Models Who Test Brazil s Tolerant Image
模特兒考驗巴西容忍度
By Taylor Barnes

SÃO PAULO, Brazil – As a young boy in Brazil’s heartland, Carol Marra watched her parents politely correct strangers who said what a pretty daughter they had.
還是巴西心臟地帶的一個小男孩時，卡蘿‧瑪拉看著父母禮貌地更正讚美他們女兒真是美麗的陌生人。

Now a favorite among Brazil’s growing class of transgender models, Ms. Marra, 26, has become a star. She filmed two mini-series for Brazilian TV, is starting a lingerie line, and was the first transgender model to walk Fashion Rio, a top event.
現在，26歲的瑪拉已成明星，是巴西日益增多的變性模特兒中的寵兒。她拍攝過巴西電視兩部迷你劇集，正開創一個內衣品牌，並且是在時裝界頂級盛事里約時裝秀走秀的第一位變性模特兒。

Her popularity points to striking, if precarious, gains in Brazil’s popular culture for Ms. Marra and her small number of peers. In a country that publicly celebrates its mixed-race and multicultural heritage, Brazil’s cosmopolitan capitals like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have become places where crossing gender lines is increasingly accepted. Still, Brazil is also in many ways a deeply conservative country with strong religious forces that can create a hostile environment for its gay and transgender population.
瑪拉的知名度說明，她和為數不多的同行在巴西流行文化中已大有斬穫，即使地位不見得鞏固。在公開稱許其種族融合和多元文化遺產的這個國家，巴西的國際化都市如聖保羅和里約已是日益接受跨越性別界線的地方。話雖如此，巴西在許多方面仍然十分保守，而其強大的宗教勢力可能營造出對同志和變性人並不友善的環境。

“They say Brazil is a liberal, progressive country, but it’s not really like that,” said Ms. Marra.
瑪拉說：「他們說巴西是自由、進步的國家，其實不然。」

Ms. Marra herself has become a success story for a rising number of transgender models who, like her, migrated from more remote regions to São Paulo, considered the most important fashion hub of South America.
在與日俱增的變性模特兒中，瑪拉屬於勝利組。這些模特兒和她一樣，從較偏遠的地區移居到被奉為南美洲最重要時尚樞紐城市的聖保羅。

Relative newcomers like Melissa Paixão, Camila Ribeiro and Felipa Tavares have gotten runway and catalog work in the national fashion market. Ms. Ribeiro walked in the Fashion Business show in Rio for Santa Ephigênia, a classy women’s wear brand. And Ms. Paixão will be in the coming catalog of Walério Araújo, a top Brazilian designer.
還算是新人的梅莉莎‧派克索、卡蜜拉‧里貝羅和菲莉帕‧塔瓦雷斯，都在全國的時尚市場找到伸展台和拍攝型錄的工作。在里約的時裝秀中，里貝羅穿著高檔女裝品牌「聖艾菲姬尼亞」走秀。派克索將在巴西頂尖設計師華勒里歐‧阿勞霍即將推出的型錄中亮相。

The transgender models say that their experiences bear out the idea that progress in gaining social acceptance has been uneven despite the anything-goes image the nation.
這些變性模特兒說，他們的經驗證實了以下想法：儘管這個國家的形象是百無禁忌，社會包容性的進展之路卻並不平坦。

Gender-bending has a long history in Brazil; public cross-dressing peaks each year with the pre-Lenten Carnival celebrations. Drag shows by transgender and gay performers became a fad in Rio nightclubs in the 1950s.
變性在巴西歷史悠久，每年的四旬齋前嘉年華狂歡活動更是公開變裝的顛峰。1950年代，變性者和同志表演者的變裝秀曾在里約夜總會蔚為流行。

Brazil has also increasingly become supportive of gay rights. São Paulo hosts one of the world’s largest gay pride parades, and since 2010, the Brazilian judiciary has upheld gay couples’ rights to civil unions, adoption and marriage. But a proposal to distribute antidiscrimination kits in public schools was defeated by the government after evangelical members of Congress complained of its sexual content.
巴西也日益支持同志權利。聖保羅的同志驕傲大遊行規模在全球數一數二，自2010年起，巴西司法制度支持的同志權利包括民事結合、領養、婚姻，不過，在公立學校發送反歧視宣傳品的提案，因國會福音教派成員抱怨其中的性愛內容而遭擋駕。

And violence and prejudice against the gay and transgender populations remain high. Grupo Gay da Bahia, a prominent gay rights group, reported 338 killings nationwide of gay, lesbian and transgender people in 2012.
對同志和變性人施暴和懷抱偏見仍很常見。知名同志權利維護團體「巴伊亞同性戀團體」說，2012年全巴西遭到殺害的男女同志與變性人共338人。

Roberta Close, who posed for Playboy in 1984, is considered Brazil’s first transgender model and cultivated a devoted male following with her girlish aesthetic. The actress Rogéria, born Astolfo Barroso Pinto, is a household name in Brazil after years of appearing on Globo TV.
1984年登上「花花公子」雜誌的蘿貝塔‧柯洛茲咸認是巴西的第一個變性模特兒，且以她的少女美感吸引了一批男性死忠粉絲。女演員蘿格莉亞，原名亞斯托佛‧巴洛索‧平托，在「環球電視」露臉多年之後，她已成為巴西家喻戶曉的人物。

Brazil’s most internationally recognized transgender model is Lea T, born Leandro Cerezo and the son of a former soccer star, Toninho Cerezo.
巴西最具國際知名度的變性模特兒是莉亞‧T，原名雷安德洛‧塞雷佐，是前足球明星托尼諾‧塞雷佐之子。

Still, the proportion of transgender models is tiny considering the vast fashion industry here. And Ms. Marra said her renown in the fashion world has not carried over to other realms. She said she has been inundated with vulgar messages from men on her Facebook page.
不過，巴西時尚業十分龐大，變性模特兒所占比率其實極小。瑪拉說，她在時尚界的名氣並未跨越到其他領域，她的臉書網頁被男性粗俗的留言灌爆。

“I never wanted to be an activist of the cause,” Ms. Marra said. “I thought I was a woman like any other.” But she became outspoken after receiving messages from transgender individuals in more remote corners of the country, like a prostitute in Manaus.
瑪拉說：「我從來不想成為維權人士。我認為我和一般女性沒有兩樣。」但在接獲來自更偏遠角落的變性人，如馬瑙斯一名妓女的訊息後，她開始直言無諱。

Ms. Marra said she did not receive fair treatment in casting, saying that she was assigned only to roles of transgender women.
瑪拉說，在角色分配上她未受公平待遇，只讓她演變性女性。

“The majority of actors are gay and they can play a heartthrob,” Ms. Marra told her director at her mini-series shoot. “Why can’t I play a maid, a secretary, a tree?”
瑪拉在拍攝迷你劇集時告訴導演：「這些男演員多數是同志，卻可以演萬人迷。為什麼我不能扮演女僕、秘書，或者一棵樹？」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/world/americas/transgender-models-prosper-in-brazil-where-carnival-and-faith-reign.html

Video：‘That’s Not My Daughter’ Carol Marra says she did not grow up thinking she would be a model.
http://nyti.ms/1gpCZef

Video：A Brazilian Model’s Transformative Role Carol Marra is leading a new group of transgender models who are stepping into Brazil’s mainstream fashion industry.
http://nyti.ms/1gpCDUV

2014-04-01聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 王麗娟譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版右