This paper describes a very popular and traditionally male practice in Florianopolis: the song birds' tournaments. The ethnography on the "Curió Nerve" or the "Curió Braveness" contests intends to demonstrate gender representations that are present on sing birds competitions of agonistic aspect in which a male is expected to intimidate and subjugate another male by his own chant. The "brave curió" is "a fighter" (that does not have any physical contact with his opponent). The one that produces more chants wins the competition, attesting his virility and the male-fighter superiority over the other contestants. The interesting point here is that there is a profound identification among the bird and his owner, and the bird performance reverberates on the identity, and particularly on the masculinity of the owner. This ethnography makes evident not only the representational aspect of gender, but also its relational and circulational aspect. The element that gives potency to the masculinity in dispute on these contests is the relation. Gender appears here as reciprocally built on relations of male/female animals and on relations among masculines and feminines.
Gender; Masculinity; Representations; Curió; Contest