The evolution of Brazilian beauty standards.

The New York Times had a piece on Sunday about a growing epidemic among girls and women in Brazil: anorexia. Two girls have died from it within the last two weeks.
While Brazil historically hasn’t been a country that falls victim to the Western social beauty standard of “the skinnier, the better,â€? it looks like things are changing. And rapidly.
The particularly interesting part I found in this article is historian Mary del Priore’s contention that Brazilian women’s recent struggle with “globalized� social beauty standards is partly due to their subversion of Brazilian machismo.

“This abrupt shift is a feminine decision that reflects changing roles. . . Men are still resisting and clearly prefer the rounder, fleshier type. But women want to be free and powerful, and one way to reject submission is to adopt these international standards that have nothing to do with Brazilian society.�

So Brazilian women are swapping one patriarchal culture for another? This is way too depressing to believe. Thoughts?

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