Saturday Night Live - Zeca Chuteira - 22/07/2012

So, the biggest gossip to hit the Brazilian celebrity scene is the recent revelation that UBBER HOT Brazilian Soccer player and celebrity RAI, left his wife 2 years ago and has been dating the also HOT and HIP Zeca Camargo, who is a Globo TV/Fantastico host.
They are so hot it hurts, and that bothers a lot of people!!!!

Here is a picture of Rai:

Rai, Sao Paulo soccer player and a Sex symbol in Brazil

And here is a picture of Zeca Camargo:

Zeca Camargo, TV Globo Fantastico Show host

In Brazil we have a nick name for women/girls who are the equivalent of "groupies", but instead of rock stars they prey on soccer players, we call them "MARIA CHUTEIRA", a rough translation would be snickers Mary, but chuteiras are special soccer player shoes with the spikes.
So, now, the ever so conservative Brazilian public has started the jokes, saying that now, we have a new trend "ZECA CHUTEIRAS", making a joke with the Globo TV host Zeca Camargo that has been dating the Brazilian sex symbol soccer player Rai.
So, if you catch yourself wondering what all this talk about Rai and Zeca Camargo is all about, you will now know, that this is what is all about.
Brazilians are very conservative and backwards when it comes to gay rights, and when any progress towards acceptance shocks with the good ol'MACHO, MACHISMO culture, you have the clash that we are seeing right now.
This is really hard for most IGNORANT Brazilians to understand when they were raised in a culture, not very different from Americans or Europeans by the way, where SEXUAL PREFERENCE, (notice that I will never use the word "choice", because to say choice is WRONG, we have no choice, we were born this way), is often confused with gender.
We are men who like men, some are effeminate, some are not, I know some straight men who are a little effeminate, but they like women, so there is a distinctive difference between gender identity and sexual preference.

Back to the clash in the minds of those raised in a MACHISMO culture.
Something that also drives me crazy in the Brazilian (and American) Machismo culture, is the fact that many women nourish such practice in society.
I heard from a very close friend today "RAI, nao acredito, JESUS, mas ele e tao masculino, nao acredito!!!!" UGH!!!! 
This is how it goes, and again, it's the exact same in the US, I am not sure about Europe, but I hope some of our dear readers might be able to contribute with their European perspective. Tom, any comments? ;)
If you drink BEER, you are a MAN, MACHO, macho man, if you drink wine, oh, oh, you might be gay. I remember when back in high school, girls drank wine coolers and guys drank beers, and yes, I went to high school in the US.
And in Brazil is no different, BEER is associated with masculinity, please people, let's move away from such "cliche" stereotypes.
If you play soccer, (Football in the US) you are a MACHO, MACHO man, if you join the chess club (Brazil) or the Band (US), not so much.
Not to mention, the idiots uninformed people who live in machismo cultures, think that masculine men CANNOT under any circumstance be gay, that would be the end of the world, their little pea brains would burst into flames and they would be confused, saying they understand but have a hard time accepting it, yes, I have heard someone saying that, to MY FACE, yes, they understand that GIL and I are gay, considering we are the BUTCH kind of guys, we LOVE beer, are you kidding me, our neighbors make beer in their cellar and we are their main tasters, drinking pals... :)
So, back to my mini gay hater rant, people (including people in my own family) have a real hard time understanding the fact that GIL and I are masculine guys who like beer and enjoy soccer, also are attracted by MEN.
Please forgive me, but I have grown less and less tolerant to people "Who are having a hard time understanding or accepting it"!!!
Another thing that disgusts me to no end is how backwards and ANTI GAY Rede Globo is in Brazil, to me they are the equivalent of FOX NEWS, with an evil twist, because they supported and protected the military dictatorship in Brazil between 1964 and 1986, and I won't forget or forgive them for that.
To add insult to injury, Globo is banning any news of the recent discovered love affair between one of their brightest stars and one of Brazil's most popular macho sex symbol of all times.

HERE is a news piece in Portuguese about TV Globo's cover up, and other reports HERE and HERE.

