Misogyny in Brazil reaches Congress with tougher penalties and political controversy

With 67 votes in favor, the Senate approved a bill classifying misogyny as a serious crime. The debate now moves to the Chamber of Deputies amid political and social objections.

On March 26, the Brazilian Senate unanimously approved, with 67 votes in favor, a bill that considers misogyny a crime equivalent to racism.

Senator Ana Paula Lobato is the sponsor of the bill. Lobato defines misogyny as conduct that manifests hatred toward women based on the idea of male superiority. If approved by both chambers, the crime would become non-bailable and imprescriptible, meaning that bail is not permitted and it does not lapse over time. This is in line with what happens with racism. 

For her part, Senator Soraya Thronicke, the rapporteur of the text, stressed that the legislation seeks to tackle gender-based violence more effectively and that it does not seek to restrict freedom of expression. “The Constitution already guarantees freedom of expression; including that clause could weaken the law,” Thronicke added.

The legislation distinguishes various types of conduct and establishes penalties according to their seriousness, ranging from discrimination or incitement to hatred, with penalties of 1 to 2 years plus fines. 

Meanwhile, what is classified as “misogynistic insult,” that is, offenses against a woman’s dignity, carries prison sentences of 2 to 5 years. Amendments are also introduced to differentiate these crimes from domestic violence, preventing the same conduct from being punished through different legal channels.

Along these lines, Senator Thronicke warned that gender-based violence is an urgent issue in Brazil and stated that in 2025 alone some 7,000 attempted femicides were recorded in Brazil. She also took aim at the growth of hate speech on social media, particularly in communities known as “red pills,” which promote male superiority. 

At the same time, the bill has generated controversy, as opposition lawmakers claim the law could affect freedom of expression or be used for political purposes, while others questioned the “vagueness” of the concept of misogyny.

Gender-based violence and social context in Brazil

This debate is taking place amid high levels of gender-based violence in Brazil. According to figures from the Ministry of Women, 1,400 women were killed in 2022 because of their gender. In this context, hundreds of cases of domestic violence are recorded every day. Meanwhile, women make up only 17.7% of the Chamber of Deputies, despite constituting more than half of the Brazilian electorate.

In recent weeks, the media and social networks have been flooded with cases of hatred and violence against women. One of the most prominent in recent days was the femicide of a military police officer at the hands of her partner in São Paulo; another was the gang rape of a teenage girl in Rio de Janeiro; and finally, TikTok videos in which men simulate attacks on women who reject marriage proposals.

Organizations in Brazil maintain that these episodes should not be seen as isolated incidents because they are part of a web of misogyny that connects different dimensions, from individual experiences of frustration to economic structures and global political projects.

The investigations into the death of officer Gisele Alves Santana show that her husband, Military Police Lieutenant Colonel Geraldo Leite Rosa Neto, who is accused of the crime, used terms common in misogynistic online groups in his conversations, such as «alpha male» and «beta woman». According to investigators, these concepts refer to the idea of male superiority and female submission.

The origin of hatred

On this point, sociologist Bruna Camilo, a political scientist and researcher on gender and misogyny, states that the problem must be understood in its historical dimension, since although hate groups are spreading across online environments, these spaces existed long before.

“We talk a lot about the rise of this violence, but it is age-old; it has existed since the construction of society. We see ancient patriarchal structures of women’s subjugation, and the internet amplifies that violence,” the sociologist maintains. 

For his part, social psychologist Benedito Medrado Dantas, a professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), maintains that expressions of hatred toward women have intensified as a reaction to women’s achievements.

Medrado Dantas notes that when women began to occupy spaces in society other than domestic care, the structures of society and the intimacy of family and domestic life were inevitably altered.

The progress of the bill opens a legislative scenario in Brazil, where the discussion of gender-based violence intersects with debates on rights, representation and the scope of public policies. At the same time, bodies such as the United Nations maintain that States must strengthen legal frameworks and concrete actions to prevent and punish violence against women, in a context where hate speech and structural inequalities persist. 

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia