João Vítor Marques
Sports journalist and master’s student at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He researches hate speech and xenophobia in the context of soccer in Brazil.
Email: jvnmarques@gmail.com
With tears in her eyes and the silver medal hanging around her neck, Marta said goodbye to Brazil’s national soccer team at the Paris Olympic Games. The Queen was applauded by all the players from the three teams that made up the podium (USA, Brazil and Germany) and by the fans who filled the Stade de France in the final on August 10th. But, in Brazil, she became a target of hate speech, mainly on social media.
Marta was sent off in the last match of the group stage for hitting a shot at the head of Spain’s defender Olga Carmona. She had to serve a two-game suspension. Without their main player, the Brazilian team managed to play well and beat France, in the quarterfinals, and Spain, in the semifinals, to reach the gold medal match against the USA. Nevertheless, the red card was never forgiven and was the spark for numerous attacks against her.
These messages range from criticism supposedly aimed at Marta’s technical performance, despite her having done well in previous games, to those that mock or minimize her achievements in her successful career or, ultimately, underestimate women’s soccer. This perception, based on an initial approach to social media data, allows us important reflections on what, in fact, these attacks against a prominent figure in Brazilian sport means.
The main one is that the target was not specifically Marta, but women’s soccer as a whole. Several studies, within the scope of Communication and Law, indicate that hate speech is directed at minority groups or specific people who represent these groups. This is what we observe here: there is no one who better symbolizes women’s soccer in Brazil and, probably, in the world.
The Brazilian superstar is the record holder, among women, in the number of awards for the best soccer player in the world. She has won six Ballon d’Or so far, five of them consecutively, something that no one has achieved. “Marta was, without a doubt, the player I most admired when I was a child. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her, I think she changed the game and continues to do so,” said forward Sophia Smith, from the USA, before the final match in Paris.
If Marta is so recognized nationally and internationally, why did she become the victim of so much criticism precisely when she was saying goodbye to the Brazilian team? Why did such a small slip in the middle of a glorious career open the door to attacks on social media?
Early perceptions indicate that this is not just an individualized attack. More than that, it seems like a political-ideological struggle, which has reached several levels of debate in Brazil in recent years. As in many parts of the world, the South American country is experiencing a conservative wave, which resulted, for example, in the election of Jair Bolsonaro (representative of the extreme right) for president in 2018. But, more than an electoral choice, it is a representation of values and beliefs of a significant part of Brazilians.
Therefore, criticizing a player may not just mean showing dissatisfaction purely due to her technical performance. Often, this movement symbolizes an attack against groups she represents. Marta is a woman, from the Northeast (that is, born in a historically stigmatized and marginalized region in Brazilian society), LGBT and contextually, in Brazil, in conjunction with her social and geographic origin, a black woman.
Thinking about it in an intersectional way, articulating gender, race, class and sexuality, is the key to understanding the meanings of hate speech. After all, many of the attacks identified in comments on social media are sexist and LGBTphobic. Others disguise themselves as mere physical, technical or tactical analysis, but often indicate that the real motivation is something else.
In Brazil, as in many parts of the world, playing soccer is still a “man’s thing”. And, if a woman practices this sport, she is seen in a masculine way. These perceptions and representations, which constantly articulate sexual and gender identity and are widely reaffirmed in the media, have been noticed especially since the 1980s in the country, according to a study by Ana Carolina Vimieiro, Flaviane Eugênio and Olivia Pilar (2024).
Marta is the “ideal target”. It is clear how this wave of criticism – which sometimes seems coordinated, a perception that can instigate next steps of research – affects the players themselves. “All the titles we have won, whether individual or collective, in women’s soccer, are for those people who have always believed, from the first moment. To those others who take advantage of the moment and talk a lot of shit, we owe nothing”, said the Queen, in her last interview as an Olympic athlete.
In the so-called “Gender Equality Games” – supposedly Paris would have the same number of male and female athletes, which was not confirmed in practice -, Marta suffered attacks that were intensified for being who she is and representing what she represents. But, at the end, she smiled as she celebrated the third Olympic medal of her career and helped boost Brazil’s results, which left Paris with 20 medals – 12 of them (60%) won by women, including the only three gold medals of the country.
