in the 1950’s and 1960’s brazil was experiencing the complex transition from a conservative and agriculture-based society to a modern, industrialized nation. during this transition old and new mindsets existed simultaneously, and nowhere was this more evident than in attitudes toward sex. for instance there was a public demand for sex education (and sexually stimulating) material but very little was in circulation owing to the tradition of severe censorship from both the church and the state. meanwhile, though the people may have been interested in educating themselves about their own sexuality, the priests of the catholic church were still including mental retardation, madness, and death as side effects of masturbation in their sermons against it. at this point the only legally available “erotica” were the photographs of miss brazil candidates in o cruzeiro, the brazilian equivalent of time or life magazines.






in brazilian society at this time middle class boys were most likely to have their sexual initiation with the young maids of the house, under the cynical compliance of their church-going parents, just like the slave masters of only three or four generations earlier. their only other option were the brothels where “boys became men, and men became infected.” sweden and denmark were considered in the popular imagination to be paradises of sexual liberty simply because they happened to be the origin of of the very few smuggled pornographic publications. (france and poland were similarly romanticized due to the influx of prostitutes from these countries during the economic booms of coffee, rubber, and cocoa.) in any case brazil itself was decidedly repressed.






sexuality was schizophrenically divided between the house, a territory of respect for conventions and religion, where sex was a taboo subjugated by the routines of tradition, and “real” life, where all practices were allowed and all fantasies were possible. as a result it was common for men to have multiple families, one official and others economically supported but unrecognized. women, meanwhile, had no erotica available to them save the italian soap opera’s of the day, and few sexual options other than being an official wife, an unofficial wife, or a prostitute.






it was into this climate that carlos zefiro (and his soon to emerge legion of imitators) began clandestinely flooding the country with inexpensive, often poorly drawn, pornographic comics, printed on cheap paper, with rudimentary printing techniques. they were called, ironically, catecismos, which means “small prayer booklets” and they were immediately a popular phenomenon. despite exposing their creators (and possessors) to the risks of draconian legislation they were eagerly snatched up by teenagers and adults alike in “special” magazine stands. more than just being popular smut zefiro’s penny porn was, in a real sense, the only source of sexual information available to an whole generation of brazilians.






as mentioned earlier “zafiro” was a pseudonym (based on “zephyr” the messenger of eros in greek mythology.) his real identity was the subject of passionate debate right from the his first publication in 1958. 30 years later zafiro ended the debate when the “underground lone ranger” of porn revealed himself as a shy, civil servant, grandfather in his seventies named jose carlos aguiar caminha. recognition of his works had grown in the sexually permissive modern age and impostors had begun cropping up trying to cash in. when finally admitting authorship caminha explained simply that the modest income his comics brought in was essential in supporting his family and he had to come forward to safeguard it. he died not many years after in 1994.

*most the previous was culled and reshaped from an essay in the chapbook called carlos zefiro: unknown soldier of liberty and irreverence. by jean r.d. guimaraes.






i understand that in seeking to legitimize a “low” art form such as this a case for some deeper cultural significance must be made, but for my part i have to say that the “noble, fighting against the severe censorship from both church and the state” angle might be a bit overstated. the book contains two full zefiro stories as well as one of an imitator, and, well, they are truly filthy. (the samples i’ve included here are by no means representative) from these and what i’ve seen elsewhere it seems that priests lifting their frocks to expose long curving boners figure prominently, as well as all manner of macho sex fantasy. now, don’t get me wrong, priest boner’s don’t negate any possible cultural significance, but i can’t help but think that sometimes smut is just that- smut, gloriously filthy, beloved, and against the grain though it may be.






for more on the man and his “culturally significant” filth see this tribute page (in Portuguese).

for more images see here.