Leftists in the São Paulo Legislative Assembly were outraged when Brazilian politician Fabiana Bolsonaro applied dark makeup to her face and arms during a speech last week. Her provocative stunt was intended to demonstrate that putting on “blackface” does not make a white person black, just as identifying as the opposite sex does not change one’s biological sex.
Specifically, she was protesting the appointment of trans lawmaker Erika Hilton to head a women’s rights committee. Hilton is a member of Brazil’s far-left Party of Socialism and Freedom (PSOL).
Bolsonaro told colleagues, “I am a white woman. I’ve had the privileges of a white person my whole life. Now, at 32, I’ve decided to put on makeup to dress up, to cover myself up, and let only the outside show.
“And here I ask, so what now? Have I become black?”
She continued, “I felt society’s contempt for a black person who should never have existed. … I feel firsthand the pain that a black person has felt because of racism, because of not being able to get a job.
Bolsonaro even shared a fictitious anecdote about “her aunt” who, in the 1990s, was unable to find work because of the color of her skin. And she asked, “Am I black now?”
She asked rhetorically if she feels the pain that black people have suffered and declared she did not, because she is not black.
It doesn’t matter if she paints herself black or identifies as black, she said; she doesn’t know what black people go through.
Bolsonaro concluded that this is why Erika Hilton, a trans woman who has spent most of her life as a male, cannot lead the women’s rights committee. Though she identifies as a woman, she does not have the lived experience of a woman.
This position, she argued, is meant for an “actual” woman.
She is, of course, right. No matter how you slice it, a trans woman is an inappropriate choice to preside over a women’s rights committee.
Nevertheless, following Bolsonaro’s speech, left-wing lawmakers and activists have called for her to be booted from the assembly.
In the social media post below, an X user claimed this was a “flawed comparison” because “race and gender are not interchangeable concepts.” But then he undercut his own argument. He said, “The experiences of trans people, like those of racial groups, are rooted in lived reality not caricatures.”
They are rooted in “lived reality.” Exactly!
Bolsonaro made a compelling point — one that may (hopefully) prompt some observers to reconsider their assumptions.
Either way, the early fervor of the trans movement has settled down. And there have also been some real victories along the way, including efforts to keep biological men out of women’s sports, legislation restricting so-called “trans care” for minors, and even recent declines in the number of individuals seeking to change their gender.
But the debate over identity, biology, and social norms will go on — even if with less of the intensity that once defined it.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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