The government is left to use identity politics to pretend that society is doing well just because it confronts racism, sexism, and “homotransphobia,” creating job quotas for oppressed groups. Join us on Telegram , Twitter , and VK . Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su Imagine, reader, that a man goes to a legislative building and dedicates himself to shouting “UGLY! HORRENDOUS!” at a female congresswoman. The woman is middle-aged and has a well-groomed appearance, even if she doesn’t show signs of vanity. Certainly, she doesn’t have a physique to grace the covers of magazines like Playboy , nor enough vanity to end up on the cover of Vogue , but I wouldn’t say she’s ugly. She’s a normal woman. Therefore, if there is any conduct that deserves to be called sexist, it is that of the man in question. There are indeed ugly congressmen out there, but I believe that no one bothers to shout “ugly” and “horrendous” at them hoping to cause distress. Only a sexist would think that a woman, in the exercise of her mandate, has to look like a magazine cover and be obsessed with her own appearance.
The case involved federal congresswoman Clarissa Tércio (PP/PE) on April 8th, precisely at the Women’s Commission in the Brazilian Congress. The congresswoman is right-wing and married to a televangelist. In the middle of an election year, however, the government supporters thought it was a good idea to put a transvestite in charge of the Women’s Commission. And it is none other than Érika Hilton (PSOL/SP), the main person responsible for the first political asylum granted to a Brazilian woman by Europe since redemocratization.
As I explained in more detail at the time here at Strategic Culture , the Supreme Federal Court made a series of decisions that could, depending on the judge’s whim, put in jail for the crime of racism (!!) anyone who said that trans women are men. Érika identifies as both a transvestite and a trans woman. She, therefore, dedicates herself to suing legions of Brazilian internet users: in the first half of 2021 alone, 50 people were sued. In 2020, she sued Isabella Cêpa and managed to take the case to the Supreme Court, requesting a 25-year prison sentence. Such state persecution (since Érika Hilton benefits from the sympathy of the prosecutors) led Isabella Cêpa to flee Brazil and seek asylum in the European Union, which she successfully did. The news is that, after that ( because of that? ), the Supreme Court reversed its decision and ruled that Isabella Cêpa should not be imprisoned for saying that Érika Hilton is a man. Even so, the transvestite continues to sue everyone for not believing that women have penises. The latest known victim is a TV presenter named Ratinho, or Little Mouse, from whom Hilton and the Public Prosecutor’s Office are demanding 10 million reais (about 2 million dollars). What a brilliant idea from the government to put her in charge of the Women’s Commission at the Congress!
Let’s return then to the confusion in the Congress. The man who went there to insult the right-wing congresswoman was part of a claque that applauds the government supporter Érika Hilton and protests against the opposition. Since the insults were quite audible, and their author was clearly visible, it was expected that the person presiding over the committee – Érika Hilton – would take action. Faced with inaction, a congressman went to confront the unknown man and took his cell phone. Only then did Érika Hilton intervene: to complain about the congressman’s actions. The commotion ended up at the police station; and the man, identified as a former candidate for city councilor for the PT (Workers’ Party), will be charged with the crime of defamation.
The activist’s insult was not a bolt from the blue. Erika Hilton’s aggressiveness in the women’s committee is notorious, and congresswoman Rosana Valle (PL-SP) stated , on the same turbulent day, that she could invoke the Maria da Penha Law (a law on domestic violence against women), as it seemed she was going to get beaten up by Erika, who has the strength of a man. In 2024, the transvestite called opposition member Júlia Zanatta (PL/SC) “horrendous,” “outdated,” and told her to go moisturize her hair: an attitude more appropriate in a dispute over a spot at night than in a debate in the Congress.
But no one can say that Erika Hilton doesn’t take care of her straight, blonde hair that hides her African origins. A darling of fashion events, she even missed an important vote for her party to attend an event for the Italian brand Bottega Veneta. On her Instagram, photos typical of the fashion world abound, with luxury items and model poses. The question remains, therefore, whether politics is really a priority. In the end, the insults directed at Júlia Zanatta and Clarissa Tércio become understandable: they are normal women, more like mothers and housewives than magazine cover models. And so we see how the exaltation of transvestites and transsexuals is intimately connected with the reduction of women to sexist stereotypes fostered by the market.
To be honest, Érika Hilton is the concrete result of the identity-based left that gained strength in the 2010s through American social media. It is a very online, very capitalist, futile, and appearance-obsessed left. In a country that no longer has industry and relies on the “service sector” to generate income, real employment is a luxury item, and the middle class is shrinking. In the government’s wonderful indices, Uber drivers ( 45% of whom have higher education ) count as employed.
The government is left to use identity politics to pretend that society is doing well just because it confronts racism, sexism, and “homotransphobia,” creating job quotas for oppressed groups. In this, it follows the financial capital, which created the ESG rankings. Nowhere is work and competence valued, but rather representativeness : that is, putting someone with the right identity markers in a prominent position in order to flaunt virtue. To stage this farcical opera, what better way than to enthrone a transvestite in luxurious clothes and pretend that social justice exists in Brazil?
The ballot box will punish them.