Favela and “G World”. Gendered Urban Geographies in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research and qualitative interviews, the article analyzes the relationship between a group of gay, travesti, and lesbian youth from the favela of Cidade de Deus (Rio de Janeiro) with the urban territory. Exploring how spatial and social relations mutually shape each other, it will examine the urban experience of this group, located at the intersection of different axes of oppression. The bodies of these youth are not expected and legitimized bodies in the Carioca public space, informed by a heteronormative culture. Specifically, the youth involved in the research draw different maps of fear and control that orient their performance in public spaces. These maps are influenced by the “semi-public” status that characterizes favelas and the controlling role of gender and sexual morality exercised by narcotraffickers. Exclusion from the city is also manifested in the sphere of housing and rights, especially the right to study. Taking up the concept of the “continuum of violence”, it will analyze how homotransphobic violence directed toward this group is actually an amplified version of violence affecting the broader population of favelas and subaltern classes, on which the development of the city itself has historically been based. Finally, the forms of legitimization, recognition, and rebellion that this group advocates will be described, tracing a path from the space of parties to the space of rights and institutions.