Escrita maldita, escrita lésbica

Cassandra Rios e a censura à lesbianidade na literatura

Abstract

Since the 1970s, there has been a marked increase in feminist social movements. However, within this broader context, the visibility of lesbian voices has remained significantly marginalized. As Lorde (1984) suggests, such silencing operates as a mechanism for the perpetuation of sexism and lesbophobia. This article seeks to intervene in this process of erasure by aligning itself with insurgent lesbian epistemologies that assert the importance of integrating lesbian identities into the ongoing construction of society and culture. The primary object of analysis is the literary work of Cassandra Rios, often referred to as a “cursed writer” and “the most banned author in Brazil” (Lira, 2013). Rios’s novels, which consistently feature lesbian protagonists, were systematically censored during the Brazilian military dictatorship. This censorship, officially justified by accusations of “pornography,” functioned not only as a means of repressing Rios’s literary production but also as a broader strategy for silencing lesbian voices within the national literary canon (Trevisan, 2018). Through an interdisciplinary methodology combining bibliographic research, literary analysis, and archival investigation, this study interrogates the foundations of the moral and aesthetic disqualifications imposed on Rios’s work, considering how these acts of censorship contributed to the erasure of lesbian identities. By revisiting and re-evaluating Rios’s corpus, this article seeks to foreground the importance of her literary contributions, emphasizing their relevance for contemporary debates on gender, sexuality, and censorship in Brazilian literature, as well as for the recognition of lesbian subjectivities within cultural and academic discourses.