Same thing happened in the UK and Norway but this case is even more disgusting. A man in a dress is using a womanâs experiences with abuse against her and claiming that she accused a man of color. Her is white.
A Brazilian feminist is reportedly facing up to 25 years in prison after being charged for calling a trans-identified male politician a âman
A Brazilian feminist is reportedly facing up to 25 years in prison after being charged for calling a trans-identified male politician a âmanâ in a case she says she hopes will wake the world up about the impact of gender ideology on womenâs rights.
Isabela CĂȘpa, also known by her social media handle FEMINISA, is a feminist influencer well-known in Brazil for her advocacy on the issues of sexual and domestic violence. She spoke exclusively to Reduxx on what she describes as âunconstitutionalâ criminal charges that have been formally lodged against her by the State on behalf of a trans-identified male politician â Erika Hilton of the Socialism and Liberty Party.
Hilton was elected to SĂŁo Paoloâs municipal government in November of 2020, winning his seat by a landslide that gave him the title of the most voted-for âwomanâ in Brazil.
At the time of his victory, Hilton was celebrated in international media as being a âsymbolic triumphâ forÂ
transgender people. Hilton was amongst the top 10 most-voted for candidates in all of Brazil, and was touted as the âonly womanâ to make the list.Â
It was the widespread announcement of his victory that first put him on CĂȘpaâs radar.
âAt the time I didnât even know who this person was. I just saw a headline on an Instagram page celebrating that âthe most voted woman in SĂŁo Paulo is a transwoman,'â she says, recounting how her ordeal began, âThen, I shared a video with my followers saying I was disappointed to hear that the most voted-for woman in SĂŁo Paulo â later found out that it was in the entire country â was a man.â
CĂȘpa says she left her home to go shopping, and when she had returned, a veritable firestorm of outrage had broken out, one which quickly spiraled out of control.
âWhen I arrived back home, I was already being attacked by thousands of people,â she describes, stating Suyanne Ynaya, an editor at ELLE magazineâs Brazil franchise and friend of Erika Hiltonâs, had posted her Instagram video to Twitter, calling her out for describing Hilton a âman.â
But Ynayaâs attack didnât just end there. The ELLE editor also accused CĂȘpa of filing a false sexual assault report against a Black man in an attempt to also paint her as a racist.
âThis is something that just never happened. Iâve never reported a Black man for anything at all. So people started spreading the rumor that not only am I transphobic, but also a racist and a liar who takes advantage of the feminist movement to file false reports against innocent men of color.âÂ
CĂȘpa told Reduxx she had been the victim of a sexual assault, but that her rapist was Caucasian. Despite that, Ynaya continued to spread the rumor that she had reported an Afro-Brazillian man, and even engaged beneath CĂȘpaâs tweets calling her âprivileged and disgusting.â
On Instagram, Ynaya threatened to physically harm CĂȘpa multiple times, threats she brought to the Police but nothing was done.
âI have no idea why she did it ⊠She deleted tweets when she realized it would result in criminal charges against her,â CĂȘpa says, noting that some survivors of sexual assault had begun to take issue with Ynayaâs campaign to delegitimize CĂȘpaâs sexual assault testimony, but the ELLE editor told them CĂȘpa did not deserve an apology because she was transphobic.
In an audio recording CĂȘpa provided to Reduxx for review, Ynaya is heard calling CĂȘpa a âracistâ with mental health issues, and repeating the rumor that she had falsely accused a Black man of rape.
âI couldnât count how many threats I received, between my social media profiles and e-mail,â CĂȘpa told Reduxx, saying that in the 24 hours after Ynaya launched her campaign, she lost over 11,000 followers on Instagram, âI was also uninvited to participate in a podcast where I was supposed to talk about sexual violence, as a survivor. My friends were threatened.â
But the social media attacks had more than a cursory impact on CĂȘpaâs life, they would also go on to impact a situation of domestic violence she was attempting to navigate shortly after.
