Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses gender issues in Brazilian media, comparing on the one side, Globo’s (the hegemonic commercial TV network) teledramas throughout 1970-1990s, and on the other, a recent new rise of feminist movements both in mainstream media and in new circuits of production through the internet.

Paper long abstract:

This paper discusses gender issues in Brazilian media, comparing on the one side, Globo's (hegemonic commercial TV network) teledramas throughout 1970-1990s, and on the other, a recent rise of feminist movements both in mainstream media and in new circuits of production through the internet. This comparison intends to address how diverse modes of production and pressures from social movements affects the politics of meanings and notions of rights and violence. Taking from previous researches on telenovela, gender and consumption, in the 1990's (through audience ethnography), and from analyses of certain "feminist" series of the 1970's, it draws a picture of female ideals in Brazil. The main point though is to understand the current situation, when a new wave of young feminist movements (particularly in universities, and through blogs and sites) have reached new paths of production of content, also affecting how mainstream news (print, TV, internet) portray women and feminism.

Hegemonic TV constructed a certain ideal of working super consumerist women. Nevertheless, during some years when the feminist movement had more visibility (1975-83), although dealing with state censorship, TV dramas also dealt with certain feminist topics, as domestic violence. Nowadays, there are new issues being discussed, particularly around a category of violence that is still new and very contested: sexual harassment. I will focus on internet campaigns and how they have been spreading from feminist blogs and sites to mainstream commercial TV, analyzing circuits of production. The focus is to understand how categories of violence are socially built through media.