Uma análise da manifestação de violência política contra mulheres brasileiras na esfera pública técnico-midiatizada: os casos da Manuela D'Ávila e Joice Hasselmann

Abstract

This research analyzes political gender-based violence against two female politicians, Joice Hasselmann and Manuela D'Ávila, examining its expression within the context of a techno-mediatized public sphere. The study was conducted using documentary analysis on a corpus comprising accounts, interviews, news reports, memes, town halls/debates, and other materials. The objective of the study is to analyze how the political violence directed at them unfolded through the production of images and narratives disseminated across various media platforms. Grounded in frame theory, originally formulated by Erving Goffman (1974) and updated for the digital media domain, the research investigates the construction of these public figures' images by different audiences and political groups, considering the exploitation of the digital environment for personal attacks and mass communication. The research demonstrates that a variety of frames were employed to delegitimize their political actions: the frame of political innocence, which infantilizes them and reduces them to secondary accessories; the aesthetic frame, which privileges physical attributes over their significant electoral performances and technical competence; the frame of dehumanization, operated through animal comparisons and ridiculing; the conflictual frame, which pathologizes their leadership as a source of intrigue; and the personal life frame, which instrumentalizes moral and intimate scrutiny to shift focus away from policy-driven debate. It concludes that, despite belonging to opposite ideological spectrums, both politicians suffered symmetrical processes of gender-based violence, revealing how the techno-mediatized sphere acts to corrode public image, sabotage reputations, and induce the withdrawal of women from spaces of power, ultimately posing a serious threat to democratic institutions.