âWhen I broke up with my [ex-boyfriend] after he raped me, he found a really comfortable space to say I was a false accuser. Things got to a point I coudnât go out anymore without being taped, watched or photographed by his supporters â all women. His ex-girlfriend â a very fanatic trans ally â sent private information about the investigation to media, and then many people started saying online that I was a false accuser.â
CĂȘpaâs ex-partner was convicted of violating her restraining order against him last week, with an additional 6 alleged crimes still being investigated. CĂȘpa says that he told her in a recorded conversation that it was âway too easyâ to convince others he hadnât committed any wrongdoing against her because of the trans activist campaign that had been launched to discredit her.
While all of this was happening, Hilton was using CĂȘpaâs fall from popularity as a talking point. In early 2021, he mentioned he was planning on taking 50 people to police, of which CĂȘpa and her friend, whom he called a âmythomaniac,â were two of them.
Hilton didnât report CĂȘpa to police until November of 2021, and in January, police would turn up to CĂȘpaâs motherâs workplace to ask for her whereabouts.Â
âThey just gave her a document and she called me, worried. At the time I was traveling in another town and had to call the police station to understand what it was about,â CĂȘpa says, describing having to go to a local police station and speak with the officer there.Â
âWhen the officer told me it was about the politician I laughed. There was no other possible reaction ⊠I said: Yes, I do defend womenâs rights on a biological basis. There is no crime in stating the facts.â
After she spoke with police, CĂȘpa would be in the dark about developments in her case until June of 2022 when a reporter from a major Brazilian newspaper contacted her to ask for comment for a story she was writing on the charges.
âI heard about my charges for the first time on June 18th when a reporter from Folha sent me a direct message on Instagram asking for a statement, minutes before posting the article,â CĂȘpa says, âThis was the first I had heard I was being formally criminally charged with anything.â
CĂȘpa learned from the Folha article that she was being charged with 5 counts of racism after the Public Prosecutor combed her social media feed to find other âtransphobicâ statements.Â
In 2019, Brazilâs Supreme Federal Court ruled that discrimination against âLGBTQ Communityâ constituted a penal offense, but fell under existing race-based protections as a form of âsocial racism.â This came a few years after State Police in SĂŁo Paolo began to include trans-identified males in âfemicideâ statistics.
In addition to learning about the charges, the outlet announced CĂȘpa was facing up to 25 years in prison, a figure she says was manufactured to discourage other feminists from speaking out on similar issues.
âThat [25 years] would be more time than a murderer convicted in the first degree would get here,â she says, calling the threat of the sentence âpsychological terrorism.â
Speaking with Reduxx on CĂȘpaâs case, Brazilian journalist Andreia Nobre points out political dynamics are likely playing a role in her ordeal.
â[CĂȘpa] is being punished by a man who says heâs trans, because Brazilian media outlets wrote that he was the most-voted female councillor of all time and she challenged it,â Nobre says, âAll she stated was fact. How can anyone believe that a government composed of 50% males saying they are âcisâ and 50% males saying they are âtransâ would represent progress?â
Nobre, who is the author of the newly-released Grumpy Guide to Motherhood and critically-acclaimed Grumpy Guide to Radical Feminism, notes that females comprise less than 20% of political seats worldwide, and are massively underrepresented in politics in Brazil.
âIt shows Brazilian women they are not humans deserving of rights,â Nobre says, âIt is definitely a setback. We barely have our rights respected in Brazil.â
Despite still having no formal copy of the charges that have been filed against her by the State, CĂȘpa has put together a team of 12 female lawyers to fight on her behalf.
âIt would be unconstitutional to convict me for any of these charges ⊠Iâve been facing these kinds of attacks from trans activists for years, so when I heard about it, I just put my legal team together right away.â
Last year, Hilton announced he would be suing 50 people for âtransphobicâ remarks, but as of right now CĂȘpa says she is the only one who has been formally targeted. In reports made across Brazilian media last year, Hilton appeared to be using the threat of suing feminists as a re-election strategy, rallying his supporters around the idea he will sue them after having them criminally convicted, and give the settlement money to other trans-identified people.
CĂȘpa says she hopes her ordeal will show how women are losing basic constitutional rights to validate the feelings of males.
âThis case is not about a hate crime, but about a difference in political views. No one can impose upon a woman a belief that her sex is irrelevant.â
By Anna Slatz
Anna is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief at Reduxx, with a journalistic focus on covering crime, child predators, and women's rights. She lives in Canada, enjoys Opera, and kvetches in her spare time.













