Interview with Yasmin Morais from Vulva Negra: A Brazilian Anti-Racist Feminist Uprising
Vulva Negra (Black Vulva) erupted into the Brazilian feminist scene as the brainchild of an 18-year-old journalism student and poet named Yasmin Morais. Much of her inspiration came from black and northeaster Brazilian women who led the Quilombos (communities organized by ex-slaves and indigenous people in colonial Brazil). Her admiration for black women’s struggle for emancipation, from both slavery and patriarchy, is something she has expressed to FiLiA in 2020.
In this interview, Yasmin Morais speaks with FiLiA Spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sánchez, about Vulva Negra: the project she created wish combines the materialist perspective provided by radical feminism and the work of black female theorists who centre Black and Afro-Latina women both within Brazil and beyond.
Photo Credit: Andrezza Mona
Raquel Rosario Sanchez: What is Vulva Negra? How would you define it to people unfamiliar with it?
Yasmin Morais: Yes, I can! Vulva Negra is the first radical feminist and anti-racist Brazilian project founded by me in 2018 and aims to share knowledge about ethnic-racial and sexual class issues that simultaneously affects the life experience of black women. The project, being an essentially feminist and anti-racist initiative, is based on the intellectual production of black women and uses its visibility to enhance black Brazilian narratives. After all, we combine radical feminist political theory and action with anti-racism and ethnic-racial studies.
The Vulva Negra project was born from my participation in Brazilian feminist and anti-racist collectives. Since my adolescence, I have studied feminist theory and joined a feminist collective at the age of seventeen. Currently, in addition to the action through social networks, I also produce and publish feminist articles, promote lives, integrate actions with other collectives and carry out educational actions.
The project also articulates with several Brazilian feminist collectives and uses digital platforms to carry out joint actions. Based on feminist principles and related to the Brazilian ethnic-racial studies, it is inspired by the activism produced by our ancestors to reach more women and bring visibility to the female oppression that still prevails in Brazil.
RRS: Vulva Negra seeks to highlight the racial injustices and oppression committed against black women and girls under patriarchy. What has been your experience as a black woman growing up in Bahia, Brazil?
YM: Being a black girl in Brazil, a country that in 2016 was classified as one of the worst countries in the world to be a girl by the study Every Last Girl of the international NGO Save The Children, is an extremely painful experience and marked by multiple cases of abuse and sexual, racial and social inequalities.
Brazil is also one of the countries with the highest rates of child marriage and child sexual exploitation. Only in 2019 did we have a law that prohibits the marriage of people under the age of 16. The female life experience is severely affected by the political and social repercussions of female oppression. As black women, we suffer from early hypersexualization and the stereotype of the "mulata", which is a stereotype that was born from the systematic rape of black women and girls during the colonial period in Brazil.
Nevertheless, female poverty rates, especially in the Northeast of Brazil, lead racialized women to live in precarious conditions and, many times, to support their families with very little money. Unfortunately, this is a noticeable reality in Bahia and in several Brazilian states.
RRS: You are a women’s rights advocate and a columnist at TodaTeen. Tell you about the moment when you, Yasmin, had the vision to create this women’s rights organisation.
YM: First of all, I would like to talk a little about my professional trajectory. I am a writer, actress, student of journalism at the Federal University of Bahia, social activist, and member of the Research Center for Discourse Analysis and Media at UFBA. As a writer, I had three publications in literary anthologies and I am currently about to publish my first book. At the age of 18, I founded the Vulva Negra project. Currently, I am a UNICEF volunteer, a guest columnist at Todateen Magazine and also a member of the "Corra pro Abraço Program", an initiative of the Secretariat of Justice, Human Rights, and Social Development of the State of Bahia.
Since my childhood, I have been curious. I have always been interested in literature and in existential and social issues that I would later encounter in Sociology and Philosophy. One of the questions that most reverberated in my mind at that time was: "if I am human like other people, why am I treated differently from men and white people?" These questions led me to different, historical and increasingly profound answers. Between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, I immersed myself in the feminist movement and in ethnic-racial studies in search of more answers. I met fabulous theorists, such as Audre Lorde, Lélia Gonzalez, Angela Davis, bell hooks, Andrea Dworkin, Shulamith Firestone, Patricia Hill Collins, Silvia Federici and many others that were essential for my formation of feminist theoretical knowledge.
