Over the last days, the attitude of a group of Brazilian fans in the World Cup in Russia generated a major revolt and won international repercussion. On several videos circulating on the internet, a group of men, dressed in a Brazilian shirt, surround a young lady that clearly does not speak Portuguese, singing and yelling male-chauvinist and misogynous phrases, with offenses to her body. To worsen things, they make her repeat the phrase, taking advantage of the fact that she does not understand the language, to ridicule and shame her.
By Erika Andreassy, from the PSTU Women’s Secretariat.
The images are strong, offensive, and make one more chapter of the male-chauvinist drama and violence against women, field in which Brazil is a champion. Among the phrases, we can hear “she is really pinky,” “Oh, what a delight,”[1] and “pinky p**ssy”. It is disgusting and repellent.
So far, 4 men have been identified. One of them is a lawyer from Pernambuco, Diego Valença Jatobá, former Secretary of Tourism from Ipojuca (PE,) tried for administrative improbity while in office, in 2012. Diego is also convicted in a cause for alimony, currently in the Justice and with a debt of over 37 thousand reales.
Another man involved is the civil engineer and former member of the Engineering and Agronomy Regional Council of Piauí, Luciano Gil Mendes Coelho, who was also Secretary of Health and Education in Picos (PI), and just like Diego, he also has a file. In 2015, Luciano was arrested in the operation Paradise, by the Federal Police, accused of deviating public money from the City Council of Araripina (PE), where we worked as an engineer.
The Santa Catarina Military Police Lieutenant Eduardo Nunes, acting in the city of Lages (SC) was also recognized, as well as Felipe Wilson, Latam worker in Guarulhos (SP).
Luciano tried to minimize the situation. In an interview via Whats App for the agency The Intercept Brasil, he avoided to take responsibility and chose the easiest apology: alcohol. As if this was not enough, he blamed the press: “We are parents, workers, and you are destroying our lives… you are making a storm from a raindrop,” he said to UOL. The engineer also declared that he is “upset” with the repercussion of these images. On the humiliation, aggression and violence committed against the young lady, not a word.
Sadly, this is not an isolated case. After the disgusting video, others emerged in the social media, showing fans (from Brazil and other countries) harassing women with sexual-like “games”. In all cases, men take advantage of the fact that those women do not speak the language to make sexist comments. This is a picture of how the male-chauvinist culture still prevails in our society.
It is not by chance that, in the world, 1 of 3 women have already suffered physical or sexual violence, and that every 10 minutes a woman is killed (according to the UN). This is the result of a male-chauvinist ideology, that considers women as inferior and property of men. This ideology is fed and stimulated by capitalism, that uses male-chauvinism and oppression against women to divide the working class and over-exploit it, increasing their profits. Imperialism and capitalism campaigns against male-chauvinism are nothing but a huge fraud.
It is worth to remember that Brazil is the 5th country in the ranking of violence against women. A woman is beaten every 7 seconds, and every 2 hours a Brazilian woman is killed by male-chauvinist violence. Not to mention rapes, harassment, sexual tourism, among other types of violence – of which black women are the main victims. The men involved in the video make part of those who feature and increase those alarming numbers.
Several entities wrote repudiation notes, including the State of Pernambuco Bar Association of Brazil (OAB-PE), which decided to investigate the behavior of Diego Jatobá through the Committee of Lawyer Women. The latest escalated the denounce to the Ethics and Discipline Court of the Bar. Santa Catarina’s PM also informed that it will open a disciplinary administrative process against Lieutenant Eduardo Nunes.
It is worth to mention that male-chauvinism and misogyny denounces are frequent, inside and outside the police offices in Brazil. It is no news that police officers disrespect women when they carry out operations in the periphery, treating those women as prostitutes or “hobo mothers,” especially when they are black. There are many cases of women treated as guilty when they get to the Police Station to denounce a case of violence, by the people that are supposed to be there to help them.
Also, an investigation carried out in 2015 by the Brazilian Forum for Public Security and by the Department of Organizations and People Studies of the School of Business Administration of Sao Paulo, part of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation revealed that 40% of women acting in Police institutions in Brazil already suffered harassment. Despite that, most denounces end up filed.
The aerial company Latam, whose historic of denounces for racism is highly known, announced the demission of the employee that appears in the video. The Brazilian government, despite receiving countless emails, registered by the Brazilian Ambassador in Russia, criticizing the behavior of the fans involved, made no specific comment about it and waits for a formal denounce to take a stand.
The PSTU vehemently repudiates the male-chauvinist behavior practiced against women, not only during the Cup but in any situation, be it by Brazilian men or any other nationality. Nothing justifies such attitudes. It is not “a game”, this is aggression. In the specific case of the videos with Brazilian men involved, we defend all of them to be identified and punished, independently of a formal denounce by the women that suffered harassment. Among other things, because is highly unlikely that those women, which are bot Brazilian and do not even speak Portuguese, to come to Brazil to make a denounce. Also, the fact of publishing this type of videos online is already considered a virtual crime.
Thus, we say, enough violence and male-chauvinism! Exemplary punishment to the aggressors!
***
[1] In reference to a song that is considered highly sexist, “Delicia, assim você me mata… ai, se eu te pego.” [Delight, you kill me… oh, if I get you.”]. T.N.
