General Concepts of Sexuality and Love in Brazil

The development of the communication media, especially television, has greatly influenced the concept of love and sexual behavior of the population. Every day, viewers of soap operas may witness episodes in which the sexual behavior of the protagonists is very permissive. This has definitely transformed Brazilian sexual relations in two ways. Such programs decrease sexual taboos and endorse sexual permissiveness especially in the areas of the sexually uncommon and "deviant" sexual behaviors.
Overall the sexual attitudes of Brazilians depend on gender, age, region of residence, and religious influences. The rural population and the migrant rural workers living in large cities suffer profound influences from Catholicism’s religious teachings and ceremonies. This group is also characterized by a low level of education and culture. In this group, premarital and extramarital sexual contact is condemned. The Catholic Church approves only the natural means of family planning and condemns abortion. Ignoring Church doctrine, many in this group favor the contraceptive hormonal pill and surgical sterilization; the incidence of condom use is much lower. The Evangelical churches accept the use of the contraceptive pill as well as other methods, but are also vehemently opposed to abortion. Claims that the IUD is an abortifacient rather than a contraceptive method have caused its usage to be proscribed by Evangelicals. However, some government programs support use of the IUD in women of low income with numerous children.
Among Brazilians with a higher level of education, especially in the large cities, various forms of petting are acceptable as well as premarital sex and extramarital sex, the latter being less frequent than the former. A variety of contraceptives are accepted as normal, with a preference for the contraceptive pill, surgical sterilization, condom, and abortion, in that order. Brazil is the world champion of Caesarean births, 35 percent of all births. The majority of Caesarean section deliveries are accompanied by sterilization of the woman through tubal ligation.
In comparing attitudes toward sexuality and love among Brazilians of different socioeconomic levels and different regions of the country, it seems to us that two different societies exist. One culture maintains the traditional attitudes of the Third World; the other culture has been influenced by the modernization trends commonly seen around the world and has gradually adopted more permissive attitudes.
[Popular women’s magazines have the purpose of transmitting the cultural norms, such as monogamy, similar to those in the U.S. and other countries. The August 1994 Portuguese edition of Cosmopolitan, called Nova, for example, highlights such issues for women as "A guide to self-confidence," "Attracting the right man," and "Monogamy: Is it possible to keep the fires hot?" (RJN/SA)]