Journal of Contemporary Religion

ISSN: 1353-7903 (Print) 1469-9419 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjcr20

The centrality of the female body in Brazilian

culture: Evangelical and Muslim responses

Cristina Maria de Castro & Nina Rosas

To cite this article: Cristina Maria de Castro & Nina Rosas (2019) The centrality of the female
body in Brazilian culture: Evangelical and Muslim responses, Journal of Contemporary Religion,
34:2, 275-290, DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2019.1621546

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2019.1621546

Published online: 08 Jul 2019.

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JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION
2019, VOL. 34, NO. 2, 275–290
https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2019.1621546

The centrality of the female body in Brazilian culture:

Evangelical and Muslim responses
Cristina Maria de Castro and Nina Rosas

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This article aims to analyse how both Evangelical and Islamic Received 10 October 2016
religions deal with a central aspect of the construction of Accepted 16 February 2018
the Brazilian national identity: the body. The Brazilian KEYWORDS
religious field is exposed to this cultural value and reacts Religion; the body; women;
to it in different ways. While Islam preaches female modesty, Evangelicals; Islam; Brazil
involving the ‘concealment’ of the body and its forms,
Evangelicals reinforce part of the Brazilian culture of
appreciation and care for physical attributes, albeit using
the rhetoric of doing so with moderation and modesty.
The data presented here were collected through interviews
with religious leaders and through participant observation
in the Baptist Church of Lagoinha, in Belo Horizonte, and the
Islamic Youth League, in São Paulo, Brazil.

Introduction
In this article, we examine the actions of two religions in Brazil—
Evangelicalism and Islam—in response to social beliefs about the body.
More specifically, we focus on the manner in which these religions are
concerned with the cultivation of appearance and with the establishment of
ethical standards that are ascribed to and/or shared by women, reflecting
specific notions of morality. We demonstrate that, whereas one of the
religions somehow emphasises and reproduces the cultural norms of the
body common to neoliberal societies, the other establishes a critical
distance regarding the same set of references.
Brazil is a country with extreme cultural and socio-economic diversity
across geographic regions. However, despite the differences, some
historically constructed images predominate in the tourist imaginary and
the media, conveying the country as a sexual paradise in which various
gender identities and affective practices, in particular those related to
homosexuals, are tolerated. The origin of this myth lies in the
Portuguese colonisation, whose accounts described Brazil as a land
without sexual morality and with exceptionally sensual natives as well as
the idea that the country is formed by the miscegenation of Europeans

CONTACT Cristina Maria de Castro [email protected]

© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
276 C. M. DE CASTRO AND N. ROSAS

with Africans and Indians, thereby producing a racially democratic culture

and individuals with greater spontaneity, affectivity, and corporal ability
(Heilborn 2006, 49). Thus, Brazil became known as the country of the
Carnival, of the exposure of female nudity, of seduction, and of the
accentuated contact between bodies (Heilborn 1999, 98).
It should also be noted that Brazil has experienced an explosion in the
beauty industry in recent years, which has led the country to become
number one in the consumption of nail, skin, hair, and weight loss
products and number two worldwide in plastic surgery (especially breast
implants) and the application of Botox. This explosion depicts the
dictatorship of youth, of beauty, and of thinness, which projects the ideal
body as that which is cared for, manipulated, decorated, and produced so
that there are no wrinkles, stretch marks, cellulite or blemishes; hence the
unbridled quest for time, money, and effort to be invested in the
construction of the ‘perfect’ body.1 In Brazil, the body is not only a form
of physical capital, but also a form of economic and symbolic capital
because it allows for upward social mobility and a differentiating
resource in the labour and affective–sexual market. Devotion to the body
is a lifestyle, a richness, one of the more important resources in Brazilian
culture (Goldenberg 2010).
Although this idea prevails, Brazil is also known for intense religious
devotion. There are many religious groups that are fighting against the
alleged sexual immorality of the country and the devaluation of the family.
Brazil has the largest contingent of Catholics (at present 64.6% of the
national population) and a significant number of Evangelicals (22.2% of
Brazilians). There are several other smaller religions that, although not so
significant in absolute numbers, exhibit noteworthy growth, as is the case
for Islam, whose membership has increased to 29% of the population in
recent years, as shown in the main decennial census (2010 Brazilian
National Census). For the majority of those involved in these religions,
‘sexual purity’ and morality, exemplified in the defence of heteroaffectivity
and pre-marital chastity, are defended as non-negotiable established facts
and even allow for a certain inter-religious dialogue, which does not,
however, preclude the emergence of very disparate responses to the
centrality of the body in Brazilian culture. To demonstrate this diversity,
the present article is dedicated to the comparison of Evangelicals and
Muslims.
Although Evangelicals are a heterogeneous group, in Brazil, more than
60% of them are composed of Pentecostals. Pentecostals can be generally
described as being guided by belief in the contemporaneous nature of the
gifts of the Holy Spirit (e.g. tongues, healing, vision, revelation). In Brazil,
especially in the past four decades, this religious alternative emphasised its
war against the devil, started preaching prosperity, became corporately
 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION 277

