Don't Blame It on Rio: The Real Deal Behind Why Men Go to Brazil for Sex
Click to order via Amazon

by Jewel Woods and Karen Hunter

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 24, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446178063

Book Review by Kam Williams

�Black women were once at the center of black men's lives, as wives, mothers, lovers and partners' However, in this generation, black women have become somewhat of a nuisance, a burden, and perhaps even a pariah in black men's lives�

For the first time ever, large and growing numbers of black men have the option to ask what they perceive to be a legitimate question: Are black women necessary?

This book is not only going to deal with the question �Are black women necessary?� It will also take a look at the broader question of why black men are looking for something they think is outside black women.�
�Excerpted from the Introduction (pages 2-8)

Did you know that Brazil, the country with the largest concentration of people of African descent in the Western hemisphere, has become the favorite vacation destination of a rapidly-increasing number of professional black men? Apparently, they�re flocking to Rio de Janeiro for more than a little rest and relaxation on a sun-drenched beach.

The country is now also a popular port of call with bourgie brothers due to the easy availability of beautiful Brazilian women (�Halle Berry on steroids�) who don�t have the attitude or emotional baggage they generally find attached to sisters back at home. Some of them describe attaining �a level of physical and sexual intimacy, a sort of sexual healing, that they see as lacking in many of their current relationships with black women.� Consequently, they don�t mind having to venture to Rio de Janeiro repeatedly for �an experience that they think are denied them by black women in America.�

We have Jewel Woods and Pulitzer Prize-winner Karen Hunter to thank for blowing the covers off this clandestine sex trade currently flourishing in Brazil. For these two investigative journalists interviewed dozens of the peripatetic African-American men, many leading double lives, in preparation for co-writing Blame It on Rio, a rather revealing look at an emerging cultural phenomenon,.

And exactly why is this generation of black men with money so fond of Brazilian women? The authors blame a variety of contributing factors. First, the fact that they grew up watching hip-hop music on BET which groomed them to expect a rainbow coalition of gorgeous models eager to satisfy. And that utopian fantasy is just a plane ride away, since �Going to Rio is like walking into a rap video: scantily clad women, gyrating and fawning over every man in sight.�

Another factor is addressed by an African-American physician who found salvation in Rio from sisters' bad attitudes in the States. He asks point blank, �Where else in the world is a black woman's attitude accepted as the social norm, except in America?�

Next, the issue of anger is raised, with the observation that, �In complete contrast to the warm and affectionate demeanor of Latin American women, the most prominent characteristic of black women is anger.� Here, Woods and Hunter again blame the entertainment industry for causing black men to view their women with contempt by perpetuating the mammy stereotype by having �Tyler Perry, Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy � put on a fatsuit and a dress to solidify �the image of the fat, loud, rude black woman.�

Other chapters explore widespread rejection of black women over their frigidity, obesity and Christianity. The participants in the project are so relentless and rabid on their indictment of the African-American female, I couldn�t help but pause periodically to wonder whether this was all a joke, since I've never previously heard anyone mention Rio as a sexual retreat.

Despite all of the dissing, the authors are ultimately optimistic about black male-female relationships, though they suggest that professional brothers are in dire need of an extreme makeover. They close with a list of �Ten Things Black Women Need and Want,� including understanding and truth.

A controversial expose� about a shocking trend likely to divide and devastate the Hip Hop Generation along gender lines in the absence of constructive conversation capable of paving the path to honesty and reconciliation.