...don't really support whatever point it is that you're trying to make. The first one links to an article about increased use of C-Sections worldwide, which notes the especially high prevalence of the procedure among Brazilian mothers. The second link is an article on the link between breast implants and suicide that doesn't even mention Brazil, except off-handedly in the comments section. So your first source is not really sexual (of course birth is related to sexuality but it's not the same thing), and your second source isn't about Brazil.

As for your statement that "Brazilians have shown a purely ugly and physical approach to sexuality" with regard to certain matters, I'm sure with the help of Google you can find examples to support replacing "Brazilians" with any nationality on Earth. But leaving aside the gross generalizations, how is C-sections "purely ugly and physical" in comparison to natural labor? Are you saying natural childbirth is pretty and nonphysical? And why is breast enhancement less "insidious" than a sex change operation, assuming either operation is necessarily insidious at all?

Note my point isn't to condemn sex changes or natural birth, or to celebrate C-Sections or breast implants (although I don't think surgery's fun and wonder at people to choose to have it when not needed), but just to note that you're making all sorts of whole-sale conclusions about things that millions of consenting adults choose to do to their own bodies without any explanation.

--Z

regarding the fact that 90% of Brazilian mothers choose to have C-sections: I didn't mean to evoke the actual process of birthing, naturally or via a C-section, but the morally ugly reason that so many Brazilian women choose, and are encouraged to, get C-sections, namely (though maybe not so simply), vanity. Because they can, not because it is vital. It is tied to the rates for cosmetic surgery, which are incredibly high in Brazil, and in particular the rates for vaginoplasties (which you can find on Google), insofar as both are driven by the same obsession with perfect women's bodies. It is the sexualizing of birth, which, I agree, is much more than sexual. And maybe "physical" wasn't the right word; it's just that "superficial" is overused.  Indeed, the article linking to breast enhancements and suicide was a sloppy mistake; I just meant to link to an article detailing the high rates of cosmetic surgery and the deeper psychological realities that are ignored, for better or for worse. 
Also, in retrospect, the entire "ugly and physical approach" characterization does sound ignorant, if not racist. There are certainly themes pertaining to issues of bodies and sex--particularly women's bodies and sex--notable in Brazilian culture for their particular prevalence in that one culture, but it may have been better to simply to offer the facts and leave it at that, being the male American that I am. 

But I must say the whole notion of "themes pertaining to bodies and sex" as it is often applied by feminist left-wing types (and I have no idea if you consider yourself "feminist left wing") has me completely flumoxed when I don't outright disagree. 

Apparently women have the right to do what they wish with their own bodies if you're talking about abortion, but not if you're talking about cosmetic surgery.   

--Z

This could on forever, but...I never said they have no right to cosmetic surgery. Far as I'm concerned, they do. Just like they have the right to abortion, too. And I have the right--I think the responsibility, but that's arguable--to say they shouldn't exercise that right. So I'm criticizing the choices that are made, not the existence of the right. And regarding my being a feminist left wing tape, I'm flummoxed by the stereotype. If you mean, do I think that a lot of the self-destructive and vain choices women in Brazil make has to do with the implict if not explicit influence of men, then, yeah, sure I'm a feminist. You're right in that all this generalizing and talk of "themes" can be problematic, but personally I mean for "themes" to be a start, not an end (which in my mind separates me from some feminists I know). 

But I just wanted to say I did not mean to set you up a straw man. I tried to make that clear by stating that I "HAVE NO IDEA if you consider yourself 'feminist left wing'", but if I nevertheless implied that you have any views on sex, beauty, feminism, etc. that you didn't actually state in your post, I apologize.

Also, I suspect we are not too far apart and may be splitting hairs here. I think I'd have to agree with you that some women (which would include brasileiras) sometimes make "self-destructive and vain choices" due to the influence of men. Everyone makes vain and self-destructive choices, and cannot help but be influenced by others in making those decisions, including by people of the opposite sex.

I start to feel queasy when the notion that women (because they are people) occasionally make bad choices, is extended to turn women into victims of men, who are therefore not responsible for their actions. Although it is usually people on the Left (i.e.: feminists) who make these sorts of arguments, the implications of those arguments are quite sexist. By minimizing or denying a woman's agency (i.e.: her free will), the feminists end up portraying women as weak and childlike, and therefore in need of special care and attention to protect them from evil dehumanized forces (or men) that want to treat them like objects.

That being said, I am NOT saying that you share the "victimizing" views that I just vaguely attributed to some leftists/feminists. In fact, I'll be the first to admit that not all feminists/leftists feel that way. But I do find those views are out there, and usually get brought up along with some of themes you raised, so I felt compelled to throw in my two cents.

--Z