structured, increased participation in party politics and in holding

positions of power, and started to use TV and radio in a manner that
Evangelicals had never before done in the country. The influence of this
group of religious people has been so great that more traditional
Protestants ‘pentecostalised’ themselves, which means that they renewed
themselves, and gave rise to what is referred as “charismatic Protestantism”
(Mariano 2005, 9–17). Thus, most nominally Evangelical and Protestant
churches, such as those cited in this text, can be characterised as
Pentecostal. Pentecostalism is efficient in the recruitment of individuals
belonging to the poor and non-white social strata. Although it comprises
workers, business people, athletes, and artists, the majority of its members
exhibit income and schooling that are lower than the average among the
population (Jacob 2003, 39). In the audience of this religion, there is
a predominance of women, which in certain regions can reach up to
80% of worshippers. Although it is not possible to state that there is an
affinity between being female and being Pentecostal, it is not incorrect to
say that this religiosity has responded efficiently to female worries and
needs (Mariz 1994, 92; Couto 2002, 20–23).
Muslims, in turn, exhibit socio-economic, ethnic, and national profiles
that are somewhat distinct from those of Pentecostals. In Brazil, Islam is
a religion practised mostly by immigrants of Arabic origins and their
descendants. Conversions on the part of Brazilians without Arabic
ancestry, however, have increased in recent years. According to the 2010
Census, in the last decade, the Muslim population has increased from
27,239 to 35,167 (by 29%). (However, Muslims in Brazil constitute less
than 0.5% of the Brazilian population.) The percentage of Muslims
classified as Brazilians has also increased. Currently, 70% of adherents to
the Islamic faith in the country have Brazilian citizenship, which represents
a 9% increase since the Census of 2000. Converts represent only a portion
of this number, given that the children and grandchildren of immigrants
are classified as Brazilians.2 Commercial activity, which is traditional
among members of this minority, remains common, despite the recent
growth in their participation in scientific and intellectual occupations. The
educational level of Muslims is considerably higher than that of the
average of the national population. The same can be said with regard to
income. Finally, it is important to stress that women are a minority among
Muslims, representing just under 40% of Muslims in Brazil.
The data presented in this article on Evangelicals were collected through
interviews with religious leaders and through participant observation in
the Lagoinha Baptist Church (Igreja Batista da Lagoinha) in Belo
Horizonte, in the state of Minas Gerais, between 2011 and 2014. We
conducted participant observation at 4 women’s conferences and 29
monthly women’s worship services, in which Pastor Ana Bessa, the main
278 C. M. DE CASTRO AND N. ROSAS

female leader of the church, and others invited by her, were responsible for
the teachings. We also drew on an interview with Bessa, conducted in
2014, and many field notes based on informal conversations with members
of the Lagoinha Church.
Regarding Muslims, data were collected from the religious community
attending the Islamic Youth League, in the city of São Paulo, in 2006. We
conducted interviews with two leaders as well as participant observation
during Jumma (Friday prayers) and on Saturdays, in the religion and
Arabic language classes offered to Brazilians interested in converting.
Finally, it is worth noting that testimonials from Muslims residing in the
Greater São Paulo area, besides data collected by other researchers,
through participant observation and interviews, complemented the
analysis. The two institutions, the Islamic Youth League and the
Lagoinha Church, were chosen because of their dynamism and influence
in the local religious field. Printed material, web sites, and videos that were
made available by the groups were also taken into consideration.
To address the manner in which the Evangelical and Islamic religions in
Brazil treat the female body, the first section of this text presents some
notes about what is conventionally called the sociology of the body and
about the theoretical approaches we have chosen. The second and third
sections present the responses given by each of these religions. The fourth
section presents our comparative conclusions.

