A DEBATE about sexual violence in Brazil sparked by a lawmaker’s comments on the floor of Congress has spread beyond government chambers, triggering a national debate about rape and sexism in the South American nation.

    Reacting after an angry debate about the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, opposition congressman Jair Bolsonaro told Maria do Rosario Nunes, a rival lawmaker with whom he had been at loggerheads for years, that he would not rape her “because she was not worth it.”

    Then, he said it again.

    “Stay here Maria do Rosario!” he yelled during a parliamentary session Dec. 9, the eve of International Human Rights Day.

    “It’s been several days since you called me a rapist, and I said that I did not rape you because you weren’t worth it,” the 59-year-old retired soldier said.

    It was not clear under what circumstances Nunes called him a rapist, as alleged.

    His comments have sparked national fury in Brazil, a traditionally male-dominated society where 137 sexual assaults are reported daily.

    Angry Brazilians also took to social media to voice their disgust at his comments, while the United Nations called his comments “unacceptable.”

    Rosario Nunes, a close ally of leftist President Dilma Rousseff, filed a complaint, accusing him of libel and slander, and charged him with public incitement to rape.

    “I am not doing it for me, but for all Brazilian women, because no one deserves to be raped. I do not accept in parliament or anywhere, the incitement to rape,” said Rosario Nunes, former minister for human rights.

    Unrepentant, Bolsonaro said he would not ask for her forgiveness. “She isn’t worth it, because she’s ugly, she’s not my type. I would never rape her,” he told Zero Hora newspaper. The right-wing Bolosnaro is known for his outspoken comments.

    Several organizations have called for his resignation, and the Brazilian Women’s Union urged women across the country to decry the comments, organizing protests in Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Manaus.

    (SD-Agencies)