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Isa Penna was not the first and will not be the last. Like the state deputy, touched by a colleague in the plenary session of the São Paulo Legislative Assembly, four other federal deputies informed the leaf who have already been harassed in the performance of their duties.
Women represent 15% of the members of the Chamber of Deputies, mostly made up of white men.
In the Penal Code, the events narrated could be classified as sexual harassment, a crime that provides for one to five years in prison.
Isa Penna (PSOL) registered a police complaint against Congressman Fernando Cury (Citizenship) and also brought a representation to the Assembly’s Ethics Council asking him to lose his mandate.
However, often, in view of the embarrassment of the situation, as well as the difficulty in obtaining evidence of harassment, the perpetrators are not reported.
That was what federal deputy Tabata Amaral (PDT-SP) experienced, who spoke about the report. for the first time about the harassment he suffered.
Shortly after being elected, the parliamentarian says she was in the House when she was approached by a deputy she did not know. “He hugged me tightly and didn’t let go of me. I was super uncomfortable, I pushed him, I was embarrassed and I continued, ”she says.
At the end of last year a similar situation occurred. Tabata reports that she was in a fraternization between deputies when a friend had to intervene to get a parliamentarian to leave her.
“An officer came, pulled me, hugged me, only he was much taller than me, and I couldn’t get out. A friend of mine came, he started hitting his hand, it scared us and I left, I cried … You feel super bad, dirty ”, he says.
Tabata says he did not denounce the congressman because he did not believe the House Ethics Council would hold him accountable. He also feared being exposed and attacked if he brought the event to the press and social media.
“It is a bit frustrating because I am the author and reporter of several projects that talk about the fight against bullying and the importance of people reporting and creating this culture. Being sincere [não denunciei] Because I know it won’t come to anything I’ve been committing suicide for two years to pass Fundeb. Is this discomfort worth it? Being discredited for a harassment I suffered? They are going to mobilize the entire network to call me a liar, do they curse me even more? Do we want to go through more violence? No.”
Tabata says he did not even question deputies about the episodes. “I’ve been with these MPs before and it’s like nothing [tivesse acontecido]. You feel angry, upset, you don’t feel like interacting, but you swallow. Good morning, good afternoon, ”he says.
The parliamentarian says she takes some precautions to avoid harassment in the exercise of her mandate. He says he does not schedule meetings at home, nor does he go to his colleagues’ houses. Do not wear short, low-cut or tight clothing. But he reports that even the red lipstick was the target of a deputy.
“A deputy asked who he wanted to provoke with that red lipstick. You are completely ashamed, but it is important to keep using it and show that it is about me, about my fight, ”he says.
Federal deputy Joice Hasselmann (PSL-SP), who was a candidate for the City of São Paulo in the last elections, says that a right-wing parliamentarian harassed her last Tuesday (15), during a home fraternization between deputies, after a Congress session.
He says he was dancing with his companions when the officer approached him. “He came from behind, took my arm, which turned purple, and put his body against mine. The famous encoxada ”, he relates.
The deputy says that, in reaction, she turned and hit the parliamentarian in the face. “He had no doubt, nor did he know who he was. I turned and hit the back of my hand with his. “
Joice says he wore a ring that cut the officer’s face, which embarrassed the place. He also claims that he received support from women and men who were at the event.
“I am a reactive woman, it is my profile. Now you can imagine who feels more fragile. I hit him and I would do it again, ”he says.
According to her, the colleague apologized and the parliamentarian decided that she would not formalize a complaint. “Every time you look in the mirror you will see the mark on your face, because there will be a scar. This is the greatest punishment. I think you will think about it ten times before taking a similar action, ”he says.
Joice refused to identify the assistant. He said that the deputy went through a process of humiliation (“here in Brasilia it has already become an issue, everyone has talked about it”), and that he has already had his punishment.
Federal deputy Áurea Carolina (PSOL-MG), who ran for the Belo Horizonte City Council, also denounces harassment she suffered. She reports that she was at a committee meeting when a colleague sat next to her and began to speak on the subject at hand.
Suddenly, the deputy narrates, he put his hand on her thigh. Then he withdrew his hand and said that the MP “couldn’t do that.”
“He said ‘but what?’ I said ‘put your hand on my body like this.’ He said ‘wow, that, I didn’t even realize I did it,’ ”he says.
The reaction of the deputy is what the feminist movement calls “gaslighting”, a type of psychological manipulation aimed at distorting reality in favor of the abuser.
“The strategy always comes like this: ‘that, I didn’t do this, you didn’t understand.’ Even with the filming of what happened to Isa Penna, the deputy had the nerve to go up to the podium to say that he was just hugging. Everything is documented and inverts the narrative in this way. Imagine if it had not been filmed, ”says the deputy.
This was the case of Áurea herself. Without witnesses and without filming, the deputy considered that it would not make sense to formalize a complaint against her colleague. According to her, it would be the confrontation of her word with his.
“The attrition is so great … This does not arise because it is very exhausting to face the reactions that they will try to disqualify, and to put us in this crazy position, ‘you want to appear, make this a political fact.’ I’ve seen colleagues from the big city bullied, rubbing their asses. It’s not something they want to hide. “
The parliamentarian affirms that the harassment is carried out by deputies of all ideological fields, from right to left.
“It is harassment that, because it occurs in an institutional political space, serves to intimidate us, to make us back down, to make us feel cornered. It has a political nature of interdiction, of limiting the presence of women in spaces of power, ”she says.
Federal Deputy Clarissa Garotinho (PROS-RJ), who was a candidate for mayor of Rio de Janeiro, is another parliamentarian who takes some steps to try to escape the harassment. He says that when he has a meeting for two in the office, he leaves the doors and blinds open or invites an advisor to participate.
“If we know that we live in an environment that already has this completely absent-minded behavior, in addition to being extremely aggressive, I prefer to always make it very clear that I do not give space for any kind of freedom,” he says.
However, the precautions that women take often fail to stop machismo. “Of course, this is not always enough, as a deputy from São Paulo. She did nothing, did not give space, freedom for anything, and even then the guy was extremely aggressive, harassed, even in front of everyone, “he says.
Clarissa claims that she has already been through a less serious situation than the one Isa Penna faced, but that left her embarrassed and puzzled. He says that, at the age of 25, during his first term as councilor in Rio, he went to ask for the support of a colleague for the approval of a bill.
“I’m explaining, explaining and seeing that he doesn’t give a shit. Then I finished and said, ‘can I count on your support?’ She turned around and said, ‘Did you know that your eyes are beautiful?’ “