Notes on the sociology of the body

Discussions about the body have existed since the dawn of the human
sciences. Even so, for a long period of time, in the majority of studies, the
body was treated secondarily. Perhaps this treatment is explained by the
desire to establish sociology as a discipline and also by the scale of the
social changes that were observed at the time (Le Breton 2007, 15–23). It
was only around the middle of the twentieth century that the body gained
more visibility in research, especially with the work of Norbert Elias,
Erving Goffman, Michel Foucault, and Pierre Bourdieu. Nowadays,
names such as Chris Shilling, David Le Breton, Jean Baudrillard, Gilles
Lipovetsky, Eliane Perrin, and Paul Yonnet also help to consolidate what is
presently understood by the sociology of the body. The research of these
authors covers the concept of the body as an object of individual
investment, the personification of the imperative of youth, the place of self-
recapture, the vehicle for the cultivation of the sporting culture, and the
object of the search for absent limits of meaning in contemporary society.
To analyse Muslims and Evangelicals in Brazil, we defend the necessity
to combine four other theoretical approaches that complement the
framework presented: 1) the notion of body as capital, as developed by
 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION 279

Mirian Goldenberg; 2) the idea that the exhibition of corporal forms is

a part of the strategies adopted by Brazilian women in dressing, as
proposed by Stéphane Malysse; 3) the perception of the Muslim woman’s
body as the target of the political struggle between secular liberalism and
Islam, enlightened by Saba Mahmood; 4) Angela McRobbie’s theory of the
introjection of the ‘perfect’. The milestones in the discourse are as follows.
Inspired by the concepts of Bourdieu, Mirian Goldenberg (2010, 1–10)
shows how the body is a powerful form of capital in Brazilian culture. For the
anthropologist, it is a value produced by an élite—white heterosexuals with
college degrees, high income, and residing in the richest neighbourhoods—
whose ideas are reproduced by other segments of the population, such that
both the lower and the middle classes come to see in the body desirable wealth,
a form of capital to be worked, preserved, and employed.
The French anthropologist Stéphane Malysse specifically discussed the
Brazilian view of the female body and dress through a comparison with the
French case: “whereas in France, the production of personal appearance
continues focused essentially on clothes themselves, in Brazil, it is the body
that seems to be at the strategies of dressing” (Malysse 2002, 110). The
author continues:

Here [in Brazil], female forms are not hidden by the camouflage effects of tailleurs,
of coveralls, or of large cross-sections, but on the contrary, they are highlighted: the
women wear low-waist skirts and pants, thus enhancing the hips and buttocks,
revealing them, placing them on stage . . . overall, clothing is used to emphasize
the forms of the female body, to exhibit it. (Malysse 2002, 112–113)

The conceptions of Goldenberg and Malysse can be integrated and better

understood if we consider the feminist perspective of Angela McRobbie,
which works as a framework. Concerned with gender dynamics in the
neoliberal consumer culture, McRobbie draws attention to the background
against which changes around the body occur. Praising the dialogue with
Foucault’s and Butler’s psychoanalytical ideas, she adapted the thinking of
these authors and others such as Bourdieu to understand the reality of young
heterosexual women at a time characterised by a new type of anti-feminist
sentiment (McRobbie 2008, 1). According to her, this is not about a position
contrary to the ideals fought for in the 1970s and 1980s. Rather, it is about
a new kind of sentiment that incorporates elements of feminism, although in
a customised and instrumentalised way. Even if feminism has altered some
aspects of patriarchal control, the emphasis nowadays on the individualisation
and equality of success that women can achieve and are achieving prevails.
Using words such as ‘empowerment’ and ‘choice’ creates the illusion that
women have control and options, while, in fact, they are guided by an ideal of
perfection, which ultimately prevents a new feminist movement from
emerging (McRobbie 2008, 1; McRobbie 2015, 12).
280 C. M. DE CASTRO AND N. ROSAS

The Muslim woman’s body, in particular, brings forth new nuances for
analysis, as Saba Mahmood indicates. According to this author, secular
liberalism is much more than a state doctrine or a set of legal conventions;
it is responsible for defining “something like a form of life” (Mahmood
2005, 191). In this way, to understand the challenges and difficulties of the
encounter between Islam and the secular liberal imaginary, we must pay
attention not to common spaces of political struggle but to discussions on
what constitutes an ethical and moral way of life today. In Egypt, a context
studied by Mahmood, such a struggle centres on the body, the observance
of rituals, and the protocols of public conduct. Liberalism associates the
hijab with female oppression. However, we should be able to predict and
accept the existence of other forms of life experience that we might not
fully understand. The stance of ‘enlightening’ Muslim women and ‘freeing’
them from wearing the veil is not defensible, Mahmood states. We need to
overcome the resistance and submission dichotomy present in Western
feminism. For this movement, freedom is prescriptive. However, some
women choose submission. In the case of those cited in this article,
submission to God is preferred, to the detriment of the pursuit of the
ideal of perfection (McRobbie) or devotion to the body as capital
(Goldenberg).

