NARRATIVES OF YOUNG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ABOUT INTERNALIZED HOMOPHOBIA: AN ANALYSIS IN THE LIGHT OF HISTORICAL-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

There are homophobic processes in university relationships, be they between students, between teachers and students or even between students and university facilities. Homophobia is a psychosocial process, which means that it has a history, which in turn is rooted in the daily lives of homosexual people, including in educational spaces such as universities. In certain periods of development, homophobia can cause significant damage to the life experience of the person who suffers it, and one of these critical periods is youth, during which our needs and activities change drastically. This study aimed to analyze the narratives of young Brazilian university students about their experiences of internalized homophobia. The research process was characterized from a qualitative perspective and, during it, interviews were conducted with four participants, who responded to the Time Dynamics instrument. The research corpus was analyzed using L. S. Vygotsky's Historical-Cultural Psychology, especially through the concepts of meaning and experience. Finally, the study indicated that the experience of young homosexual Brazilian university students is eminently marked by psychosocial elements of homophobia, which contribute to higher rates of internalized homophobia among this public, affecting the production of negative meanings about themselves and the world, as well as straining their experience towards a pathological development. In this context of violence, young homosexual university students can find themselves at the mercy of academic environments that don't have an adequate structure for welcoming them, so there is a need to revisit the molds of the university.