When one looks at these images from various Brazilian carnivals, it's no wonder that many foreigners, including myself, associate Brazilian beauty with images of "exotic" mocha-skinned women:
https://www.google.com/search?q=brazili … mp;dpr=1.1
But according to my fiance, who has lived in Brazil for 30 years, many Brazilians prize light hair, fair skin, and light eyes...and they take pride not in their mocha-skinned beauties but in the more "exotic" European features of the women from southern Brazil. He made it sound as if having a pretty blonde girlfriend on your arm is a status symbol. Is this true?
I find this fascinating because as an American, I've always thought Brazil was celebrated for its interesting ethnic mix of white, black, and native Indian (even though there aren't many Indians left). In fact, here in the US, the images from carnival are what dominate our ideas of Brazilian women. But my fiance told me that when his Brazilian co-workers get back from a trip to Manaus, they comment on how the Brazilian women there are so ugly ("nice bodies but ugly faces"). Also, Brazilians like to say, "We produce so many supermodels because when Italians and Germans started mixing and having offspring, they created some of the most beautiful women in the world." Why is there nothing about Africans or native Indians in this statement? For a country that is also celebrated for being racially tolerant (at least compared to the US and some of its South American neighbors), and is as diversified and ethnically interesting as Brazil, how do its people hold such narrow-minded perceptions of beauty?
Of course, I'm generalizing here...I know not every Brazilian prefers light hair and fair skin, but what my fiance said got me thinking. Is it due to social conditioning? Are Brazilians socially conditioned to be more attracted to "white" features...much like the rest of the world?
But then why the fascination with tanning and full, round bottoms? Dark skin and big butts are not necessarily European features - in fact, I'll dare say (hopefully without sounding racist) that these are African features. Here in the US, it's mostly black American culture that obsesses over big butts - the bigger, the better. (Baby got back!) Yet Brazilians are obsessed with tans and big butts, no? I don't get it.
The situation in Brazil reminds me of the time I traveled around Thailand...but in reverse. I met many expats there who had taken up with Thai women - women, who for the most part, were from the native hill tribes of Southeast Asia and were darker skinned than their other Thai counterparts (Thai women can be very fair or very dark and their features also range from "white and almost European" to very "native hill tribe" features). Over a few beers, these expats (I spoke to mostly Brits but also a few from other parts of Europe) would complain about the pale and unattractive women back home and how they thought their darker "exotic" Thai girlfriends/wives were the most beautiful women in the world. Again, social conditioning? Are people attracted to what they think is exotic?