The rigid social control imposed on Brazilian society by the Medici government (1969-74) after the defeat of the mass-based student opposition and urban guerilla movements drove many youth toward other avenues of political, social, and cultural expression. Moreover, changes in social behavior due to increased sexual freedom and multiple Brazilian manifestations of the international countercultural movement challenged traditional constructs of gender, masculinity, and femininity. Concurrently, the economic expansion of the later 1960s and early 1970s created a larger consumer-oriented middle class. As a result, homosexual social spaces—gay bars, saunas, and discotheques—began to penetrate wider social spheres and diversify in their target markets.

Entendidos and gays

Travestis and michês