Ondas de ódio: o deslocamento de contradições materiais para o gênero no discurso da extrema-direita digital brasileira

Abstract

This study analyzes how gender-targeted hate speech from the Brazilian digital far right displaces material contradictions onto moral and identity-based terrain, turning gender into the privileged axis of antagonism. It examines three instances of discursive circulation, with varying degrees of regulation and visibility, treated as simultaneous rather than successive. Experimentation takes place in anonymous forums, mediation on mainstream platforms, and transnational moral legitimation in think tanks and political networks. The theoretical framework articulates Discourse Analysis (Pêcheux and Courtine) and Paveau’s technodiscursive approach with the contributions of Davis, Fraser, Brown, and Butler. In the experimentation instance, posts from Brazilian IPs on 4chan between 2013 and 2024 were examined through log-likelihood significance analysis (G²; Dunning) and topic modeling with BERTopic (Grootendorst), followed by close reading of discursive sequences. The articulation between digital methods and Discourse Analysis makes it possible to move from large-scale archives to analyzable selections without forgoing the reading of discursive materiality. In the mediation instance, the corpus comprises posts from two X/Twitter profiles, collected with Zeeschuimer and organized in 4CAT. In the legitimation instance, public documents from the Instituto Conservador-Liberal and the Political Network for Values were examined, along with a speech delivered at one of the latter’s transnational events. Across all three instances, the analysis found the same operation: a material loss is stated with precision and, in the same gesture, blamed on women. No path of formulations was observed between the instances. What connects them is the statement of a natural division of roles between the sexes, which appears as transverse discourse in the forum and on social media and as a principle in institutional documents; the transit occurs through actors, not through formulations. The study concludes that gender functions as a mechanism for concealing material conflict, in an operation that recurs irregularly and multidirectionally across the instances.