Mídia, poder e gênero: a crítica feminista latino-americana a partir das representações das presidentas Cristina Kirchner, Dilma Rousseff e Michelle Bachelet

Abstract

This study aims to analyze, from a feminist perspective, media representations of gender from the presidents Dilma Rousseff, Michelle Bachelet, and Cristina Kirchner, looking at the resignification interprets of Latin American feminist groups about these symbolic constructions. The intention was to observe the possibilities of resistance of these individuals in achieving emancipation and eradicating gender inequality. First, we review the tradition of feminist media studies, still incipient in the area of Communication, pointing out trajectories and gaps, such as a predominant Eurocentric look to observe these issues. Next, we present the findings of some of these studies explicitly concerning the representations of these presidents. Then, the post-colonial and decolonial perspectives and the feminist epistemologies of the global South are presented, aiming to bring to the Communication field these theoretical and conceptual contributions that question the Eurocentric and androcentric traditions of research. In this sense, the study opts for proximity with the Latin American feminist movements, once it considers the action-thought of the activists as forms of knowledge, treated in a relation of symmetry with the academic thought. From the analysis of the empirical material, resulting from a feminist ethnography in the countries, we organized axes and dimensions, highlighting strategies and tactics that broaden the sense of politics and communication, allying it with meanings of mutual care, of joyful bodies and affirmation of rights in the public arena.