Evangelicals and the body in Brazil

The relationship between Evangelicals and corporeality in Brazil has been
contemplated primarily since the late 1990s. According to Maria das Dores
Machado (1995, 10), until the 1950s, a negative view of the body and its
sexuality—guided by the theological separation between body and soul,
disfavouring the former—prevailed among these religious adherents, as is
peculiar to the Christian sexual tradition. Over the years, this situation
changed. Swinging and freedom of gesture would replace the rigidity of
and contrition for bodies. There was also a tendency towards the
liberalisation of customs. Prohibitions concerning the shortness of hair,
the use of make-up, hair removal, and nail care diminished and the
wearing of trousers, heels, and other accessories came to be allowed
(Mariano 2005, 187–224).
In the 2000s, several studies investigating the path of changes
surrounding the use of the body continued, focusing especially on sexual
behaviour, fertility patterns and levels, and the occurrence of abortions
among Evangelicals (Mariz and Mafra 1999; Ogland and Verona 2011;
Verona and Regnerus 2014). It has been perceived that religious patterns
increasingly draw on the cultural references of a society. In this sense, it is
worth highlighting the meticulous prescriptions and guidelines that aim to
 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION 281

regulate appearance. Thus, we focus on orientations regarding diet, plastic

surgery, fashion, and the use of cosmetics.
We base our discussion on the teachings delivered in worship services
and conferences held specifically for women. These events were co-
ordinated by a woman who has come to be viewed as a religious
celebrity, Ana Paula Valadão Bessa—a 41-year-old pastor and singer and
a mother, with an educational level and income typical of the upper class
and with international religious experience. Bessa is the daughter
of Márcio Valadão, a pastor who has been at the forefront of the
Lagoinha Baptist Church for over 40 years, in which Bessa ministers and
is also a singer. The church, which consists of approximately 50,000
members, has Pentecostal characteristics and brings together some
theological diversity. Although lower-class women comprise the majority
in Pentecostal churches, it is not uncommon for senior leaders to enjoy
high incomes and high standards of living, as Bessa does. She also enjoys
visibility, owing to her successful performance in the national
phonographic and media industry, as well as cultural capital, expressed
in her good verbal articulation, which makes her a notable reference for
the poorest women. Therefore, based on the data presented below, we see
that Lagoinha is a privileged space to teach and reinforce a self-regulatory
mechanism based on the aspiration of a ‘good life’, which is another way of
controlling women’s bodies in the consumer society (McRobbie 2015).
McRobbie argues that in today’s society, there is a high demand for
work related to the body. Roles such as gym teachers, security guards,
and beauty therapists are reflections of the high level of investment
made in appearance. Those in such roles are professionals that take
care of the body or cultivate it to enable performance in the labour
market. Faced with this new reality, the feminine common sense is
characterised by the pursuit of a ‘good life’ and ‘having it all’, that is,
the achievement of professional, domestic/family, and sexual success.
However, it should be emphasised that this idea of perfection lies in
the restoration of a traditional femininity.
In the case of the Evangelicals observed, the propagated model reinforces
a part of the Brazilian culture of appreciation of and care for physical
attributes. However, it likewise promotes moderation in women’s
dedication to the body and modesty about its exposition, approaching, to
a certain extent, the French standard described by Malysse. In the following
we describe what happens among the Evangelical women we studied.
After seasons spent in the US, in the 1990s and 2000s, Bessa began to
promote events that primarily addressed issues of the female sphere—
ranging from make-up and fashion shows to affective-sexual guidelines
(Rosas and Castro 2014, 219–221). The notion of femininity that was
advocated was based on the claim that what matters is not exterior to
282 C. M. DE CASTRO AND N. ROSAS

