Antifeminist rhetoric and practice in Brazil

Abstract

Antifeminism has grown on the twenty-one century, being used and reproduced by governments around the world to acquire loyal subjects and implement other conservative policies in their countries. This paper analysis the anti-feminist rhetoric and practice in one of the cases, Brazil, focusing on Bolsonaro’s government. Other studies have studied this topic, but we are still lacking an approach that considers psychoanalysis and the fantasmatic effect on our social and political scenario. Using discourse theory and rhetoric, this paper answers the questions: What is the character of Bolsonaro’s government’s anti-feminist rhetoric and practice? What accounts for its grip among members of his base? The answers are related to how the government convinces their subjects through their character, reason and emotion. Related to the latter, the grip happens through theft of enjoyment and the anxiety brought by the threat of abortion and gender ideology.