Experiências da sexualidade entre jovens na pandemia de COVID-19

Abstract

Sexuality is experienced through experiences that involve the body, in a complex and dynamic way. In youth, freedom of expression of sexuality allows for the exploration of the body and the search for pleasure through individual or shared activities. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been changes in sexuality practices and behaviors, in view of the social distancing adopted as one of the preventive health measures. This study aims to understand young people's experiences regarding sexuality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, it seeks to analyze these experiences considering the social distancing measures imposed during this period. This is qualitative research with a descriptive and exploratory approach, carried out remotely in a virtual environment through Information Technology. Fourteen young people from different locations in the state of Bahia who experienced social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic participated in the research. As an outreach technique, we used the Snowball Method remotely through Virtual Social Networks, through the Viral Strategy. We adopted the asynchronous online focus group as a technique for producing empirical material. The empirical material was produced in November 2022. The empirical material was analyzed using the discourse analysis technique proposed by Fiorin, with sexuality as an analytical category. To ensure methodological rigor and quality of the research, the COREQ criteria were adopted to construct the methodology and execute the study. The ethical aspects set forth in Resolution No. 466/2012, No. 510/2016, and No. 02/2021 were respected, and the project was submitted to and approved by the UFBA Research Ethics Committee. The results converged into three empirical categories: singularities of young people's sexuality during the COVID-19 pandemic; reworking of demands and endings of relationships in the intensification of coexistence; and emotional health under the effects of deprivation in COVID-19. The abstracted narratives reveal that, even in the context of social distancing, young people developed strategies to meet their emotional and sexual demands, alone or with partners, in the ways and limits possible, in person and/or virtually. In the pandemic scenario, dating apps were reinterpreted as a tool for developing friendships. Young people adopted different strategies to experience sexuality: sex toys and masturbation were adopted to fulfill their desires; assuming the risks of contamination in mental health care or preserving the status of normality; in romantic relationships, intense coexistence led to the reworking of demands or the end, experienced with pain, mourning and challenges in the search for new meanings. Restrictions on freedom, uncertainty, fear, family conflicts and loss of privacy caused harm to emotional health, exacerbating mental health demands. The results can contribute to the improvement of public policies for young people, especially for nursing professionals who work in direct health care and community education. Therefore, it is essential to discuss care strategies appropriate to the specificities of this group's sexuality experiences and to expand knowledge about the health demands of Brazilian youth for the development of public policies for youth in atypical periods.