ardo Cunha, recently implicated in the federal corruption scandal, which would further restrict women’s rights to abortion. Currently, abortion is only legal in Brazil in cases when the mother’s life is at risk, the fetus has brain damage, or the pregnancy is a result of rape. Cunha’s bill, law 5069/13, would require a rape victim to prove she was raped in order to qualify for a legal abortion, through evidence of physical or psychological harm. Protesters argue providing evidence is not always possible and that methods of demanding evidence could be invasive. Many of the protesters would favor legalizing abortion as a woman’s choice, but if abortion must be restricted, they refuse to see additional limitations placed on women’s rights, demanding Cunha’s removal from office with the hashtag #ForaCunha (“get out, Cunha”). One 19-year-old student protester stated: “We’re here to prevent setbacks at [Cunha’s] hands.
Cunha is not the only politician facing backlash from women’s rights groups. Recent headlines that Rio mayoral candidate Pedro Paulo beat his ex-wife, Alexandra Mendes Marcondes, on two occasions in 2008 and 2010 led the former couple to hold a joint press conference. Marcondes admitted she had filed two police reports against her husband for physical violence, but still assured reporters he “is not an aggressive person.” She dismissed the media scrutiny by saying “all couples have fights.” Paulo added: “Who doesn’t lose control?…We were a couple like any other. Who doesn’t go through this?” These statements excuse domestic abuse by normalizing it, sending the twisted message that it’s okay because it’s commonplace. Although not as popular as #ForaCunha, #ForaPedroPaulo has also made its mark on social media and in protest signs and chants. Both these politicans were targets of slogans at Rio’s fifth annual SlutWalk on November 15, where a few hundred women protested violence, discrimination, and the notion that women’s clothing instigates sexual assault.
A feminist spring?
Together, the marches, the data, the media articles, the social media debates and the apps amplify a forceful and urgent need for greater respect for women, regardless of the specific issues at stake. And the action isn’t over. Next week, for example, the Prostitution Observatory will host a course titled “A Particular Revolution: The Brazilian Prostitutes’ Movement,” highlighting another complex facet of women’s rights that needs greater and more open discussion.
Activists have claimed space in the media to declare a “feminist spring,” asserting that “the place of a woman is in politics.” Activists Helena Zelic and Sarah de Roure argue that this “feminist spring,” coming on the heels of a “conservative winter,” will have lasting results: “Our daily struggle gains force as a permanent action in defense of our lives, our bodies, and an agenda that proposes to change the world through feminism.” The success of feminism, however, must be judged on its ability to raise the status of and respect for all women, especially those most marginalized.