BETWEEN RIBBONS AND MALES: THE ‘AUÊ’ OF THE WORDS IN THE JOURNAL LAMPIÃO DA ESQUINA (1978-1981)

Abstract

The present article is part of the work developed in the master’s thesis. Taking into account the dictatorial Brazilian context of the late 1970s, there was a growth of the so-called alternative press in Brazil, and consequently the appearance of the newspaper Lampião da Esquina in April 1978, remaining in force until mid-1981. The periodical, produced mostly by homosexuals, was aimed mainly at the so-called gay population of the ghetto, and had the objective of giving visibility not only to gays, lesbians and transvestites, but also to other groups marginalized by the authoritarian policies of the time. Throughout its 38 monthly editions, the newspaper showed in its editorials and reports a language dierent from that present in other print media, resorting to a vocabulary often debauched and filled with slang and terms used by the gay population of the time. This research aims to present terms and the language used by the newspaper, and how these terms were being resigned in an attempt to get closer to its target audience, besides being an imperative to fight against the existing prejudice. Bicha, bofe, boneca, pintosa, gay-male, besides being terms present in the newspaper also represented stereotypes and forms of identification of the gay subjects regarding their homosexuality in the society of the 1970s, even if such markings generated di-
sagreements both to the identification and the very use of the times by the readers. It is concluded that the newspaper emphasized mainly the figures of the faggot and the hottie as markers for the gay subjects to perceive themselves as such and thus could assume their sexual condition with naturalness.