Foreigners Get Rio Carnival ‘All Wrong’

The very idea that American soldiers on leave from Iraq would see Rio’s carnival as a sex party has Brazilians outraged.

Stuff.co.nz:
A report in The Guardian newspaper that American soldiers are looking to Rio de Janeiro for rest and recreation - especially sex tourism - prompted many Brazilians to say that the foreigners have it all wrong.

Despite all the jiggling, sweating flesh on display at the weekend as crowds of dancers pressed together in the first full day of carnival celebrations, Brazilians say the spectacle is not all about sex. They see it as a celebration of the body, closer in spirit to the Olympics than to a strip bar.

Though American soldiers could hardly be seen in the crowds, Brazilians complain about those who go mainly for sex tourism, and opportunities seemed to abound along Copacabana beach.

‘If they came here from Iraq, they wouldn’t go back!’ said Brian Simon, 43, a former Marine who was surrounded by barely dressed women as he drank at an outdoor bar.

Brazilians say nakedness at carnival is about sensuality. Yes, sexual imagery abounds in the samba schools, and thousands of revellers dance skin-to-skin on the sidelines. But nudity carries a different connotation in Brazil than in many other countries.

‘Here, nakedness doesn’t only lead to sexuality, it leads you to aesthetic appreciation. A woman is dancing but it’s not pornographic. It’s a collective experience of reconsidering bodies, like at the Olympic games,’ said Roberto Da Matta, a retired sociology professor and author of Carnivals, Rogues and Heroes.

The annual Samba parade is the high point of the festival. This year, it features 13 samba groups, each producing 80-minute-long spectacles costing upward of US$1 million (NZ$1.5 million). Total nudity is prohibited and a less-than-perfect score from the exacting panel of judges can doom a group’s chances.

Most Brazilians do not duck the issue of sex. The government distributes millions of free condoms at carnival time and talks frankly about sexually transmitted diseases. Experts credit the Brazilians’ openness about their bodies and sex for helping to contain the Aids epidemic in South America’s largest country.

‘I’m entirely comfortable dressed like this,’ said this year’s Carnival Queen, Jacqueline Faria, 23, wearing little more than a rhinestone-encrusted bra and a sequin-spotted see- through skirt revealing a G-string.

‘This is Rio de Janeiro, it’s all about the beach and sun. We don’t wear many clothes here at anytime during the year,’ she said. ‘But Rio de Janeiro isn’t just about bum bum. It has lots of other culture.’