Brazilian Beauty

Brazilian Beauty
Reporter Ilana Rehavia’s audio presentation describing, for the BBC, Brazilian beauty and what it means to her was fascinating. She interviewed the girl sitting next to her on the plane to Rio who was formerly an anorexic, little girls at the school she used to attend, a lady and her child in ‘poor’ north east Brazil, her sister in Rio, her mother, her grandma, editors, and doctors. She claims that there is a certain mentality about Brazilian women. A certain deeper insecurity about their weight and outward appearance that is more severe than in the rest of the world.
The Editor of Boa Forma magazine, Cecelia Hayes, “97% of Brazilian women associate beauty with happiness”. The doctor that she interviewed commented on his discovery of the growing level in eroticism in relation to younger and younger children. Therefore, there is a need for woman to maintain that little girl shape. In addition he comments on how pop music exposes very young children to worries about sexuality, and physical appearance.
Ilana goes to her old school in Sao Paulo. She remembers how unattractive and fat she felt. There she interviews 11 and 12 year old girls. They tell her it is important to be thin and that that is what the boys like. The boys don’t tell them that that’s what they like, but they know it.
She goes on to report that the issues start at home. This is the first generation of girls whose mothers actually take care of themselves and consequently the daughters have a heightened sense of awareness about their own bodies. This in combination with a vane culture makes it difficult to find happiness within one’s self. This is, after all, a culture where most girls come out of the maturity ward with their ears pierced. Other than their Mom’s there are plenty of other role models. In the Sao Paulo region there are countless billboards portraying half naked models in lingerie or bikinis.
One of these role models is Anna Rikman whom is blonde with blue eyes and long legs. None of which characteristics are the Brazilian’s famous for. She wants us to understand what its like growing up close to Rio, the fit capital of the world.
I love this article and that’s why I went into such in-depth summarization. The way she described growing up in Brazil was how I felt while I was there. You notice and remember every thing that you eat. Then feel guilty about it. Heat makes you wear less clothing and the combination of exposed skin and people makes people irrationally self-conscious. She didn’t even touch upon the approving hoots and hollers that you get from men when you walk down the street. They’ll call you fat too.