ABSTRACT
This essay examines the anthropological interpretation of sexual meanings in Brazil as presented in the recent work of Peter Fry. Following Fry's lead, it places central emphasis on the study of male homosexuality and sexual ideology, suggesting that these cultural domains can be fully understood only when situated within the wider context of sexual meanings in Brazil, With this in mind, it traces the historical development of a series of analytically distinct, though practically interrelated, systems of sexual classification which structure the constitution of meaningful sexual identities in Brazilian life.
