PRÁTICA SOCIAL RELACIONADA A SEXUALIDADE E GÊNERO ENTRE JOVENS UNIVERSITÁRIOS

Abstract

The primary goal of this research is to examine social practices related to sexuality and gender among college students from two higher education institutions (one public and one private) located in Anápolis, Brazil. The theoretical framework adopted in this thesis delimits the philosophical, historical and conceptual aspects regarding body, sexuality and gender based on Nunes (2005), Le Breton (2007), Louro (2013) Scott (1995), Siqueira (2010), Foucault (1979, 2014, 2015), Melani (2012), Corbin, Courtine and Vigarello (2008), Siqueira (2008), Puleo (2004), Nye (1995), Beauvoir (1970), Connel and Pearse (2015), Matos (2010), among others. These authors discuss how categories such as body, gender and sexuality are filled with representations, based on concepts that have been established throughout the history of human development as well as on theoretical concepts describing them. In what concerns philosophical and historical aspects, the present analysis is consistent with the interpretations and social practices that have been established by numerous individuals, in different contexts and historical periods, regarding the aforementioned categories, in such a way that the multiple manifestations, observations, analyses, experiences and studies that influence contemporary perceptions contribute to social and political actions, such as the feminist movement (first, second, third and fourth wave), which also includes gays and lesbian groups. This thesis also takes into account previous work by Moscovici (1978, 2015), Vala and Castro (2013), Dias (2014), Goffman (1988), Parker (1999), Freud (1910, 1925) and Reich (1978) to discuss how social representations are shaped by communication processes, gestures, among other factors, which cut across social relations and feed discourses, conceptions and social practices, both individual and collective, with respect to objects, things and individuals. In this scenario, sexuality, gender and homosexuals are critical elements, as they determine perceptions and behaviors able to stimulate or mitigate the effects of prejudice and discrimination. As for the quanti-qualitative field research conducted in this study, a questionnaire composed of 47 open and closed-ended questions was applied to 227 individuals, adults and young adults with ages ranging from 19 to 40 years old. The questionnaire was designed to verify how participants experienced their own sexuality and corporeity. This survey has also shown how these people perceive gender issues (homosexuality, in particular) within the social representations that have been structured over the course of their development and that stem from interactions between individuals inside or outside university circles. Moreover, the questionnaire responses, detailed in the data analysis section in this thesis, reveal senses and meanings that have been built up over their educational processes and interpersonal relationships.