However, when I immersed myself in the social action of radical feminist collectives at that time, I did not feel ethnically represented by the majority of Brazilian radical feminist women. Nor did I feel that black women were making decisions and occupying spaces of power in the movement. From this yearning, Vulva Negra was born. Because I knew that there were other women like me.
Other women like me who were feminists and wanted to fight for the total emancipation of black women. And, I was right. For, the project currently reaches more than 27 thousand people and inspired the birth of collectives such as Coletivo Perseguidas. It takes a lot of courage and political organization to come out as an advocate for the women's rights in Brazil. After all, we are extremely persecuted.
RRS: My understanding is you are preparing a website for the project. What state is the website at? Are you planning on hosting regular articles, videos, podcasts, public events, etc?
YM: The launch of the Vulva Negra website will be one of the biggest events this year for the project. We already have a month and a release date. I obtained the money through a collective financing carried out among our supporters and, because of that, I will be able to keep the site on the air for many years.
I am really happy because it means a lot to the radical Brazilian feminist movement and to radical black feminist activism. In the launch week, we will have lives and a special program to celebrate this achievement and thank all the women who have supported the cause so far. After the launch, we will have numerous new features. Among them, collaborations and content in new formats.
RRS: At the moment, Vulva Negra is mainly you. Are you hoping to create a collaborative project with guest writers?
In the near future, I will open public notices for collaboration with the project and maintain Vulva Negra’s partnerships with other feminist collectives inside and outside Brazil.
It has been extremely important for me to realize how many women are interested in collaborating with the project and to publicly supporting it. The Brazilian feminist community has been very receptive since Vulva Negra was founded. We are fighting sisters, but we also support and love each other in other spheres and segments.
RRS: It is wonderful to see such an energised women’s rights movement in Brazil, and particularly to learn from the work of young feminist thinkers like Coletivo Perseguidas, QG Feminista, GARRa Feminista and many more, including now Vulva Negra. What do you think is driving this resurgence?
YM: Women's rights have been under heavy attack in Brazil over the decades. Although we have experienced fantastic advances in some segments in the past, the fundamentalist Christian religious uprising coupled with the misogynist and racist policies of the Brazilian state has drastically undermined some of these advances. After the election of current President Jair Messias Bolsonaro and the election of numerous political representatives of the extreme right, efforts to hinder women's access to reproductive and sexual rights have been frequent.
For example, during the administration of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, Brazil was left out of a joint declaration made by more than 50 countries on behalf of the rights of women and girls at the UN Human Rights Council. After all, as the great thinker Simone de Beauvoir said, "a political, economic or religious crisis is enough for women's rights to be questioned". Political advances against the rights of the black population in Brazil have specifically affected black women, maximizing socioeconomic and sexual vulnerabilities.
Black women are still the biggest victims of domestic violence and other misogynist crimes in Brazil. Thus, the radical feminist uprising in Brazil, especially when we think about racialized radical feminists in leadership spaces, arose out of a reaction to the years of regression that we have faced in our struggle. For, in addition to the advancement of the extreme right, we also had an advance in the neoliberal and liberal perspectives in Brazilian social movements. Mainly, in feminism. And, we realize that this co-optation of the feminist movement in Brazil has also contributed to the silencing of women who seek female emancipation.
For example, while neighbouring countries like Argentina have already achieved the legalization of abortion, in Brazil we have no prospect of improvement in this agenda. In this way, our radical feminist uprising seeks to raise awareness about the material reality of the oppression of Brazilian women and, after our political articulation, to be able to fight and achieve advances in the agenda of women's rights in Brazil.
Instagram post from @vulva_negra
As Brazilian feminists, we are exhausted from the systematic oppression that falls on us. We are exhausted from the silencing of other segments of the Left. And, above all, we are tired of the lies and misinformation that some people use to persecute and attack us. We are experiencing a radical feminist spring in Brazil. We have fought bravely against setbacks like the Parental Alienation Law. I guarantee that in the near future there will be more flowers. None of them can stop our spring.
RRS: From your point of view, what are the top three priorities that we should all be advocating about right now when it comes to women’s rights?
