I can't stand it, women with women and men with men: Analyzing adolescents narratives on homophobia

Abstract

In this paper, homosexuality and homophobia are problematized as social, cultural and historical constructions, which are implicated in systems of meaning and relations of power/knowledge. The school is an institution (re)producing such discourses, for example, by silencing the curriculum on issues of homophobia, sexual diversity and gender, thus contributing to the affirmation of heterosexuality as the only way to experience pleasures and desires. Therefore, narratives produced by teenagers about homophobia are analyzed in order to understand the extent to which adolescents are being challenged by the discourse on sexual diversity and gender. The importance of discussing such issues within the school is focused by taking into account that such body contributes to the formation of the subjects and their identities. For the production of narratives, the methodological strategies of filling out a questionnaire and establishing focus groups were used. By analyzing the narratives, the adolescents participating in the research were shown to have an understanding of homophobia as an exclusive way to act in society, the family and also the school as sites they said to be ripe to discuss these issues.