the faithful but instead the soul, the heart. Despite this discourse, it was
viewed that care for the body, expressed in awareness regarding health and
the taste for fashion attire and make-up, was emphasised.
It was criticised that women were too strict with themselves. An
elevated, high self-demand would be evidence of a distorted self-image.
Women were taught to combat negative images that they received and
internalised throughout their lives or that they themselves were
constructing as a result of some disease, the way they dealt with ageing
or even any possible disabilities. Bessa emphasised that, in addition to the
spirit, the body is equally a target of the devil’s attacks, which relies on the
lifestyle of contemporary society (e.g. stress, poor nutrition, lack of regular
exercise) to deceive and destroy believers. She even preached that women
who did not care for their health, claiming that they were too spiritualised,
were being negligent of the temple of the Holy Spirit (the human body). It
was argued that to fulfil the divine mission, it was necessary to care for the
vehicle through which it was being performed; hence the importance of
performing physical activities and having a healthy diet free of excess. The
faithful were advised to opt for a minimum of preservatives and fats in
their diet and to eat organic vegetables and fruits. Flour and pasta should
also be avoided. These precautions would lead to better skin and better
quality sleep and would prevent fatigue, respiratory disease, and
gastroenteritis.
In addition to the incentive to improve the diet, respect for other
dimensions of the zeal for appearance was also preached. On one
occasion, Bessa confessed to the faithful that she had committed self-
deprecation. For years, she had bit the inside of her cheeks and her nails
to mistreat herself, accepting and reproducing the criticism she suffered. It
was only when she underwent the process of spiritual healing that she
ceased these behaviours and understood that some of the exteriorisation of
this healing was to care for herself, to learn to apply make-up, and to fix
her own hair. Therefore, it was reinforced that women should be vain,
although it was said that “God’s standard is opposed to the world’s
standard” (Women Worship Service, 26 March 2014). Bessa often gave
beauty tips and even came to give a workshop on make-up application. In
this regard, she incisively criticised just how ugly it was for a woman to
have a ‘moustache’ and to exhibit herself with poorly done make-up. In
one of the annual conferences, she reserved a portion of the church for
a beauty clinic so that the participants could perform peeling sessions.
Bessa also addressed the issue of plastic surgery, arguing that it may
be done, provided that the intervention was not regular, hardly
perceptible, and targeted to some physical aspect that was a source of
significant discomfort to the woman. She was in favour of breast
 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION 283

augmentation, provided that the size of the implant was small and the
result was discreet.
Additionally, in 2013, Bessa created a clothing line (DTWear) whose
purpose was to offer beautiful clothes that were not sensual and that
evangelised. On various occasions, guidelines were offered to women on
the issue, whether in the format of videos, small fashion shows or advice
provided by an image consultant. In general, the use of transparent, low-
cut, short, and overly tight clothing was criticised. It was also preached that
a woman should not expose herself like a shop window, given that doing
so would attract men who are only interested in her physical attributes.
Nonetheless, clothing suggestions were not restricted to bans. This could
be seen during the services where videos provided information about
certain fashion trends.
Despite her appeal to vanity, Bessa opposed the standards of beauty
imposed by the wider society. For example, she criticised the Barbie doll
for being the representation of the stereotype of the thin woman, of treated
hair, perky breasts, lifted buttocks, shapely thighs, and long legs. She also
discussed that women who devote their free time to pursuing this model,
spending hours in gyms and often returning for cosmetic treatments, would
create an obsession that could result in self-rejection and spiritual sickness.
In view of the above, the manner in which the faithful reacted to the
institution’s discourse is worth noting. In informal conversations and
during participant observation, it was noted that the faithful exhibited
themselves by reproducing Ana Bessa’s image, including the length and
colour of her hair, the clothes she wears, and the tone of voice she uses.
Many faithful went to the worship meetings wearing dresses from the
DTWear line or suits, dresses, trousers, and dress shirts, in addition to
high-heeled shoes. They wore make-up and had had their hair done
(brushed or curled). However, the message preached by Bessa did not
seem to be completely heeded. Blouses with low necklines and tight
trousers were not uncommon. Regarding diet and the practice of
physical exercise, it was not possible to verify how much the faithful
appropriated the guidance received.
In conclusion, although rejecting sensual appeal and emphasising the
importance of caring for the soul/spirit, Evangelicals seem to be closer to
an approximation and accommodation than to a rejection of the values of
the wider society.
In seeking to adapt to what is socially shared as ‘perfect’, the religious
are encouraged to exercise constant control and monitoring (self-
management of the self), which is nothing more than an even more
accurate control of women, but which takes the form of self-regulation.
In this sense, the Evangelical religion reflects a perspective that has become
widespread in society among contemporary women, namely that investing
284 C. M. DE CASTRO AND N. ROSAS

in physical beauty is a personal choice, a horizon of expectations by which

they are self-defined. According to McRobbie (2015), the requirement of
self-discipline and compulsion to compete for perfection makes women
withdraw from places of political power and decision and, besides being
a form of violence, represents an anti-feminism characterised by
meritocratic ideals which disguise a practice of governmentality of
gender and curtails women.