According to many different sources Zeca Camargo is livid with his network's decision to ban news about his romance with Rai.
I expected nothing different from a nasty TV network who supported the military in Brazil, with the support of the Catholic Church and the ubber conservative Brazilian elite.
Globo TV will block any attempt from any writer or novela director to show a gay kiss, which has been the subject of much controversy in the last few years.
So, again, to break the stupid mundane stereotype, a Brazilian stud MACHO sex symbol celebrity soccer player SUPER HOT if you ask me (which I am sure drive people mad) RAI loves MEN, left his wife two years ago, and has been dating equally MACHO HIP celebrity Zeca Camargo.
Having said all that, I have a HELL of a sense humor, which has been boosted 10 times fold after moving to New England and I did literally laughed out loud when I watched this video below making fun of the new term "ZECA CHUTEIRA", in other words, groupies male, after male soccer players.
Enjoy ;)

PS:
Please be nice to gay people every chance you get, principally the young ones.
It seems like we have made a lot of progress in recent years, but sadly enough we are still treated like crap very often, and the worse part, family members are usually the most cruel to gay people.

Brazilian sensitivity to criticism

I was reading this post from our dear British friend living in Rio, Tom, who writes an amazing informative and fun blog about his discoveries and experiences of a London Expat living in Rio after marring his lovely Brazilian wife.
You can find Tom's Blog HERE, his blog is amazingly positive, with funny twists on the daily life of a British getting adapted to an exotic and challenging life of an expat adapting to Rio de Janeiro.
I happen to come across an absurdly unfair comment from a Brazilian called Julio on Tom's recent post about the Brazilian Sushi Experience, and in Tom's case, the Rio Sushi Experience ;)
Many of Tom's posts is about FOOD, and the exotic food discoveries he experiences in tropical Rio de Janeiro.
Many of the blogs we read on a daily basis have complains about Brazil that in many cases are not really about Brazil at all, they are often unfair and nonsensical comparisons, and the issues arise more because of the expat's complete lack of knowledge about the specific situation, and inexperience with Brazil as a new country, or whatever the situation might be, we just roll our eyes and move on, mostly because the complain often says more about the person than about Brazil.
But Tom's "innocent" remark was more than an honest criticism with no intention to belittle Brazil's Sushi culture, or anything about Brazil for that matter. It's just an expression of personal taste, he doesn't like Mango's in a Sushi for example (and neither do I for that matter), but please, come ON Julio, this is in no way an insult to the Brazilian identity, to Brazilian Sushi, or anything Brazilian.
It's like Gil saying he hates mixed juices (which he really does) Strawberries and kiwi will make him throw up right after throwing the bottle at my head (if I am the one who got him the disgusting invention) and some random American reader of our blog writes an aggressive comment of how insulted they are because Gil hates the American invention of Strawberries and Kiwi juice!!
After a brief discussion Gil and I have agreed to the conclusion that Brazilians have a inferiority complex, maybe because we are very close to being a developed country but are not recognized yet as one. We are always looking for a confirmation of our achievements and progress and principally when a foreigner complains, the reaction is not pretty.
Take notice that we Brazilians LOVE to complain about everything in our country, but don't you DARE say you don't like our avocados and you prefer the stinking little California avocados and you instantly have hit our hit list, I mean, you go into our little black book of Brazilian things hater!! :)
However, we also discussed the fact that many folks from developed nations will lash out at Brazil for other reasons, maybe they feel belittled because they sound stupid when trying to speak the ubber difficult Brazilian Portuguese, or they get lost in the new city. So, very aware of the fact that Brazilians are easily offended with criticism, it's their golden chance, and their blogs are their little corner of the world to pay back by bashing Brazilians things as a way to feel better about themselves. We also noted that many foreigners will attack Brazil in a very unfair way while rejecting any criticism towards their own country. Maybe it's the fear to feel inferior to Brazilians, we could say, many of these folks have a "superiority complex".

DEFINITION: popularly a feeling of superiority or exaggerated self-importance, often accompanied by excessive aggressiveness, arrogance, etc. which are compensation for feelings of inferiority

So when someone complains about the smallest Brazilian thing, many Brazilians will jump on your jugular with a machete and stab you to death, ok, maybe that is a little exaggeration, and perhaps is indeed what many of us wish we could do if there was no penalty for murder, so as the only alternative left, we will very often protest furiously   :)
Tom, just to make things crystal clear, we don't think you have a "superiority complex" at all, please complain away about all the awful things you find in Rio ( we have noticed you rarely find awful things about Rio and if you do you don't share ;), we love your blog and enjoy your posts very much.
Plus, Gil and I are over this "inferiority complex" enjoyed by many Brazilians, maybe it's our 15 years away, who knows.
The super creative video below illustrates well the fact that Brazilians will bitch about everything Brazil but foreiners are not accepted into the "Brazil" complainers club,  enjoy :)