Rodolpho Espinoza
For being naughty and appearing cheery and fresh with his hands covering the naked boobies of a Brazilian dancer, Santa Claus didn't get any gifts this past Christmas. Au contraire, he was scolded and the magazine that showed him on the cover in the wicked posture had to pay a fine for its daringly bad taste.
The appearance of dancer Carla Perez in the company of Santa on the December cover of Playboy magazine—the publication was released on the first week of December—provoked the ire of those who make a living dressing as the Good Old Man during the Christmas season. Papais Noéis (as they are called in Brazil) from Rio and São Paulo protested loudly against the sacrilege. In Rio, a group of Santas placed a black stripe on their red caps as sign of mourning.
Limachen Cherem, the director of a school for Santas from Rio, was fuming: "We are in mourning. In our school the student learns to live the character with dignity and respect. It is not enough to wear the clothes and go out there. You need to portray and honor the image of the Good Old Man. The magazine cover is in bad taste. It doesn't make sense to show Papai Noel looking like a sexual pervert. When my three-year-old daughter saw the cover of the magazine printed in the newspaper she asked many questions. How many children will have the same reaction? Even being a Carla Perez's fan, my daughter was shocked with the image of Santa Claus and Carla. Children see Santa as an innocent character, something almost holy. It's very sad to see this belief destroyed. There was no need to place Santa Claus together with a naked woman."
There is no other country like Brazil in which the lines between men's magazines like Playboy and mainstream publications are so blurred. It's a rare month that the daily papers don't deal with controversies brought by the nudity displayed in the glossy monthly. This time, several papers not only talked about the cover in question but also reproduced it, bringing the image of the naughty Santa inside home.
The controversy was compounded when a zealous judge from Rio sent workers with a black stripe to cover the exposed derriere of the same Carla Perez, this time showing her nudity on billboards throughout the city, once again publicizing her appearance in Playboy. The copy accompanying the billboard showing the indecently exposed dancer read: "Santa Claus will never again go out with those viadinhos." In Portuguese, the word viadinho has double meaning. It means little deer, but also, little queers. At that time, thanks to all the free publicity, the magazine was already sold out in newsstands across the nation.
Although paired with Santa in the cover, inside the magazine, Perez was photographed in Chapada dos Veadeiros, state of Goiás, with a background reminiscent of the American Old West. Posed as a cowgirl, Perez was dressed in no more than a hat and a whip, at times galloping on a white stallion. The dailies didn't forget to mention that the Carla shown this Christmas was a much-improved version of the model from past seasons. Thanks to plastic surgery she was able to show a new nose, a new stomach, new breasts-enlarged by almost two inches-and even new buttocks, her trademark.
Talking to No. (Notícia e Opinião—News and Opinion), a Webzine, Carla Perez, tried to soothe those who complained about what they thought were too-radical changes in her body: "My nose might have changed, but my butt is still the same." And added quite philosophically: "I used to be a mere butt."
Among several published articles commenting on her new look, at least one made reference to American pop singer Michael Jackson and his multiple face mutations. The 23-year-old dancer has being surgically improving her body since she was 20. Since 1997 she has added 220 mg of silicone to her breasts, removed acne spots from her face, smoothed her hair, lifted her nose, straightened her belly, and even touched up her derriere.
Perez, who posed for Playboy for the first time when she was 18, was cited as saying: "After the last essay for Playboy I decided that I wouldn't pose nude again. But the magazine insisted since January and I decided to show another Carla Perez. My nose is becoming famous now. But my career has gone through phases. In the beginning I was a butt, which was an injustice since I dance with my legs and my swing and not with my derriere. After awhile I left the band É o Tchan and started to be known as a TV announcer. Today I feel people refer to my butt in a kinder way. They don't call it bunda anymore, but bumbum."
Carla's new layout has also fired up the main plastic surgeons in the country. The best-known, world-renowned Ivo Pitanguy commented: "We need to know whether there is a real need for plastic surgery or whether it is a mere whim. We also have to keep in mind that we are dealing with a human being and not only a physical structure" For Rawlson de Thuim, another famous plastic surgeon, the dancer had the right to do what she did: "Her nose looks great. Before it didn't fit her face. And there is no problem of age. We can have breast implants starting at age 14."
To what Hugo de Castro, another plastic professional, retorts: "People like this who are obsessed with changing their own characteristics have a disease. This is a case for psychoanalysis." Surgeon Edmar Fontoura also participated in the debate: "The plastic surgery that removes somebody's identity is a problem. You can't go to a doctor's office and ask to have the face of somebody else. That's what happened to Michael Jackson who wanted to look like Diana Ross."
