Virtually Virgins: Sexual Strategies and Cervical Cancer in Recife, Brazil [Paperback]

Jessica Gregg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0804747563 | ISBN-13: 978-0804747561 | Publication Date: April 22, 2003 | Edition: 1

This book provides a detailed, intimate portrait of a community of women living in a shantytown (favela) in northeastern Brazil, while exploring the complex interplay between gender, sexuality, power, and disease. It reveals how poor Brasileiras are constrained by dominant cultural constructions of female sexuality as a dangerous force that must be controlled by men; yet these women also manipulate these expectations by using their sexuality as a means to secure economic support from men. The book argues that these constructions affect their interpretations of medical discourse on the prevention of cervical cancer. Since women view sex as both a force they can't control and as a necessary tool for their survival, they choose to de-emphasize medical warnings against risky sexual behavior, with grave consequences for their health. The text is threaded with poignant, humorous, sometimes graphic, and always memorable depictions of the women’s lives in the shantytowns, making this serious anthropological study a highly readable one as well.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Virtuallly Virgins is a detailed, intimate ethnography of the cancers that afflict the social environment and the social body--real and metaphoric....Because this book is written in accessible language with careful and respectful works and a sense of unapologetic caring and competence, anthropologists should read, use it in classes, and recommend it.”---American Ethnologist

From the Inside Flap

This book provides a detailed, intimate portrait of a community of women living in a shantytown (favela) in northeastern Brazil, while exploring the complex interplay between gender, sexuality, power, and disease. It reveals how poor Brasileiras are constrained by dominant cultural constructions of female sexuality as a dangerous force that must be controlled by men; yet these women also manipulate these expectations by using their sexuality as a means to secure economic support from men. The book argues that these constructions affect their interpretations of medical discourse on the prevention of cervical cancer. Since women view sex as both a force they can't control and as a necessary tool for their survival, they choose to de-emphasize medical warnings against risky sexual behavior, with grave consequences for their health. The text is threaded with poignant, humorous, sometimes graphic, and always memorable depictions of the women’s lives in the shantytowns, making this serious anthropological study a highly readable one as well.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (April 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804747563
• ISBN-13: 978-0804747561
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks, July 28, 2010

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This review is from: Virtually Virgins: Sexual Strategies and Cervical Cancer in Recife, Brazil (Paperback)

This book arrived on time and in excellent condition. It was also appropriately packaged. Thank You