Discurso jurídico e gênero: o direito de imagem das mulheres nas decisões do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This study analyzes the court decisions of the Rio de Janeiro State Court of Justice in the second instance, referring to the demands, filed by women, regarding image rights, ie, damages claims that have at least a woman as an author. The perception is that legal language encompasses social structures and power relations that constitute and restrict subjectivities, as well as that the image is perceived according to the rules that make subjects intelligible, such as race, class, social orientation and, especially, gender. The methodology will be strictly qualitative so that, through the study of cases, it is possible to understand how the language about gender is used in the legal discourse. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was used as a methodological tool for understanding decisions, as well as the theoretical concepts undertaken by Judith Butler regarding gender, the subjectivities and the performative acts of language. The investigation concluded that the woman who is part of the indemnity actions is understood in a binary structure about the female and the compulsory heterosexuality. Therefore, these decisions reproduce the image that these women occupy within a heterosexist society: beautiful or not beautiful, desirable or not desirable, pure or naughty, balanced or mad (in relationships), mothers or not mothers, worthy or unworthy, among others. The subject-woman is read by means of the signs reiterated in time, i.e., performative acts attributed to feminine, which are reproduced in an uncritical and quite costly way to the women involved in the demands. In addition, there was still a disregard for the facts experienced by women in decisions, as well as the precarious and vulnerable situations present in legal language. In some analyzed judgments, the use of nominations, adjectives and opinions on the image of the authors was also identified, which not only removed the recognition of the offensive language, but also contributed with new proportions to the offense.