Why Brazilian women are saying #NotHim
>> Several million women in Brazil have declared an online war against the front-running presidential candidate, the far-right Jair Bolsonaro, ahead of the first round of elections due to take place on 7 October.
Mr Bolsonaro, who is currently recovering in hospital after being stabbed during a political rally on 6 September, is known for making offensive, off-the-cuff remarks about women, black people and sexual minorities.
Since his stabbing - by an apparently mentally ill man opposed to his political views - he has risen to 28% in opinion polls and is seen as the most likely candidate to dispute a run-off on 28 October.
.... But in the past week, various female celebrities have joined an effort to counteract his rise in the polls, taking to their social media accounts to post using the hashtag #EleNão (#NotHim).
The tag had been mentioned nearly 200,000 times in total on Instagram alone by Thursday morning. On Twitter, #EleNao had more than 193,000 mentions between Friday, 14 September and Sunday, according to monitoring by researchers at FGV university. Additionally, there were 152k tweets with the hashtag #EleNunca (#NeverHim).
The list of women posting against the far-right candidate includes prominent actresses, journalists and TV presenters. "#EleNao is not just about politics. It is about morals," actress Deborah Secco tweeted to her 3.4m followers.
The controversial politician is appealing against a fine handed to him for telling Congresswoman Maria do Rosario, from the left-wing Workers Party: "I wouldn't rape you because you don't deserve it."
... Mr Bolsonaro also caused uproar while talking about his own daughter during a public event in April 2017. "I have five children. I had four boys, and in the fifth, I weakened and a girl came," he said at the time.
... He has said the "mistake" of Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985) was "to torture, not kill" left-wing activists and promised to stop funding human rights organisations "because human rights are a disservice to Brazil".
Last week in this 'online war', a closed Facebook group for women against the candidate, which had grown to more than 2m followers since its creation on 30 August, was hacked. Its name, "Women United Against Bolsonaro", was changed to "Women WithBolsonaro" - prompting the candidate to thank the group on his Twitter account, apparently mistaking the hacked page for a genuine one.
The page has since been restored to its rightful administrators. << -- The Beeb
Mr Bolsonaro, who is currently recovering in hospital after being stabbed during a political rally on 6 September, is known for making offensive, off-the-cuff remarks about women, black people and sexual minorities.
Since his stabbing - by an apparently mentally ill man opposed to his political views - he has risen to 28% in opinion polls and is seen as the most likely candidate to dispute a run-off on 28 October.
.... But in the past week, various female celebrities have joined an effort to counteract his rise in the polls, taking to their social media accounts to post using the hashtag #EleNão (#NotHim).
The tag had been mentioned nearly 200,000 times in total on Instagram alone by Thursday morning. On Twitter, #EleNao had more than 193,000 mentions between Friday, 14 September and Sunday, according to monitoring by researchers at FGV university. Additionally, there were 152k tweets with the hashtag #EleNunca (#NeverHim).
The list of women posting against the far-right candidate includes prominent actresses, journalists and TV presenters. "#EleNao is not just about politics. It is about morals," actress Deborah Secco tweeted to her 3.4m followers.
The controversial politician is appealing against a fine handed to him for telling Congresswoman Maria do Rosario, from the left-wing Workers Party: "I wouldn't rape you because you don't deserve it."
... Mr Bolsonaro also caused uproar while talking about his own daughter during a public event in April 2017. "I have five children. I had four boys, and in the fifth, I weakened and a girl came," he said at the time.
... He has said the "mistake" of Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985) was "to torture, not kill" left-wing activists and promised to stop funding human rights organisations "because human rights are a disservice to Brazil".
Last week in this 'online war', a closed Facebook group for women against the candidate, which had grown to more than 2m followers since its creation on 30 August, was hacked. Its name, "Women United Against Bolsonaro", was changed to "Women WithBolsonaro" - prompting the candidate to thank the group on his Twitter account, apparently mistaking the hacked page for a genuine one.
The page has since been restored to its rightful administrators. << -- The Beeb