In recent years, verbal attacks directed at vulnerable groups and members of the judiciary have become a prominent feature of authoritarian political discourse, visible in several countries, such as Brazil, Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, and the United States. While this phenomenon can be identified in the discourse of leaders from other political affiliations, it is more prominent on the far right. For these leaders and their followers, the achievements of certain groups represent a threat to the rights of an imagined majority. This is why women, even those in positions of influence, are frequently demeaned solely because of their gender. LGBT+ individuals are targeted with offenses for their sexual orientation and are described as transgressors. In his talk, we offer a comprehensive outlook to address the issues of misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and the attacks on the judiciary system, which stemmed from the public statements of Brazilian political leaders, and were intensely reproduced on social media. 

Strategies to counter this type of discourse will also be addressed. 

Short bio: Ana Larissa Adorno Marciotto Oliveira is a professor and researcher at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG, Brazil) and holds the CAPES-Brazil chair at the University of Münster (Germany). Her research revolves around the Pragmatics of (Im)politeness in digital media, with a special focus on the social dynamics of interaction from a multi-dimensional approach. She is also the holder of a national productivity research grant from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). From 2022-2023, she served as a visiting scholar at the University of Lancaster (UK).