Constituir pela fala: notas sobre liberdade de expressão, performatividade e discurso de ódio

Abstract

The present article addresses the complex and sensitive problem of the so-called hate speech. The aim consists in demonstrating that the distinction between speaking and acting, in relation to hate speech, disregards certain impacts on those affected by such “verbal assaults”. The article problematizes this distinction to affirm the need for an epistemological revision. For this purpose, we firstly built an overview of the definitions and elements of hate speech. Secondly, we show, from a specific reading of Theory of Acts of Speech, that this distinction proves to be unsustainable when confronted with the underlying historicity of hate speech. With this objective, we adopted a critical interdisciplinary methodology to distinguish between speaking and acting. We based this research mainly on the works developed by a couple of thinkers who work on this theme from the American context, and so, demonstrate the anachronism of the dichotomy here discussed.