Tenham Piedade dos Homens!: Masculinidades em Mudanfa, by Marko Monteiro. Juiz de Fora, Brazil: Edi\(Oes Feme, 2000. 94 pp.
When the soft-core porn magazine Ete Eta first appeared in 1969, it was marketed as a progressive. general interest pUblication about sex, culture, and human interactions. Two years later, it had already become the most circulated magazine in Brazil (p. 49). In Tenham Piedade dos Homens!. Marko Monteiro explores the changing ways masculinity was represented in the pages of Ete Eta during the years of 1969 through 1972 to propose an understanding of the "new" man in Brazil.
I believe that, based on materials from this time frame, a discussion about masculinity can be conceptualized in relation to some [social and historical] perti~ nent events which came about with the appearance of an "other" in traditional gender relations ... starting in the 60s, with the growing visibility and legitimation of discourses challenging machismo, the masculine lost its privileged position as universal subject of discourse. (P. 50)
According to Monteiro, during the 1960s and 1970s, with the worldwide proliferation of emancipation and counterculture movements, there was a major break with the traditional representations of the masculine in Brazil. Influenced by U.S. feminist, gay power, and other social movements of the 1960s, men-who before had always been the unmarked. universal subject of discourse-in a short period, became the object ofcritique and discourse. By establishing a connection between the works ofpoststructuralist and feminist thinkers, such as Michel Foucault, Joan Scott. Sonia Alvarez, Eni Orlandi, and others, Monteiro argues that the challenges raised by feminists and gays caused a displacement in the representation of the masculine and shaped a new discourse about men and masculinity. Masculinity could no longer be thought ofas an essential. biologically, orotherwise inherent characteristic of a sexed being; rather, it had to be reconceived as a complex relationship between social and historical practices and their discursive representations.
One of the strong points ofthis book is the author's attempt to link globat theoretical discourses about masculinity to specific local, social-historical practices. This way, he is able to postulate a critique of Ele Ela's politics of representation that in spite ofits "controversial" contents. leave colonialism, compulsory heterosexuality, and gender inequities unchallenged.
Men and Masculinities, Vol. 3 No.3. January 2001 332-337 © 2001 Sage Publications, Inc.
332 BOOK REVIEWS
Several articles would discuss marriage crises, the end ofthe family, the sexual Revolution, women's liberation and drugs. Influenced by the debates in the U.S., Europe and in Australia, the Magazine [Ele Elo) attempted to address the changes in moral values. However, there was a strong detachment to the Brazilian context. (P. 53)
In his analysis ofan article about marriage, for example, Monteiro (1969) exposes how, in spite ofan apparent progressive line, Ete Ela magazine leans toward traditional views and actually reinscribes conservative values. In this case, even though the article raises the question that marriage should not be a prison for women, its conclusion-that men should also be faithful-does not alter or challenge women's necessarily faithful and submissive position in marriage.
Although Monteiro does not fully elaborate a critique of the lack of politics and the co-optation character of the increasing number of "progressive" men's groups/movements, he raises questions regarding the so-called masculine crises and the legitimacy ofits "liberating powers," as far as social change is concerned.
Although there were changes in traditional masculinity, what did not happen, as the counter movements had expected, was an end to patriarchy; i.e., there was no change in male domination over the "not males" (women and children) and the "less males" (gays, effeminate men, bisexuals and all sorts of transgressive masculinities). What actually happened was a rearticulation of a machista discourse on new foundations.... Universal subjectivity gave way to a plurality of identities and discursive possibilities regarding gender. This is in itself a significant change; however, some identities still remained more legitimate and superior to others. (P. 15)
With all its strengths, Tenham Piedade dos Homens! is weighed down by a few problems. The book is divided into two main parts-(l) "Discourse as Social Practice: From Genealogy to Feminism" and (2) "Gender Reconfiguration in the Pages ofEle Elan-and a short, perhaps a little underdeveloped, three-page conclusion. Going through part 1, I often was frustrated by lengthy explanations of"canonical theory." I also found that often, Monteiro oversimplifies complex and distinct groups and theoretical positions. For example, throughout the book, he refers to the U.S. feminist movement as a monolithic and unified school of thought:
This book focus[es] on a specific historical moment when certain changes in masculinities, which are now widely discussed, were first articulated; i.e., the moment when the concept ofman in the traditional concept was challenged by two important movements ... the feminist movement and