A construção da identidade de gênero de estudantes universitários

Abstract

In recent years, Brazil has experienced a rise in social movements of an identity nature, at the same time as it faces, also in the field of education, an expansion of conservative discourse, especially those relating to issues of gender and sexuality. Thinking of the educational context as an important medium for the development of different identities reinforces the deepening of studies in this field and the need to understand how social phenomena participate in the construction of gender identities. Although the concept or notion of identity is far from being unanimous, this work has as its theme the gender identity of university students and intended to answer the following question: how do university students construct their gender identity? In this research, we dialogued with post-structuralist gender theories and symbolic interactionism, to support the analysis of the data produced, highlighting the role of social interactions in the identity journey of young people in educational environments. We take as a starting point the relevance of studies on the topic and the importance of facilitating, in everyday student assistance services, the expression of different gender identities. The general objective of the study was to understand how the construction of gender identity among university students occurs and to describe the relationships they maintain with their institution. This qualitative research used, as a data production method, the comprehensive interview, which we consider compatible with the interactionist theoretical perspective. The results obtained indicate how social and cultural factors and the university space itself demarcate the limits of gender, at the same time that they subvert social logic, by producing and affirming multiple gender identities.