Youth, gender and sexual practices in Brazil

Abstract

Based on a survey developed in three Brazilian state capitals, this paper presents data and interpretations about the sexual practices and management of sexual desire among male and female youth. The findings indicate a close connection between gender and sexuality in modeling individuals' sexual trajectories and subjectivities. There is a higher acceptance of practices formerly considered to be deviant, revealing that sexual morality among youth has acquired a more modern configuration. This paper argues that there is a differentiated modernization of sexual values: gender disparities were detected in the answers of respondents in all social environments. The increasing flexibility of individual trajectories does not necessarily lead to gender equality. The affirmation that the individualizing process coexists with the persistence of traditional gender ideology entails the recognition that men and women's, and different generations' and social segments' modernization paths do not evolve in the same way.