Article – Anna Slatz
EXCLUSIVE: Brazilian Feminist Facing Up To 25 Years In Prison After Calling Trans Politician a “Man”
ANNA SLATZ – 24 June 2022 – REDUXX
A Brazilian feminist is reportedly facing up to 25 years in prison after being charged for calling a trans-identified male politician a “man” in a case she says she hopes will wake the world up about the impact of gender ideology on women’s rights.
Isabela Cêpa, also known by her social media handle FEMINISA, is a feminist influencer well-known in Brazil for her advocacy on the issues of sexual and domestic violence. She spoke exclusively to Reduxx on what she describes as “unconstitutional” criminal charges that have been formally lodged against her by the State on behalf of a trans-identified male politician – Erika Hilton of the Socialism and Liberty Party.
Hilton was elected to São Paolo’s municipal government in November of 2020, winning his seat by a landslide that gave him the title of the most voted-for ‘woman’ in Brazil.
At the time of his victory, Hilton was celebrated in international media as being a “symbolic triumph” for transgender people. Hilton was amongst the top 10 most-voted for candidates in all of Brazil, and was touted as the “only woman” to make the list.
It was the widespread announcement of his victory that first put him on Cêpa’s radar.
“At the time I didn’t even know who this person was. I just saw a headline on an Instagram page celebrating that ‘the most voted woman in São Paulo is a transwoman,’” she says, recounting how her ordeal began, “Then, I shared a video with my followers saying I was disappointed to hear that the most voted-for woman in São Paulo – later found out that it was in the entire country – was a man.”
Cêpa says she left her home to go shopping, and when she had returned, a veritable firestorm of outrage had broken out, one which quickly spiraled out of control.
“When I arrived back home, I was already being attacked by thousands of people,” she describes, stating Suyanne Ynaya, an editor at ELLE magazine’s Brazil franchise and friend of Erika Hilton’s, had posted her Instagram video to Twitter, calling her out for describing Hilton a “man.”
But Ynaya’s attack didn’t just end there. The ELLE editor also accused Cêpa of filing a false sexual assault report against a Black man in an attempt to also paint her as a racist.
“This is something that just never happened. I’ve never reported a Black man for anything at all. So people started spreading the rumor that not only am I transphobic, but also a racist and a liar who takes advantage of the feminist movement to file false reports against innocent men of color.”
Cêpa told Reduxx she had been the victim of a sexual assault, but that her rapist was Caucasian. Despite that, Ynaya continued to spread the rumor that she had reported an Afro-Brazillian man, and even engaged beneath Cêpa’s tweets calling her “privileged and disgusting.”…
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While all of this was happening, Hilton was using Cêpa’s fall from popularity as a talking point. In early 2021, he mentioned he was planning on taking 50 people to police, of which Cêpa and her friend, whom he called a “mythomaniac,” were two of them.
Hilton didn’t report Cêpa to police until November of 2021, and in January, police would turn up to Cêpa’s mother’s workplace to ask for her whereabouts.
“They just gave her a document and she called me, worried. At the time I was traveling in another town and had to call the police station to understand what it was about,” Cêpa says, describing having to go to a local police station and speak with the officer there.
“When the officer told me it was about the politician I laughed. There was no other possible reaction … I said: Yes, I do defend women’s rights on a biological basis. There is no crime in stating the facts.”…
BBC 100 Women 2022: Who is on the list this year?
6 December 2022 – BBC News
Erika Hilton, Brazil
Politician
The first black trans woman ever elected to a seat in the National Congress of Brazil. Erika Hilton is an activist who campaigns against racism, and for LGBTQ+ and human rights.
As a teenager, she was expelled from a conservative family home and lived on the streets, before going to university. With a background in student politics, Hilton moved to São Paulo and joined the left-wing PSOL party. In 2020 she was elected to the city’s council and went on to author the law that introduced a municipal fund against hunger in Brazil’s largest city.
Our fight is to achieve equal rights, equal wages and the end of gender-based violence, whether we’re black, Latin, white, poor, rich, cis or transgender.
Erika Hilton
