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Chapter 9 - Imagining Antifascism

On Resistance and Representations of Gender Dissidence in Brazilian Futebol, 2016–2022

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2025

By
Cara K. Snyder
Edited by
Sandra McGee Deutsch  and
Jorge A. Nállim
Sandra McGee Deutsch
Affiliation:
University of Texas, El Paso
Jorge A. Nállim
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Canada
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Summary

Since the early 1900s in Brazil, futebol has been an instrument of nation building, used to articulate a proud, masculine national identity. During the culture wars of the 1930s and today, the sport has served as a tool for fascists insisting on gender differentiation and masculine displays of strength. Conversely, gender dissidents have formed futebol teams as part of their antifascist struggles for rights and recognition. This chapter explores the creation and visibility campaigns of one such group: the Meninos Bons de Bola, Brazil’s first trans soccer team. I examine the team’s strategic use of nude images (2016–18), amidst the rise of ultra-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro. Drawing on two semi-naked photoshoots with the MBB, and on an oral history with team’s founder, Raphael H. Martins, this essay asserts that the Meninos’ defiant disrobing during this period of governmental change reveals their resistance to the machinations of Brazilian fascism.

Keywords

AntifascismBraziltransfootball (soccer, futebol)Meninos Bons de Bola (MBB)nakedimages

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Antifascism(s) in Latin America and the Caribbean
From the Margins to the Center
 , pp. 184 - 207
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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