YM: For me, the biggest objectives for women's rights at this moment, should be: the guarantee of full reproductive and sexual rights, the rise of feminist women in politics and decision-making spaces and public policies aimed at the problems that affect women based on the oppression of sex, race and class.
With these three pillars, we could experience significant advances in the feminist struggle. It is necessary to never forget that the issues of race and class affect the members of the female class intimately. After all, especially in South America, black and indigenous women are subjected to combined oppressions that undermine deeper aspects of our rights. There is still immense inequality between the life experience of white and black women in Latin American societies.
RRS: The world has been tackling a global pandemic for over a year. Sadly, Brazil has been deeply impacted by this, with exorbitant infections and subsequent death rates. What do you think COVID-19 has taught feminism about women’s status in society?
YM: The COVID-19 pandemic showed us one of the most terrible faces of patriarchy, the total subordination of the female class. During this period, countless women were overwhelmed and so many others completely lost their sources of income and had to undergo sexual exploitation. Economic destabilization in countries of the Global South has led to greater vulnerability for girls and especially black and indigenous girls.
In Brazil, cases of domestic violence have also increased and social isolation as a result of the pandemic has facilitated the access of male abusers to women and children in their families. The socio-political implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic made it clear that the "care economy" (the fact that care services for the sick, children and the elderly; cleanliness, housekeeping, and so many others are an essential pillar of capitalism) performed by women keeps us in terrible psychological, social and economic situations.
RRS: You mentioned in the past how the experiences and leadership of black women in the Quilombos have inspired your activism. Could you explain to our audience the role black women played in the emancipatory movements in Brazil?
YM: Since the colonial period, the articulation between enslaved black women and indigenous women has served as propulsion for numerous large and small-scale revolts in Brazil. One of the regions in which these movements occurred with greater intensity is the Northeast.
For example, we had the "Revolta do Rio Joanes" (Uprising of the Joanes River) which was an uprising led by enslaved black women and black men in the region that today is the city of Lauro de Freitas, BA in 1814. One of the objectives of the revolt was the end of the slave regime and the guarantee of religious freedom. For me, this uprising means a lot. Mainly, because I am descended from black people who were part of this movement.
The names of some women who led this uprising were: Francisca, Felicidade, Germana, and Ludovina. However, this movement culminated in the famous "Revolta dos Malês" (Malês's Uprising) that took place in the capital of Bahia and was carried out by enslaved black Muslims who were fighting for the end of slavery. Among the leaders of this movement were also black women. Furthermore, the active presence of black women was central to events such as "A Independência da Bahia" (The Independence of Bahia) and so many others. Northeastern Brazil has always been a center for revolutionary movements in the country.
I am not surprised that the country's first radical and anti-racist feminist project was born here. I have been continually inspired by my ancestors and by black women who are still fighting bravely for the guarantee of our rights.
RRS: This may be a personal question. Do you do the graphics for your Instagram page? They are gorgeous!
YM: Oh thank you! That's very kind of you! Yes, I am the one who produces all the graphic arts and templates of the Vulva Negra project. This work requires immense dedication. However, I feel compensated when I see the advances that we have achieved through feminist activism and the alliance that has been established among women.
Yasmin Morais is a Brazilian writer, actress, student of Journalism at the Federal University of Bahia, activist, and member of the research group CEPAD (Research Center in Discourse analysis and Media of UFBA). In 2018, she had her poems published in the literary anthology “Tributo aos Orixás”. In 2019, she was invited to join the photographic and literary anthology “Profundanças 03” and in 2020, she was invited to participate in the "Narrativas Negras e Insubmissas" anthology.
She had been the first finalist of the Malê Literature Award 2019 in the Short Story / Chronicle category. She is one of the winners of the First Neusa Maria Journalism Award 2020. She was a columnist at QG Feminista and in 2018 she founded the Vulva Negra Project, which has more than 27 thousand followers on social networks.
As a writer, she is preparing to launch her debut book, “Romãs Incandescentes no Inverno”. Currently, she works as a Communication Intern in the Corra Pro Abraço project and is a guest columnist for Todateen magazine. In 2021, she became a finalist in the Brazil Conference Harvard & MIT Ambassador Program and UNICEF Volunteer. You can follow Vulva Negra on Instagram and on Twitter.