Abstract:
This article analyzes the tension between equality and difference in contemporary Brazilian feminism and the implications of this discussion to the challenges of implementing and expanding democracy. The main methodological resource was participant observation of the events and reunions of the Rio de Janeiro Slutwalk activists between may and august 2014. In the years following, other feminists initiatives at Rio de Janeiro were monitored as well as intense online debate between different feminists contemporary ideologies, especially transfeminism, radical feminism and black feminism. The conclusions point to the use of the concept of “interseccionality” as a way of dealing with differences and combating oppression. Even so, the tension expressed by the militants in the ideal of “horizontality” remains and indicates the challenges of radicalization of democracy.
Keywords:
Equality and difference; Slutwalk; Transfeminism; Black feminism; Interseccionality