Daniel Alves's Case Portrays The Misogyny Behind Football
Updated: Mar 10, 2025
Written by: Mayra Cardozo, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
This situation had repercussions in the news but was tiny about the debate. It's not about judging Daniel Alves, but seeing the case and these accusations as something severe that should generate the following discussion: why is it so common to see violence against women in football?
These cases say a lot about the naturalized culture of rape in the sport of objectifying female bodies.
Why does it happen?
It is a very masculine environment, with almost 100% men inside the enclosures, with low female representation.
Therefore, men feel very comfortable reproducing structural machismo in this environment.
They feel comfortable making "comments about a woman's body" and "the treatment of women in a despicable way," and all this is naturalized in football because they are considered a joke.
Examples that portray this logic: are the (i) "jokes" and comments made to the player Mbappe in the cup because he has a relationship with a trans woman. (ii) the importance is given to the men's x women's soccer world cup.
All of this reflects the sexist and misogynistic logic that permeates football. Another fact that contributes to gender violence in football is the fact that most leaders are male, which means that accusations of sexism and harassment are hushed up. In the male universe, there is a masculinity pact for some to protect others and normalize the idea of objectification of the female body. That makes abusive behavior natural. We can observe this pact of masculinity with some news about how Daniel Alves was welcomed in prison, with requests for autographs and receptions.
Finally, another factor we cannot fail to consider is the volume of money and fame generated by the sport, which means that for "football celebrities," what can or cannot tends to be trivialized. Because it is a universe that creates an illusion of "you can do anything,"/ "you can buy everything,"/ "everything is objectified and becomes commodified."
Mayra Cardozo, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine Mayra is one of the pioneers in Brazil in feminist coaching and is something she is passionate about. Despite being a lawyer and partner in a famous office in Brazil and a university professor of Human Rights, these were not enough for her. She always wants to make a difference in people's lives. It was then that she discovered her passion and became a life coach; she has a brilliant curriculum involving the best national and international courses. The objective of your work is to empower human beings to be their best version and help them emancipate themselves from socially constructed beliefs to be their essence. Her approach is different. It aims to unite the coaching process with the development of an inclusive and emancipatory awareness.
