1. Color-blind Erotic Democracies
1.1. Link between color and class; women who are dark skinned assumed to be poor, light skinned are rich.
1.1.1. Easier for those in US/North America to talk about race and it's relation to the classes and economic status. This is not so in Brazil.
1.1.1.1. Poverty in North America is assumed to be race based as opposed to class based, but this is actually not the case.
1.1.2. Attractiveness of a female depends on her skin color.
1.1.2.1. Brazil is "different," though, because they aren't racist (so they say), they are sexually color-blind.
1.1.2.1.1. Stereotype of black and mixed-race women being overly sexual; led to sexual assault during slavery days.
1.1.3. In America, there is only "black and white," in Brazil, they have a plethora of "racial identities."
1.1.4. "Black Cinderella": Governor's daughter, who is black, is assaulted on an elevator when she holds it up. Called "Cinderella" because her assailants may have believed they were "throwing the impostor out of the ball" and that in order to be black AND the governor's daughter, you would have to be a fairy tale character.
1.1.4.1. Black women "dream" of being this, of seducing white rich men so that they can "move up."
2. The Aesthetics of Domination
2.1. Class differences: Gloria's children are more worried about finding well-paying working class jobs than they are finishing school, whereas Dona Beth's daughter is in school and is only worried about her lack of independence from her mother.
2.1.1. 1990-1991: Gloria's life revolves around the care of her many children; works 14 hours days in several different locations,1-2 of which are spent travelling on buses.
2.1.2. 1994: Has a job as an exclusive domestic worker of Dona Beth and gets paid 4 times more than most in her position.
2.1.2.1. Domestic work considered the bottom of the scale so several women choose to be day laborers instead even though they do not receive more pay.
2.1.2.1.1. Many women turn to prostitution to keep their families afloat as it makes more money than domestic work.
2.1.3. Lower-class Brazilians have a different way of speaking than the middle and upper class. This is how the class differences are determined.
2.1.4. Public and private school systems are caste far more than those in the US and France.
2.2. Poverty in Rio de Janeiro: Rio has the most unequal division of income than any other area in Brazil. People of all ages beg for money and food outside of upscale restaurants and shopping areas.
2.2.1. Results in:
2.2.1.1. Feminization of the workforce.
2.2.1.2. Child labor.
2.2.2. Many families are forced into slavery; slavery eventually morphs into voluntary servitude after slavery is abolished.
2.2.2.1. Times have changed: employers and workers can now eat the same kinds and amounts of food as one another. This was not so during the days of slavery.
2.2.3. Regardless of skin color, a domestic worker is always associated with "the dirty work" that needs to be completely around a household (cleaning, washing, etc).
2.2.3.1. Relationships of servitude stem from Brazil's period of slavery.
2.2.3.1.1. Even after slavery's abolition, domestic workers were still expected to do things they'd done in slavery: providing sexual services to the men, being milk maids to the younger children, etc.
2.2.4. The poor are pushed to the outskirts of town, reinforcing the idea that they should remain out of sight to the upper and middle class unless they are performing duties for them.
2.2.4.1. Lower class is better off working for richer classes because it makes them "seem younger," whereas if they go off and marry someone within their class level, they are worse off than they were before.
2.2.4.1.1. Poor lack upper class knowledge.
2.3. Private and public spaces:
2.3.1. Certain spaces created in order to separate the classes from one another: the social area, the intimate area and the service area.
2.3.2. Gloria expects direct compensation for her hard work rather than the round about way through helping her daughter financially.