Freedom and Sexual Slavery in Brazil: Women Maneuvering through Social Constraints

Leticia Marie Sanchez

In our course we viewed many films which showed characters attempting to free themselves from the socio-political contexts which imprisoned them, whether it be a literal prison as in Carandiru or the symbolic prison of political repression in Kamchatka. Sexual slavery is another form of prison. Two films, Me, you and Them, and Desmundo can be viewed through this paradigm. In each of these films, economic deprivation forces the women to offer their bodies to men in order to survive. Finally, these films can be viewed within the larger context of the historic epidemic of sexual slavery in Brazil, a problem which continues to plague the nation today.

I. Me, You, and Them

Me, You, and Them is based on the true story of a Brazilian peasant woman in Quixêlo who lived in an adobe hut with three husbands and her brood of children. The fictional protagonist, Darlene (Regina Case) has three husbands who represent three distinct roles. The cantankerous Osias (Lima Duarte) is the property owner, the house is in his name and he provides Darlene with a roof over her head. Zezinho (Stenio Garcia) provides her with love, nurturing, and domestic support. Finally, Ciro (Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos), the third and youngest husband symbolizes sexual passion.

At first glance it seems like Darlene has the best of all worlds and the power dynamic is initially ambiguous. Is Darlene a cunning manipulator? Or is she a helpless pawn struggling to survive? The scene in which Osias and Zezinho are getting their feet dirty in the mud building a room for her new husband Ciro, is comical in that it seems like they have been played for fools, hapless victims of Darlene’s ambitious schemes.

Yet, Darlene cannot really leave the house, she is in fact a prisoner within the walls and the only way that she can engage in a romantic relationship with a partner her age, Ciro, is to have him join her in the "prison walls". Secondly, in the film, Darlene’s body is a commodity, something she trades for a favor. For instance, when she needs the extra room built, she engages in a quick coupling with Zezinho. The act is practical, not tender, and she is, in effect selling her body. In this sense Darlene is like a sex slave, and her economic deprivation, unfortunately forces her to "sell her body" for favors among the "husbands."

Darlene’s plight stems from economic deprivation

The second element of Darlene’s slavery has to do with her physical labor. Even when pregnant she tends to the sugar cane fields as a hired hand, while her lazy, comfortable, and grumpy "master" Osias, barks orders from his chair. Osias tinkers around with his radio all day long while the exhausted Darlene comes home from doing labor outside to cook for him and tend towards his needs. It was only a matter of time before she offered her body to Zezinho so that he could lessen the load of her labor.

Child-bearing is a means to an end, a means to curry favor with her various husbands. In the film she refers to pregnancy as a "punishment", and it is obvious that the children, like her body, have a market-based effect of "added value" to her worth.

The fact that Osias goes to town and registers the children in his name demonstrates his legal power and dominance over her: in the state’s eyes, she has no claim to them. They are his property, just as she is.

II. Desmundo

In Desmundo, Oribela, a young religious orphan from Portugal is literally "sold" to Don Francisco de Albuquerque, a rough, older pioneer in Brazil. The first day after she is sold to him, Oribela screams and fends off Don Francisco from raping her, begging him to give her time to get to know him. Like Darlene, Oribela represents property, and the auction in which Don Francisco purchases her links her to his other objects, horses, Indians, and fine furniture. Because of her refinement, acquiring Oribela represents a subtle status for him, yet her obviously nobler lineage does not prevent Don Francisco from treating her like his sexual slave.

When the desperate Oribela runs away the first time, Don Francisco traps her like a hunted animal, lashes and beats her, and then chains her outside the house like a dog, without food or water.

[See Still below from Desmundo]

Oribela chained like an animal outside

The tortured Oribela realizes that the only way for her to be let inside the house and be treated like a "human being" is to show Don Francisco her genitalia and beg for his forgiveness. Closing her eyes, she submits to his sexual aggression, and is let inside the house once again.

But Don Francisco continues to treat Oribela savagely, like his property. When Ximeno Dias comes to their house displaying his wares, Don Francisco orders Oribela to choose something. She chooses a pair of scissors, and when reaching for them, her hand slightly touches that of Ximeno. For this "transgression" Don Francisco whips and lashes Oribela without mercy.

Like Darlene who turns to a second man for help, Oribela turns to Ximeno Diaz to help her escape her plight. At first he is cold and resistant to her cries for help, unwilling to incur the wrath of Don Francisco. While hiding in his tower, Oribela makes love to Ximeno Diaz, and he soon changes his mind about helping her.

The scene between Oribela and Ximeno differs in that it is not a "rape" scene in the way that Don Francisco cruelly forces himself upon her. Many might view this moment in the film as a "love scene". And yet, understood within the larger context of sexual slavery in Brazil, Oribela’s act can also be viewed as the act of a desperate, vulnerable, intimidated and voiceless woman, whose only means to melt the heart of Ximeno is by engaging in a sexual act with him. Oribela’s relationship with Ximeno is similar to Darlene’s relationship with Zezinho. Both sexual partners are viewed as recourses to survive by two powerless women.

Unfortunately, Oribela’s second attempt to escape with the help of Ximeno results in Ximeno’s death and Oribela’s return to the hated Don Francesco’s household. The last scene shows her mute and emotionless, being carried like a piece of property by Don Francesco’s slaves.

Oribela and Darlene are similar in that they both lack the economic resources to survive and are entirely vulnerable to the whims and the world of the men around them. Oribela at first feistily resists her odious husband, but, like Darlene, is forced to work within the system, offering her body against her own will.

