Brazilian women’s representativeness

Lara Cristina Batista Souza

It is known that we live in a society that diminishes the image of the women in order to
heighten the role of the men. However, this social practice is not a product of modern
thoughts nor a recent way of acting that will eventually fade away with the growth of the new
generation. Actually, this is a discourse, in turn, a social practice that controls the
management of human living inside a community, which were built in the beginning by
speech, practice, acting and so on of the patriarchal society.
In this sense, Michel Foucault (2010) brilliantly elucidated us about the influence and
importance of discourse into society, therefore, we believe that every product is permeated by
values from this reality - that is, the sexist current of thought. Brazilian culture in
performance, then, presents itself based on a historical background of meaning construction
that constantly puts the women in an inferior position, in which everything possible done is
given by this discourse, it is done or not through it and could only exist by its permission.
These premises can be clearly seen in the following quote:

“[...] e os discursos que estão na origem de um certo número de novos actos de fala,
actos que retomam, os transformam ou falam deles, numa palavra, os discursos que,
indefinidamente e para além da sua formulação, são ditos, ficam ditos, e estão ainda
por dizer. Sabemos da sua existência no nosso sistema de cultura [...]”
(FOUCAULT, 2010, p.7) (our bold)

Despite the undeniable fact of the discourse’s game of power relationships, Foucault’s
aforementioned utterance also shows that is possible, in words, to recall and transform this
discourses. Undoubtedly, a proof for this statement happened two months ago, in an interview,
when the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro said to a journalist that if anyone wants to come
to Brazil and have sex with a woman, they can feel free to do so. Clearly, his assertion not
only shows the patriarchal founding discourse mentioned above, but it also opened the door
for the power gamble, placed into words, inside the Brazilian community.
By that, we mean that the opposition side, the discourse not dominant yet, had the
chance to fight back through the possible discursive formation that plays the power game of
this relationship. The government of the State of Maranhão answered Bolsonaro’s declaration
with the following post, in the social media Facebook:
Fonte:https://www.gazetaonline.com.br/noticias/politica/2019/04/em-resposta-a-bolsonaro-governo-do-es-faz-po
st-contra-turismo-sexual-1014178553.html

The post of the government did not only give an answer back nor questioned the powers
relationships presented in the president’s speech, but it also highlighted the capitalist values
behind it. Consequently, we can see that the lines of what is right or wrong can no longer be
seen in this liquid modernity, as Bauman pointed out, because everything can be inserted in a
position of willing, in which brief satisfaction is sought - that is what happened with the
image of the Brazilian woman. In Bauman’s words,

There is no end to the shopping list. Yet however long the list, the way to opt out
of shopping is not on it: And the competence most needed in our world of ostensibly
infinite ends is that of skilful and indefatigable shopper. (BAUMAN, 2000, p.74)
(our bold)

From that, we can say that more than just a simple defense, the social post portrays the
lost of solid connections and representativeness in the contemporary society. That’s because,
in this discussion, beyond the devaluation of the Brazilian women’s representativeness, we
could also perceive their objectification. In this post, we can point out that the tourism is not
only a trade of places and objects anymore, but it also consider human beings as an
experience that can be sold and bought - a huge problem that, apparently, cannot be ignored
by the contemporary Brazilian society anymore.

REFERÊNCIAS:

FOUCAULT, Michel. A ordem do discurso. São Paulo: Edições Loyola, 20ª ed., 2010.
BAUMAN, Zigmunt. Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000.