Jurists, police, doctors, and psychologists
discussing sexual violence in twentieth-century Brazil
pp. 83-110
in: Tatiana Savoia Landini (ed), Norbert Elias and empirical research, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstrakt
The twentieth century brought several major developments for Brazil, which had recently become a republic (November 15, 1889). São Paulo was its largest and most industrialized city with its population rising from just under 240,000 to around 10 million, while the nation"s total jumped from just over 17 to 180 million. Industrialization led to economic and social changes, such as women joining the labor market and gaining public space. There were profound changes in the family and gender relations too. Divorce, not legalized until 1977, was one of the major concerns in previous decades. The average number of children per woman fell from 6.2 in 1940 to 2.4 in 2000 (IBGE 1940 and 2001). Consensual unions, characteristic of the lower classes at the beginning of the century, were regulated by the 2002 Civil Code and are now part of everyday life for the middle and upper classes. The mass media expanded as major conglomerates took over press, television, and radio, adding online media too at century"s end.