1. Sexuality in the Context of Local Culture
1.1. Goldstein: "there are a number of disturbing elements that structure everyday sexuality in places like Felicidade Eterna". (237)
1.1.1. Difficult to confront these elements.
1.2. The "carnivalization of desire": A masculinist vision of desire and transgression. (237)
1.3. Sexuality is central in "Brazilianness".
1.4. Film O Amor Natural by Heddy Honigmann, captures the permissive and celebratory sexuality of Rio. (239)
1.4.1. Cariocas possess an open, permissive approach to sexuality.
1.4.1.1. Have a sex positive outlook on life, and even elders speak of sex.
1.5. Sexual teasing and banter are common in Felicidade.
1.6. Sacanagem: "linking notions of aggression and hostility, play and amusement, sexual excitement and erotic practice in a single symbolic practice". (246)
1.6.1. Can be good or bad, describe acts of pleasure or acts of pain.
2. The Carnivalization of Desire
2.1. Sexual permissiveness and sex-positiveness are social facts of social relations in Rio.
2.2. Sense of body liberation.
2.3. public flirtation an elaborate and beloved game.
2.4. Women of all classes enjoy being looked at, complimented, and considered sexually desirable.
2.5. Brazilian sexuality written about by many anthropologists: Issues such as masculine prostitution and homosexual identity formation extend the literature in important ways. (233)
2.6. Richard Parker: "sexuality in Brazil has a liberatory quality that encourages various forms of transgressive play". (233)
2.6.1. Transgression seems patterned by traditional gender relations, with men being expected to as as transgressors and women playing the role of boundary-setters. (233)
3. Normative Masculinization and Heterosexuality
3.1. Class specific regimes of sexuality
3.1.1. Working class: despite not having material wealth, they have "good sex".
3.1.1.1. Boys are encouraged to become active seducers
3.1.1.1.1. Some boys can be sent to prostitution zones if they are not considered capable of being adequate "seducers".
3.1.1.2. Considered unhealthy for men to go without sex for too long.
3.1.1.3. Gloria double standard: She wanted her male children to have sex, but on the other hand she did not want her female children to have sex.
3.1.1.3.1. Females having sex = possible pregnancy and another mouth to feed.
4. Whats so Funny about Rape?
4.1. Marilia and Celso, Gloria's neighbors
4.1.1. Marilia tried to poison Celso, and seemed to think nothing of it, even going so far as to tell him she did it.
4.1.1.1. Marilia had a rough childhood, moving from family to family after her mothers death, suffering abuses along the way.
4.1.1.2. Marilia felt her husband was abusive and unfaithful, reason for her attempt on his life.
4.1.1.2.1. She decided she was not going to put up with his abuse anymore, she had enough and was going to put an end to it.
4.2. Gloria's home was invaded by two men, and her daughters were raped.
4.2.1. Rape can provoke a gang to murder, and can also make husbands, fathers, and brothers protect the bodies of their wives, daughters and sisters. (264)
4.2.1.1. The mens honor and reputations are tied to the females
4.2.2. This story, and its "laughter out of place" humor, provided a way for sexuality, violence, and female victimization to be dealt with through humor. (265)
4.2.2.1. Revolved around the expectations women have for the men in their lives.
4.2.2.2. These stories, according to Goldstein, "aside from their humorous twists and turns, also revealed a great deal of suffering that otherwise would have remained silenced". (265)
4.2.2.3. An example of this black humor occurs when Soneca teased Anita how cowardly she was the night of the rape, and also making jokes about the Claudia screaming that night when she lost her virginity to the rapists
4.2.2.3.1. Gloria felt most badly about Claudia since she lost her virginity that night as well.
5. Battling Mothers and Daughters
5.1. Anita's coming of age in Gloria's often harsh disciplinary regime. (267)
5.2. Gloria and Anita had contrasting views about the night of the rape, and they had a competition and many conflicts.
5.2.1. There was a disagreement about what age is appropriate for a girl to be sexually active.
5.2.2. Anita ended up pregnant after the rape, by her boyfriend Gabriel, but Gloria felt it was a result of the rape and tried many methods to abort.
5.2.2.1. Eventually Anita and Gabriel settled down together and had a child, Gabrielle.
5.2.2.1.1. Gloria wanted her daughters to demand more economic support from their male partners.
5.2.3. Anita feared her mother and her regime and threats more than the rapists.
6. Black Humor
6.1. Distrust of police forces the women to pursue humorous avenues to express themselves rather than legal ones.
6.1.1. Lower class impoverished women are hindered from legal action through the police due to "a combination of anachronistic legal codes regarding class/race, gender, and sexuality". (270)
6.1.1.1. Lower class women must pretend to have the same values and beliefs about sexuality as the middle class in the legal setting.
6.1.1.2. These women, with no recourse in the courts, turn to the protection of a possibly abusive male.
6.1.1.3. The legal system is currently incapable of addressing the grievances of women in the dominated classes.
6.2. Humors place is always circumscribed by relations of class, gender, race, and sexuality.
6.3. Black humor has inherent bad taste to it.
6.3.1. There are few options beyond "absurdist laughter" for the dominated classes.