Daily banal and persistent sexism in Brazilian politics

Abstract

In the last decades, cultural gender and feminist studies have significantly contributed to different forms of awareness about questions of gender identities, discrimination, and exclusion in postmodern societies. However, these ‘isms’ are still present in many forms of institutional and private discourses. In many parts of the world, and especially in Brazil, there is a considerable backlash in terms of conservative visions about social gender, materialised in different semiotic forms of meaning making. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the subtle ways in which banal sexism and linguistic violence are encoded in political discursive practices.  Using Critical Discourse Analysis as my theoretical tool, I will discuss insults against women and minorities produced by the current President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.