Muslims and the body in Brazil

The human body is the target of great attention in the Islamic faith.
Notions such as ‘pure’ and ‘impure’, ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’, and
‘public’ and ‘private’ are linked to the human body, affecting social
discourses and practices (Khūrī 2001). According to Rebecca Popenoe,
there is not a specific, unique Islamic view of the body; there are several
approaches, such that bodily practices articulate different versions of lived
Islam (Popenoe 1999, 5). In this article, we focus on the care and the
regulations of the female body that are related to the cultivation of
appearance, which reflects specific notions of Islamic morality in the
Brazilian context.
The work O Lícito e o Ilícito no Islam (The Lawful and the Prohibited in
Islam) by Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi3 contains, among much other information,
a series of notes on hygiene, dress, and accessories, for both women and
men. The book has been distributed in the country by the “Islam
Dissemination Centre for Latin America” (Centro de Divulgação do Islã
para a América Latina or CDIAL), which has its headquarters in the city of
São Bernardo do Campo in the state of São Paulo, and constitutes a source
of information which is recommended by important local sheikhs.
According to Qaradhawi, Islam not only permits but also insists that
a Muslim demonstrate care for his or her appearance, dressing decently
and exhibiting himself or herself neatly (Qaradhawi, n.d., 126). The body’s
hygiene is essential for Muslims because, without it, their prayers are not
accepted. Despite the elevated rigour with regard to the body’s purification,
which involves—in addition to baths—detailed ablution rituals five times
a day, Islam denounces exaggeration in beautification and views attempts
at modifying the physical features ‘that God created’ as behaviour inspired
by the devil. Tattooing, cutting the teeth (a common practice among pre-
Islamic Arabs), and the depilation of eyebrows are included among these
excesses. Eyebrows may not be tapered or have their shape modified. The
removal of other facial hair and the use of powders and creams are
acceptable, according to the scholar Hánbali, but only provided that the
woman has the approval of her husband (Qaradhawi, n.d., 142). The use of
hairpieces and wigs is also condemned by Islam because it represents
 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION 285

‘fraud’ and sham. By contrast, dying one’s hair is recommended by the

Prophet so that the faithful differentiate themselves from Christians and
Jews. In Qaradhawi’s compilation, however, only examples of men dying
their hair are cited.
According to this theologian’s interpretation, plastic surgery, which is
currently very common, would also doubtlessly be classified as excessive—
behaviour that deserves to be cursed by God and the Prophet for involving
“torture, pain, and the waste of money for simple appearance”. Nevertheless, he
says that what is deprecated by God is merely the pursuit of “beauty and artificial
appearance”. If someone seeks to correct an “uncommon physical defect” that
causes pain or embarrassment, there is nothing wrong with doing so
(Qaradhawi, n.d., 141). On the web site of the Islamic Youth League of Brazil
(Liga da Juventude Islâmica do Brasil or LJIB), mentions of plastic surgery were
not found, but there was a guideline on the avoidance of cosmetics used on face,
lips, and nails. Women should only use them at home when men are not present.
During the field research, however, some converted youths stated that nail
polish, even when worn in the house, should be removed before each prayer
to avoid disrupting the connection with God. Such statements were made
spontaneously, without the intervention or initiative of the researcher.
Another concern was the use of high-heeled shoes. After a while, all converted
girls stopped wearing them. When asked why, they said that they had been
directed by the sheikh to avoid that type of shoe because it makes a noise when
they walk and might attract the attention of men. The use of cosmetics outside
the home environment and high-heeled shoes would be driven by the desire to
attract male attention to themselves, which is not regarded as legitimate
(see www.ljib.hpg.ig.com.br/o_hijab_o_veu.htm, accessed 20 July 2006).
In addition to paying attention to the purification of the body and
avoiding overdoing embellishment that would lead to a change in their
original physical features, the faithful need to concern themselves with
appreciating and preserving modesty. The choice of clothing is central in
addressing this issue. According to the Qur’an and the Sunnah,4 there are
four basic recommendations regarding female Islamic dress: 1) “The dress
must cover the whole body except for the areas specifically exempted” (face
and hands); 2) “The dress must be loose enough so as not to describe the
shape of a woman’s body”; 3) “The dress should be thick enough so as not
to show the color of the skin it covers, or the shape of the body which it is
supposed to hide”; 4) “The dress should not be such that it attracts men’s
attention to the woman’s beauty”.5
Accordingly, it is imperative to note that the use of the Islamic veil in
minority contexts has attracted the attention of countless researchers
because, according to Jen’nan Ghazal Read, “perhaps no single issue
better captures the controversy over Muslim integration than the Islamic
practice of veiling” (Read 2007, 232). The Islamic veil is much more than
286 C. M. DE CASTRO AND N. ROSAS

