A scandal sociology of the Queermuseu exhibition: disputes over the mediatic framing between professional journalism and the Movimento Brasil Livre

Abstract

This paper analyzes the scandal surrounding the closing of the Queermuseu exhibition, which took place at the Santander Cultural space in Porto Alegre in the second half of 2017. The text seeks to reveal the process in which, from the mobilization on digital platforms, an art exhibition focused on sexual diversity came to be understood in certain segments as a promoter of “pedophilia”, “zoophilia” and “blasphemy”, and was early closed, which resulted in the persecution of artists and its curator, and the dissemination of an interpretation that associates the left with an agenda of “moral perversion” towards children. The empirical analysis was based on digital and printed reports from the newspaper Zero Hora, from Porto Alegre, in addition to texts, images, and videos that circulated on digital platforms, specifically addressing the framing of the event by the Movimento Brasil Livre (MBL), a group that led the campaign to close the exhibition. Analyzing the scope of the MBL framework, it is possible to recognize how digital platforms have expanded the space for political groups to schedule public issues and impose their framework on their audiences. From the empirical case analyzed, the paper elucidates aspects of the pervasiveness of the media in the public debate in the context of a technical-mediatized public sphere and seeks to highlight aspects of the accentuated mediatization of politics in the digital age.