Key Terms
Definition
Life in the public sphere outside the home. Includes work, socializing, drinking, flirting, and extramarital affairs.
Origin
Developed by Kimberle Crenshaw (1989).
Common application
Most often used to examine experiences of working- class, cisgender, and trans women of color; but also useful for under
Used in research contexts
United States (Moore 1994), Brazil (Hautzinger 2007), Congo (Hollander 2014).
Example from the chapter
Unemployed men in Brogodó engaged in extramarital affairs and rua (street) social life as a way to compensate for inabil
Example
Rationalizing men's infidelity as "natural" or something they "can't help" — while that same behavior earns them social
Context
Women in Brogodó said they wanted homens caseiros but found them hard to find. Men who were homens caseiros risked being
Contrast
Women's domain was historically the household (domestic labor, protecting husband's honor through fidelity). The househo
Author
Melanie A. Medeiros, associate professor of anthropology at SUNY Geneseo.
Justification for hiring urban over local
Employers cited lack of education and foreign language skills. This discourse masked racial ideology that framed urban w
Lucas
Said men need work for "psychological" reasons — to prevent them from "losing themselves in life, for example, drinking
Karolina
Directly connected her ex-husband's alcohol abuse to unemployment. Alcohol abuse then caused men to lose family respect,
Violence
Women in Brogodó sometimes attributed verbal or physical abuse to men's unemployment.
Stereotype of Black male hypersexuality in Brazil
Described through the discourse of Black men's blood as "quente" (hot).
Historical roots
Constructed during slavery to portray Black men as dangerous and sexually aggressive; used legally and medically to just