Browsing by Author "Caldeira, Sofia P."
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- "Hello my lovelies!": Conflicted feminisms and the neoliberalisation of portuguese activist influencer practicesPublication . Caldeira, Sofia P.; Machado, Ana FloraSince 2019, Portuguese psychologist, sexologist, and self-identified feminist Tânia Graça has been gaining popularity on her Instagram account by advocating for women’s sexual empowerment, pleasure, and women’s rights more broadly. In the context of a still largely conservative Portuguese society, these issues have, until recently, failed to gain significant expression both in mainstream popular culture and in popular online feminist content. Grounded on a direct unstructured observation of @taniiagraca’s account, this chapter addresses the growing popularity of feminist discourses on Portuguese social media, critically exploring Tânia Graça’s Instagram presence as an example of activist influencer practices – marred by tensions between its essentially feminist aims and Instagram’s dominant logics of popularity, visibility, and commercial success. This chapter explores how playful and accessible iterations of online feminism, such as Tânia’s, can quickly rise to popularity, fitting particularly well into Instagrammable conventions and aesthetics. Its embodiment of feminist politics – focused on issues of bodily experiences and pleasurable sexual experimentation, and visually expressed through practices of self-representation – also brings forward tensions with Instagram’s platform politics, which often deplatform ‘objectionable’ content and can constrain sexual self-expression. In addition, this chapter foregrounds how popular feminist expressions can rely on gendered conventions of communication, privileging a personal and intimate tone to build a sense of perceived interconnectedness with followers. This aligns with notions of popular and spectacular feminism that tend to privilege ‘cute’ expressions of feminism and centre individual issues, in line with expressions of neoliberal feminism. In this way, this chapter explores the complexities and tensions that mark Instagram as a site for contemporary feminist practices and discourses.
- The red lipstick movement: exploring #vermelhoembelem and feminist hashtag movements in the context of the rise of far-right populism in PortugalPublication . Caldeira, Sofia P.; Machado, Ana FloraDuring the 2021 Portuguese presidential election campaign, far-right candidate André Ventura insulted the feminine presentation of left-wing candidate Marisa Matias, linking her use of red lipstick to a perceived lack of professionalism and implied sexualization. The Portuguese public reacted to this insult by launching the feminist hashtag movement—#VermelhoEmBelem (translated as #RedInBelem), which quickly became one of the few national feminist hashtag movements to reach widespread visibility, receiving national and transnational support. This article offers a critical analysis of the #VermelhoEmBelem movement, grounded on a direct unstructured observation of the cross-platform hashtag—mainly across Twitter and Instagram—complemented by an analysis of news articles about the movement. By focusing on #VermelhoEmBelem, this article explores the relationship between feminist action, gendered discourses, and far-right populist politics. It foregrounds how gendered insults can generate a wave of feminist solidarity and anti-fascist sentiments, which was reified through online self-representations of people of various genders with their lips painted red. Yet, it highlights how hashtag movements can encompass significant tensions—mobilising both widespread support and sexist backlash, carrying the potential for symbolic and consciousness-raising impact, while having limited impact on the results of the Portuguese elections the movement derived from.