nothing inherent in the transition to democracy guarantees either procedural or substantive democracy for the lower classes.
2.5. Humor
2.5.1. Humor is used as a "response to a moral and legal system that is currently incapable of addressing the grievances of women in the dominated classes."
2.5.2. Stories become understandable as funny when presented with the full context of the story.