A politically correct Brazilian Carnival

CROSS-DRESSING, undressing, bad taste and ribaldry are features of every Brazilian Carnival (this year’s begins on February 24th). Transgression has always been part of the point. But this year the bacchanal’s political incorrectness is provoking a backlash, especially in Rio de Janeiro, where the festival is at its glitziest. And the demand for sensitivity has created another backlash of its own. In an editorial published on February 4th, O Globo, a liberal newspaper, lamented that “to police this Rio patrimony is to leave samba behind”.

The fuss is mainly about marchinhas, singalongs performed in Carnival street parades known as blocos. Often, the lyrics are unashamedly rude. Classics such as “Mary the Dyke” and “Zezé’s Head of Hair” do not evince respect for homosexuals. Zezé “looks like a perv/don’t know if he is”, goes the latter. Even politer songs are failing to pass politically-correct muster. Mulheres Rodadas (roughly, “well-worn women”), a feminist bloco in Rio de Janeiro, wanted to remove from its repertoire “Tropicália”, a much-loved song by...