III. Sexual Slavery in Brazil: Child and Adolescent Prostitutes

Sexual Slavery is not simply relegated to film or to the historical past presented in Desmundo. It is a very current and contemporary problem. In her expose in the Associated Press, Edith M. Lederer Reports that in there are approximately 500,000 child and adolescent prostitutes. Furthermore, according to the same A.P. report, Brazil is a major destination for tourists seeking sex, specifically German and Dutch men according to Thais Corral of Brazil's Network in Defense of the Human Species.

The market for female bodies in Brazil is linked to several root causes including: rapid urban growth, migration to cities, family disintegration, and male machismo.

IV. The auctioning of "virgin" Slaves

In Desmundo, the sheltered Portuguese girls from the convents, (girls so modest that they would bathe fully clothed) caused quite a stir among the rough and tumble pioneers. The film implied that their chastity increased their market value among their future husbands.

The auctioning of virgins is not so far from the truth of today’s Brazil. In fact, according to UNICEF reports, the practice is as common today as it was in the time of Osibela and Don Francisco. Edith Lederer reveals the widespread preminence of this today. "Virgins command the highest price at clandestine auctions in Brazil," reports Lederer. In the A.P report, Thais Corral stated "The question of virginity is still valued very strongly in our society," articulating that informal bidding for virgins still goes on in Brazil. "A man who has sex with a virgin will prolong his own virility and his own life -- so the market for virgins has increased." according to Janet Nelson of UNICEF.

V. The U.N Convention against Transnational Organised Crime

In December of 2000 the United Nations held the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime in Palermo, Italy. According to the U.N. 'trafficking in persons' is the third most profitable activity for organised crime - only illicit arms dealing and drug trafficking are more lucrative than the sale of human flesh.

Which country holds the record for the largest exporter of women slaves? Unfortunately, the United Nations records point to Brazil. The UN and Helsinki International Federation of Human Rights cite a figure as high as 75,000 of Brazilian women being forced to work as prostitutes within E.U. Nations.

According to a BBC report, the majority of these women come from the states of Goiбs, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. If the woman attempts to tell anyone about what she is forced to do, she will most likely be killed.

VI. Rio’s Fight Against Sexual Tourism during Carnival

According to Andrew Khalip of Reuters, this year city prosecutors in Rio De Janeiro are fighting against sexual exploitation and the use of minors in the sex trade.

The movement is two-fold. It involves a police crack-down on pimps and brothels as well as a media and public relations campaign, coincideing with Rio's world-famous Carnival jamboree that kicks off on Feb 20.

"Sex tourism is no good for the city," Ana Lucia Melo, prosecutor in a special unit combating the sex trade and child prostitution, told Khalip in the Reuters article. In order to promote public awareness, youth wore T-shirts saying "Sexual exploitation is a crime" will distribute pamphlets to tourists across the city explaining that having sex with a person under 14 could land them in jail for up to 10 years.

The nuance of the laws in Brazil is somewhat complex. It is not illegal in Brazil to offer sexual services or to use them. However, exploiting other people or running a brothel is an offense with jail terms of one to five years.

The prosecutor Melo said that police will regularly raid areas in the city center, along Copacabana beach and in the Barra de Tijuca neighborhood that are known to have prostitution rings. Melo warned "This operation does not end with Carnival. It will go on with the aim of reducing prostitution and punishing those who cash in on the miserable situations that make many women sell their bodies," she said.

According to the Reuters article, a special U.N. envoy said in November the problem of child prostitution and sexual exploitation in Brazil was linked only to poverty, but also to tourism.

Approximately 85% were victims of commercial sexual exploitation and ranged from 12 to 17 years of age. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)

* In the northern Amazonian region, sexual exploitation of children centres around brothels that cater to mining settlements. In the large urban centres, children, principally girls, who leave home because of abuse or sexual exploitation often prostitute themselves on the streets in order to survive. In the cities along the northeast coast, sex tourism exploiting children is prevalent, and involves a network of travel agents, hotel workers, taxi drivers, and others who actively recruit children, and even traffic them outside the country. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

* Child prostitution is a significant problem throughout the country, but is severe in major coastal tourist cities. (US Dept of Labor, Sweat and Toil of Children: Efforts to Eliminate Child Labour, 1998)

* In Amazonia, the type of forced child prostitution meets every criteria of slavery. (US Dept of Labor, Prostitution of Children, 1996)

* A 1998 report notes a significant increase in prostitution among children under 14, and it was identified that the situation was worse in 30 municipalities. (ECPAT International)

* In 1998, the economic and environmental crises has led children into prostitution for their families' survival. (CATW Fact Book, citing Phil Stewart, "Brazil drought spurs child prostitution", Reuters, 23 June 1998)

* A recent survey identified 65 localities of prostitution in six cities in the Pantannal region. Many of the prostitutes are young girls. (CATW Fact Book, citing "Child prostitutes used in 'sex tourism' in Pantannal", SEJUP, 17 September, 1997, citing a survey by the Ministry of Justice)

* The grave problems of child prostitution were matters of deep concern for the Committee. (UN Human Rights Committee, Comments on Brazil, 1996)

* In Brazil, the trafficking of girl prostitutes is a well-organised business. (Jose Steinsleger, En el reino de Herodes, 1996)

* Brazil has one of the worst child prostitution problems in the world, and is a favoured destination for pedophile sex tourists from Europe and the US. The poverty experienced by more than 40 million needy or abandoned children and adolescents increases the number of sexually exploited children every day. (ECPAT International)

Fact sheet from ILO - Bureau of Statistics