The Semiotics of Masculinity Ideology and Hegemonic Masculinity in Bolsonaro’S Brazil
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The Semiotics of Masculinity Ideology and Hegemonic Masculinity in Bolsonaro’s Brazil Clara Ribeiro Assumpção University of Glasgow Abstract Hegemony, according to Gramsci, is a struggle between embattling ideologies. The process in which masculinity ideology continuously wins this struggle is dubbed Hegemonic Masculinity. The hypothesis this article will aim to prove is that under President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil is going through a phase of strengthening of masculinity ideology, curbing the room for dissent in the hegemonic struggle. In order to substantiate this hypothesis, Bolsonaro’s self-projected persona will be analysed through a semiotic interpretation of the pictures in his official Facebook account. As Bolsonaro is the head of the state and the government, the ideology behind his self-portrayal is indicative of the underlying ideology of his rule. The relevance of this study comes from presenting an innovative way to point out the presence of hegemonic masculinity in politics. This allows for the connection of institutionalised hegemonic masculinity with human security, bringing to light how the privileging of masculinity ideology leads to the silencing of dissenting voices and the neglect of non- hegemonic insecurities. Keywords: Brazil, Gender Studies, Hegemonic Masculinity, Hegemonic Struggle, Politics Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Clara Ribeiro Assumpção at [email protected] 1 Introduction Hegemony, in the Gramscian understanding of the term, is a struggle between embattling ideologies.1 The process in which masculinity ideology continuously wins this struggle was named by Connell as Hegemonic Masculinity.2 Throughout Brazilian history, historical and structural imbalances favoured hegemonic masculinity3 with periods of more or less space for disagreement. These spaces for disagreement seem to have shortened with Jair Bolsonaro’s election as the President of Brazil in 2018, as he pursues a conservative agenda and is in charge of a government marked by its far-right inclination4. Thus, this article’s hypothesis is that Brazil, under Bolsonaro’s rule, is going through a phase of strengthening of masculinity ideology. In this context, the room for dissent in the hegemonic struggle is curbed. In order to test this hypothesis, I will analyse Bolsonaro’s self-projected persona through a semiotic analysis of the pictures in his official Facebook account. As Bolsonaro is the head of the state and the government, the ideology behind his self-portrayal is indicative of the underlying ideology of his rule. The research questions guiding this work are twofold: 1. Is there a consistent intention of projecting masculinity ideology through Bolsonaro’s pictures?; 2. If so, is this effort coherent with the strengthening of the process of hegemonic masculinity? In order to answer these questions, first I will describe the ontology, epistemology and methodology employed in this work. Then I will briefly explain the working definitions of ideology, hegemony and masculinity, which are the concepts underpinning my analysis. Finally, I will proceed to the case study applying a critical semiotic analysis to Bolsonaro’s Facebook pictures. Based on the results of this analysis, I will conclude that there is a 1 Gramsci, Prison Notebooks Volume 2; Femia, Gramsci’s Political Thought. 2 Connell and Messerschmidt, ‘Hegemonic Masculinity’. 3 Chagas and Chagas, ‘A posição da mulher em diferentes épocas e a herança social do machismo no brasil’. 4 For a contextualization of the elections and the Brazilian far-right turn, see Hunter and Power, ‘Bolsonaro and Brazil’s Illiberal Backlash’. 2 consistent intention of projecting masculinity ideology, and that this effort is indeed coherent with the strengthening of hegemonic masculinity in Brazil. The relevance of this study comes from the fact that it presents an innovative way to point out the presence of hegemonic masculinity in politics. Similar studies mingling critical semiotics and politics are few,5 and none addresses the subject through a gendered lens. Additionally, this study also aims to connect institutionalised hegemonic masculinity with human security, bringing to light how the privileging of masculinity ideology leads to the silencing of dissenting voices and the neglect of non-hegemonic insecurities, such as those lived by women and non-hegemonic men. Ontology, Epistemology and Methodology The goal of this article is to study through a feminist and interpretivist approach whether President Jair Bolsonaro embodies the strengthening of masculinity ideology in the hegemonic process in Brazil, and what it means for the security of women and non- hegemonic men in the