Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 October 2022
The last half-dozen years have witnessed an outpouring of Brazilian publications, both rigorous academic studies and popular essays, on women and their roles and activities within Brazilian society. Since the late 1970s, publishers and educated audiences have demonstrated an active interest in works on women that contrasts sharply with the hostile reception accorded Betty Friedan and the Brazilian translation of her Feminine Mystique in 1971. What was once a subject for ridicule has become a timely topic. In 1980 a compendium of the year's nonfiction titles revealed more books listed under the heading of feminism than under biology or botany, and almost as many as under anthropology or cooking.1 The expanding publications on socially determined sex roles have accompanied the development of a small, but active, feminist movement and a general increase in publishing activities in Brazil as the “redemocratization” process gains strength and readers seek more information on previously forbidden topics.
A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities made possible the research leading to this research note. The author is indebted to Leni M. Silverstein of the New School for Social Research and the Instituto Superior de Estudos de Religião and to Joan Dassin of the Social Science Research Council for their helpful comments on a draft of the manuscript. Thanks are also due to the many women in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Campinas who took valuable time to share information and provide suggestions.