How the Brazilian butt became a cultural icon

Carnival celebrations in Brazil make headlines every year, normally accompanied by photos of samba school muses wearing little more than gems and feathers. But according to anthropologist Mirian Goldenberg, a professor at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, this superficial coverage reinforces stereotypes about Brazilian women both inside and outside of the country.

“Foreigners have an image of Brazilian women that is very much related to Carnival,” she told The Brazilian Report. “But the bodies on display during Carnival are really bodies that are very sculpted, perfect, curvaceous. The image that foreigners see of Brazilians is a very exposed body, almost nude, principally at Carnival.”

Goldenberg’s work, which began in 2000, originally looked at marriage, infidelity and sexuality. However, her findings led her to eventually turn toward cultural attitudes to women’s bodies in Brazil. Men in her initial study said that women’s bottoms were the most important factor in sexual attraction, and women also rated it among their most important physical features.

Brazil’s butt obsession goes back well beyond Goldenberg’s research. Brazil first gained international notoriety back in 1954 with the Miss Universe beauty pageant. Martha Rocha (photo), the reigning Miss Brazil at the time, lost the Miss Universes title for having hips two inches larger than the contest permitted.

But within Brazil, the fixation with the perfect derriere goes much further back into the country’s history. Gilberto Freyre, the late Brazilian anthropologist credited as one of the few able to explain some of Brazil’s complicated cultural nuances, suggested that Brazilian ideas around perfect backsides go...