country. Before going in detail about such theoretical concepts, however, I will first expose the ontology and epistemology underpinning this work, as well as the methodological aspects behind my application of semiotics in the empirical section of this article. The ontological approaches guiding this piece are that of subjectivism and relativism, meaning that there is no objective reality. Reality, instead, is constructed through the interaction between language and the world, which does not exist independently from our knowledge of it.6 As gender is a social construct and a role, and as it 5 Rahmawati, ‘Semiosis Process Analysis on TIME Magazine Covers of Donald Trump Edition from 2016 until 2019’; Tom Shane, ‘The Semiotics of Authenticity: Indexicality in Donald Trump’s Tweets’, Social Media + Society; Ebru Asal, ‘Decoding the Significations: A Semiotic Analysis of Political Campaign Advertisements of Justice and Development Party’. 6 Scotland, ‘Exploring the Philosophical Underpinnings of Research’, 11. 3 does not exist prior to social interaction,7 I will use an interpretivist epistemology to analyse the components of masculinity ideology in Bolsonaro’s self-representation in social media. This will allow for an expanded understanding of hegemonic masculinity, as the socially constructed nature of the embattling ideologies are highlighted. The methodology applied is that of critical semiotic analysis, which aims to interpret meaning through the analysis of signs and their relations of signifier and signified through the intertextuality and interaction between the text, society, history and ideology.8 There is no neutral sign, as their aim is to persuade as well as to refer. Thus, signs work to perpetuate ideology, and critical semiotic analysis also involves ideology analysis.9 Due to limitations of time and scope, I will limit the empirical study to the most recent pictures published in Bolsonaro’s official Facebook page. Due to this temporality constraint, the scope will be restricted to the last fifty pictures that had been published before the time of collection (the 23rd of January 2020, from 00:39 BRT to 01:07 BRT). Due to the high frequency and volume of posts, this level of preciseness becomes necessary. Moreover, as the focus of this article is on the imagetic projections of masculinity ideology, I will not analyse the texts published along with the images, focusing exclusively on visual data on the form of photographic representation. As aforementioned, the empirical analysis will address two main questions: 1. Is there a consistent intention of projecting masculinity ideology through the pictures?; 2. If so, is this effort coherent with the strengthening of the process of hegemonic masculinity? In order to do answer these questions, I will analyse the pictures through frequency counting of hegemonic masculinity signs according to the following criteria: 1. Which are the representations of traditional masculinity present in the pictures? 2. Are there strategic choices of design, production, framing and styling in order to project 7 Connell, ‘Masculinities and Globalization’, 5. 8 Godard, ‘Feminism and Semiotics’, 2. 9 Correa, ‘The Construction of Gender Identity’, 12. 4 traditional masculinity? 3. Do the images reinforce stereotypical gender roles?10 Upon the conclusion of the case study, I will subject the findings to scrutiny and analyse how and if it affects the security of women and non-hegemonic men in Brazil. In the next section, I will provide theoretical clarification on the concepts that are at the base of this work: Ideology, Hegemony and Masculinity. I will explain how they interact and give rise to Hegemonic Masculinity. I will also clarify how masculinity ideology, in a context of globalisation, originates idiosyncratic hegemonic masculinities, and what it means in the case of Brazil. Ideology, Hegemony and Masculinity In this section, I will analyse and draw the relation between Ideology, Hegemony and Hegemonic Masculinity through a gendered point of view. For starters, one must acknowledge that ideology is a contested concept.11 Thus, for the purpose of this study, I will adhere to the Marxist understanding of the term. Marx and Engels define ideology as the conventions and culture that make up the dominant ideas of society. Ideology encompasses politics, laws, morality and religion, to name a few, and aims to signify the world.12 As ideology uses signs to naturalise and reinforce notions and maintain the myths and connoted values of the culture, it is not neutral and works as an instrument to perpetuate power.13 Gramsci, who was also a Marxist, adds that ideology is likewise a struggle between stability – or the status-quo – and resistance. Hegemony, therefore, is the process of continuously winning this struggle and obtaining, through ideology, the acquiescence