IN THE CROSSHAIRS, THE BODY: GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN SCIENCE EDUCATION

Abstract

The aim of this article is to understand the challenges faced by science teachers when dealing with topics such as gender, the body and sexuality in militarized schools. We start from the understanding that these institutions, crossed by a normative and disciplinary logic, put a strain on pedagogical processes, especially when it comes to addressing content that mobilizes differences, the autonomy of bodies and human rights. The research is anchored in the studies of authors such as Butler (2002 a, b; 2004; 2018), Foucault (1987; 1979; 2008), Louro (1997; 2000), Connell; Pearse, (2015) and others. The study falls within the field of qualitative research, using the methodological framework of Textual Discourse Analysis (TDA) (Moraes; Galiazzi, 2007; 2016), based on interviews with two science teachers working in a militarized school in the state of Maranhão. The analysis highlighted the institutionalized silencing of gender and sexuality issues, teacher (self)censorship in the face of pedagogical surveillance and the lack of continuing education that includes critical and intersectional perspectives. We conclude that the challenges faced are not limited to pedagogical barriers, but are part of political and epistemological disputes that deny the sciences the role of an instrument of emancipation and the construction of critical people. In view of this, there is an urgent need to stress and strengthen teaching practices that confront the normative and exclusionary logics that operate in these spaces.