a religious vestment. It can be viewed and used as a form of political

resistance, primarily in contexts where Muslims feel themselves to be
threatened. The veil also allows Muslim women to attend co-educational
institutions and work in male-dominated occupations that might otherwise
be considered unacceptable for non-veiled Muslim women (Beinin and
Stork 1997). By contrast, the practice of wearing the hijab in Brazil may
address the goal of searching for symbolic capital and respect on the part
of the converted in relation to their immigrant brothers in faith (Castro
2013, 128). One ‘function’ exercised by the veil is of particular interest in
this text and thus worth noting: the veil can be an instrument of protection
against the oppression of the cult of the body. Before proceeding, however,
we consider it important to emphasise Mahmood’s critique that the moral
ideals of Muslim women are often not cited as motives for wearing the veil,
namely the search for modesty and compliance with God’s will.
Statements of Brazilian converts to Islam will be analysed in the
following. One young woman who was almost 25 years of age and
formerly a belly dance instructor reported spontaneously during the field
research at the LJIB that her ex-boyfriend had always pressured her to be
“thin and pretty”. After converting, she came to feel free from this type of
pressure because of the use of the Islamic vestment. The hijab allowed her
to be judged solely on the basis of her character and intellect, she stated.
Adjusting one’s body to the rigid standards demanded by society and,
more specifically, one’s ex-boyfriend is no longer a concern. By converting
to the Islamic religion and adopting the hijab as clothing, the body ceases
to be a capital sought by a woman. At the time, the same woman included
a very informative publication in her profile on the Orkut social network: it
shows an image of a range of cosmetics and accessories used for feminine
embellishment, with the caption immediately below: “(Do) you prefer to be
a slave to men . . . ”; further below, there is an image of Muslim women
dressed in white, praying, followed by the phrase “ . . . or a slave to God?”
(Castro 2013, 117). The search for a new capital is defended with piety. It is
not freedom, in the sense of Western feminism, that the converted seek,
but submission to God as a way of finding personal fulfilment (Mahmood
2005). The following testimony, provided by a young female convert in São
Bernardo do Campo, during a structured interview granted to researcher
Vlademir Lúcio Ramos, also denounces the oppression of the cult of the
body in the country:

I think that, in Brazil, not only in Brazil but here, this is very strong, the woman’s
identity . . . the woman’s value is linked to the body, this here is very simple. The
impression that I have is that the woman thinks that she will stop existing if she does
not call attention to herself. (As quoted in Ramos 2003, 153)
 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION 287

This statement perfectly illustrates Malysse’s observation of Brazilian

dressing strategies: the body needs to be displayed. Another female
convert, a resident of the capital São Paulo, interviewed by Vera Lúcia
Maia Marques, made the following claim: “Western women are
commercialized meat, i.e., the commercialization of the female body in
the West is what should be fought . . . Islam preaches that women should
be protected.” (As quoted in Marques 2000, 119)
The criticism of the objectification and commodification of the female
body and the idea that Islam will protect women from this type of
oppression are phenomena that have already been observed in other
scenarios, as noted by the studies by Alexander Mussap (2009) in
Australia and by T. M. Dunkel, Denise Davidson, and Shaji Qurashi
(2010) in the US. Thus, the response of the Islamic faith to the cult of the
body present in Brazil, not surprisingly, rejects the standards imposed by the
wider society, offering a compelling religious alternative to a growing
number of women, even if this contingent continues to be in the minority.

