ABSTRACT
In Paulo Lin’s 1997 book Cidade de Deus (City of God), on which the 2002 film of the same name is based, a young man is urged by his male peers to kill a wounded rival gang member. His friends tease him for the fact that he has never killed anyone. Thinking to himself that he wants their respect and consideration, he fires six shots into the wounded rival gang member. The book and film represent a dramitised account of youth and drug trafficking based on actual events in one of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. The scene hints at the connection between how manhood is defined and the violence that has come to characterize Rio de Janerio and other parts of the world. Entire books and thousands of articles have been written about factors associated with young men’s violence and gang involvement. Here, the focus will be on two issues. The first is: how can non-violence or resistance strategies to violent versions of manhood be promoted in these settings? The second is, what is specifically male about this violence?
