Re-defining gender as a heinous crime: A case study from the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies

In this article, we explore how the discourses around gender are evolving at the core of Brazilian politics. Our focus lies on the discourses at the public hearing on the bill 3.492/19, which aimed at including "gender ideology" on the list of heinous crimes. We aim to identify the deputies' linguistic representation of social actors as pertaining to in- and outgroups. In addition, the article analyzes through Critical Discourse Analysis how the terminology gender is represented in this particular hearing. The analysis shows how some of the conservative parliamentarians give a clearly negative meaning to the term gender, by labeling it "gender ideology" and additionally connecting it with heinous crimes. We propose that the re-signification of "gender ideology," from rhetorical invention to heinous crime, is not only an attempt to undermine scientific gender studies but also a way for conservative deputies to gain more political power.