Conclusion
In the present article, we have sought to demonstrate the responses of two
religions to the centrality of the body in the national culture. The Islamic
and Evangelical faiths were chosen because of the discrepancy between
their reactions. The former denounces the commercialisation of the female
body and preaches the protection of women through the hiding of their
shapes, whereas the latter offers make-up workshops, provides a physical
space for peeling sessions, and advocates the idea that care for the body
and one’s appearance are signs of spiritual healing, which implements
common cultural patterns in the religious field.
There are times when the two groups seem to come together, for
example, when they preach moderation and modesty and recommend
that plastic surgery be performed only to correct defects that bring
suffering and embarrassment to the faithful. Nevertheless, the
understanding of what it is to be modest is not the same and plastic
surgery is more acceptable among Evangelicals. According to Pastor
Bessa, silicone breast implants, provided they are small and discreet,
can be obtained by the faithful. For Muslims, however, breast implants
are a modification of the forms created by God, an attitude to be
accursed. We must not forget that Islam in Brazil, despite the growth
in the conversion of natives, remains a religion that is strongly marked
by the influence of Arab immigration. Its process of institutionalisation
in the country is almost entirely linked to the initiative of this ethnic
group. Thus, Brazilian converts to Islam, mainly in the state of São
Paulo, receive guidelines and teachings from the religion that are
288 C. M. DE CASTRO AND N. ROSAS

permeated with the values and traits of a culture that is taken as

foreign. On the other hand, Evangelicals find themselves socialised
from the start in a cultural environment which is more permissive in
terms of dress and the exhibition of the body.
However, it is worth noting that the Evangelical faith in Brazil is followed
mostly by women. Despite continuing strong inequality regarding the
distribution of power in the majority of Evangelical churches, the leaders’
need to concern themselves with offering services that interest their captive
public is undeniable. In a pluralist market, marked by strong competition,
the statements and initiatives of Bessa and her church can be viewed as
strategic; simultaneously, they do not threaten the social roles of gender
traditionally advocated by this religious strand.
In Islam, women are a minority, accounting for 40% of the Islamic
population, according to the 2010 Census. Furthermore, there is no
obligation for women to attend mosque because, at home, women have
duties which are as sacred as prayers: “caring for the house and the
children and preparing lunch”, as stated by a male informant of the
Islamic Youth League in an informal conversation in June 2006. During
field research, it was observed that the ‘worldly’ matters addressed during
the Friday sermons were aimed at the universe traditionally identified as
masculine, such as criticism of Western imperialism and international and
national politics. When women were noted, it was to describe how Islam
respects and protects them—a defensive discourse against the attempts at
Western secular-liberalism defamation (Mahmood 2005). Nevertheless,
a growing number of Brazilian women have been attracted to the Islamic
faith. We believe that the possibility of escape from the oppression of the
cult of the body and the search for an unattainable standard of beauty have
brought relief and greater satisfaction for some of these women who, in
turn, have been promoting a change in an increasingly common landscape
in the mosques, traditionally attended by Arabs. By ceasing to see the
perfect body as a capital to be sought and by dedicating themselves to the
pursuit of piety, they find personal fulfilment in a way of life that is neither
accepted nor understood by wider society.
It has been observed that, although the Evangelical faith has drawn a less
rigid boundary against secular cultural standards, it does not stop being, like
the Islamic faith, an effective source of female body regulation. This shows
a capital or resource that, on the one hand, is capable of being controlled and,
on the other hand, allows women to have different religious experiences.
However, the female body is regulated by a mechanism that makes it seem as
if the desire, choice, and cultivation of certain attributes of a woman’s body
stem from the woman herself, which contributes to leaving existing
patriarchal arrangements relatively untouched, without having to activate
the male figure, as McRobbie (2008) pointed out.
 JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGION 289

Notes
1. The body is a marker for all individuals. However, due to the predominance of
gender binary, it is generally on the female body that the greatest references and
controls fall.
2. Based on the Census, it is not possible to identify the religion of the parents of all of
the individuals.
3. Qaradhawi is an internationally influential Sunni theologian. He studied at the
University of Al-Azhar in Egypt, worked for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt,
and today directs the European Council for Fatwa and Research.
4. Sunnah refers to the sayings and acts of the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam.
It is a set of information of great relevance for the adherents of the Islamic faith.
5. Compiled by Jamal Badawi at http://www.jamalbadawi.org/index.php?option=com_
content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2&Itemid=2, accessed 15 October 2015.

Acknowledgements
Cristina Maria de Castro is grateful to the Brazilian Science and Research Council (CNPq)
for funding a fellowship (Bolsa de Produtividade) that made part of this work possible.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors
Cristina Maria de Castro is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the
Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. In 2005 and 2007, she was a visiting researcher
at the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, based in Leiden,
the Netherlands. She is the author of The Construction of Muslim Identities in
Contemporary Brazil (2013) and co-editor of Religion, Migration and Mobility: The
Brazilian Experience (2017).
Nina Rosas is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at the Federal
University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. In 2013, she was a visiting scholar in the Center for
Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California, USA. She is currently
studying and publishing on body, gender, and Evangelical culture.

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