The intention was to mock Bolsonarist neoconservatism through satire of the “traditional family”, in a context of homage to Lula. The criticism was read as mockery of the effort to build a family in an unstable country, not as an attack on the conservative instrumentalization of the institution. People who seek to structure bonds of belonging, including those who grew up in contexts marked by conflict, felt targeted. As a result, this feeling has been captured by the opposition to strengthen the political project that the parade intended to criticize.
Family ties operate as informal insurance, an economic support network and a mobility horizon. For many, the family is the only promise of stability available in a scenario of material insecurity and institutional fragility. Raj Chetty documented in 2014, across thousands of American counties, that children who grow up in stable family environments have superior economic trajectories decades later. In mine, I cited studies that point to an association between paternal participation and better indicators of child development.
When controlling for family income and parents’ education, the effect of the two-parent configuration decreases. Haushofer and Shapiro measured cash transfers to poor families in Kenya in 2016: increases in income improved children’s mental health, regardless of the number of adults in the household. The mechanism appears to be material stability, combined with parental investment, rather than the legal form of the arrangement.
By transforming an ideal into an idol, conservative defense transforms the family into a symbol of belonging to a social and political group. Thus, the number of children becomes a marker of economic capacity, and becomes a symbol that the man fulfills his role as provider. This transformation replaces responsibility for appearance and confuses means with ends.
If the form were sufficient, the reality would be different: in 2021, according to Dial 100, 81% of reports of aggression against minors occurred at home, committed by a mother, father, stepfather or stepmother. Research by the Ministry of Health on sexual abuse revealed that the crime occurred within the home in 72.4% of cases involving female victims.
Nor does the biblical tradition that conservatives invoke romanticize the family structure. The stories of patriarchs and admired characters, such as King David, are marked by dysfunctional, fractured or violent relationships. The traditional setting existed in these examples of the Judeo-Christian narrative, but family harmony was not common. Tradition recognizes that structure and appearances are no substitute for character.
The confusion between appearance and substance also affects men when the family model requires economic provision and emotional silence as proof of value. In 2021, 15,507 suicides were recorded, according to Datasus, of which 77.8% were committed by men. The male mortality rate from suicide reached 10.7 per 100 thousand inhabitants. Defending the family as a symbol of stability, while neglecting the mental health of men and boys within it, produces the opposite of what is intended.
Progressive criticism is right to point out that the defense of the “traditional family” often masks control, physical and psychological abuse. It makes the mistake of treating the family only as an instrument of conservative moralism, underestimating its function of organizing resources and bonds. Conservatism errs in treating the form as self-justifying, ignoring that the protective mechanism depends on relational investments and care that the ideal, alone, does not guarantee.
Between caricature and idolatry, family matters, not in the way that progressives want to minimize nor in the way that conservatives want to gloss over. The question is not which side wins the cultural dispute, but whether we are willing to face that defending the family requires taking care of those who live within it, not just preserving the symbol.
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