O Retrocesso como Projeto: conservadorismo político e a sistematização da regressão dos direitos das mulheres do Brasil

Abstract

  This article analyzes the rollback of women’s rights as part of a political project aimed at reorganizing power relations, driven by economic, legal, cultural, and social mechanisms. The analysis is grounded in the understanding that the attainment of formal rights does not eliminate historical structures of gender domination, which may be reconfigured in contexts marked by the strengthening of conservative agendas. First, the article examines the vulnerability of public policies aimed at women during periods of economic crisis, demonstrating how state retrenchment intensifies existing inequalities. It then discusses Naomi Wolf’s concept of the beauty myth, analyzing aesthetic standards as mechanisms of social control capable of diverting women’s energy away from political participation and toward bodily self-surveillance. Finally, it examines the contemporary manifestation of this process through recent legislative initiatives in Brazil, including the suspension of the CONANDA resolution concerning the care of child and adolescent victims of sexual violence, Bill No. 1,904/2024, and the proposal to reduce gender quotas set forth in Complementary Bill (PLP) No. 112/2021. The article argues that the conservative backlash is not confined to the discursive sphere but materializes through the production of legal norms and the weakening of mechanisms designed to protect and expand women’s rights, highlighting the close relationship between culture, politics, and law.