Securing Sex

Morality and Repression in the Making of Cold War Brazil

Nonfiction, History, Americas, South America, Modern, 20th Century
Cover of the book Securing Sex by Benjamin A. Cowan, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Benjamin A. Cowan ISBN: 9781469627519
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: March 2, 2016
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Benjamin A. Cowan
ISBN: 9781469627519
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: March 2, 2016
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

In this history of right-wing politics in Brazil during the Cold War, Benjamin Cowan puts the spotlight on the Cold Warriors themselves. Drawing on little-tapped archival records, he shows that by midcentury, conservatives--individuals and organizations, civilian as well as military--were firmly situated in a transnational network of right-wing cultural activists. They subsequently joined the powerful hardline constituency supporting Brazil's brutal military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. There, they lent their weight to a dictatorship that, Cowan argues, operationalized a moral panic that conflated communist subversion with manifestations of modernity, coalescing around the crucial nodes of gender and sexuality, particularly in relation to youth, women, and the mass media.

The confluence of an empowered right and a security establishment suffused with rightist moralism created strongholds of anticommunism that spanned government agencies, spurred repression, and generated attempts to control and even change quotidian behavior. Tracking how limits to Cold War authoritarianism finally emerged, Cowan concludes that the record of autocracy and repression in Brazil is part of a larger story of reaction against perceived threats to traditional views of family, gender, moral standards, and sexuality--a story that continues in today's culture wars.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this history of right-wing politics in Brazil during the Cold War, Benjamin Cowan puts the spotlight on the Cold Warriors themselves. Drawing on little-tapped archival records, he shows that by midcentury, conservatives--individuals and organizations, civilian as well as military--were firmly situated in a transnational network of right-wing cultural activists. They subsequently joined the powerful hardline constituency supporting Brazil's brutal military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. There, they lent their weight to a dictatorship that, Cowan argues, operationalized a moral panic that conflated communist subversion with manifestations of modernity, coalescing around the crucial nodes of gender and sexuality, particularly in relation to youth, women, and the mass media.

The confluence of an empowered right and a security establishment suffused with rightist moralism created strongholds of anticommunism that spanned government agencies, spurred repression, and generated attempts to control and even change quotidian behavior. Tracking how limits to Cold War authoritarianism finally emerged, Cowan concludes that the record of autocracy and repression in Brazil is part of a larger story of reaction against perceived threats to traditional views of family, gender, moral standards, and sexuality--a story that continues in today's culture wars.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Human Rights Treaties and the Senate by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book These Are Our Lives by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book Highland Heritage by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book A Natural-Born Linthead by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book The Countryside in the Age of Capitalist Transformation by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book Journal of the Civil War Era by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book David to Delacroix by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book In This Remote Country by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book Black Neighbors by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book Hiking North Carolina's National Forests by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book Engineering Nature by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book A Virginia Yankee in the Civil War by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book Turned Inside Out: Black, White, and Irish in the South by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy by Benjamin A. Cowan
Cover of the book Exploring Southern Appalachian Forests by Benjamin A. Cowan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy