Reframing Feminist Ideas, Challenging State Incorporation: Activism Against Violence and the Feminicídio Law in Brazil

Abstract

Feminist debates on how the state incorporates and reshapes feminist categories of violence reveal unintended consequences, such as the depoliticization of these ideas. Through a case study of the Feminicídio Law in Brazil, I examine feminist writings on feminicídio, following its state incorporation as a criminal category, to address the killing of women based on gendered reasons. Drawing on materialist feminist discourse analysis, I challenge the notion that institutionalization necessarily leads to depoliticization. Instead, I demonstrate how feminists have reframed the legal framework of feminicídio to strategically confront state initiatives, such as firearm ownership projects, by employing an individual criminal category against the state. I theorize this feminist reframing as a form of praxis, illustrating how feminists can mobilize categories after institutionalization for new political purposes and contexts. This reframing involves ongoing formulations by diverse activists, extending the category’s meanings beyond the state’s definition and embracing intersectional perspectives. While the reframing of feminicídio gained traction to challenge right-wing governments in Brazil, some radical formulations were marginalized. This analysis elucidates the conditions under which feminists evoke and reframe institutionalized ideas and highlights the challenges activists face in mobilizing their ideas.