A história do Grupo de Estudo, Pesquisa e Ensino de Sexualidade (GEPESEX): a sexualidade no Curso de Ciências Biológicas da UFC

Abstract

This work aims to understand the constitution of the GEPESEX study group, based on its history in the context of the Biological Sciences course at UFC. GEPESEX was created from concerns that arose in the course environment. These identity and formative concerns made some students of the course propose a collective and self-formative space for discussions and learning about themes about sexuality and gender. The need to tell this story has become urgent as we are experiencing a setback of conservative far-right policies, with persecutions of minority and identity groups, which intensified from this political inclination, but which have always existed in Brazilian society. In the field of education, setbacks and persecutions are evident, and in this scenario, education for sexualities is one of the most affected both in schools and in the training spaces of teachers in universities. Thus, the methodological construction of this research, trying to align the objectives to the results, was through qualitative research, using the biographical (Auto) approach from authors such as Christiane Delory-Momberger (2008), Marie-Christine Josso (2007), Ferrarotti (2014), among others. The group's story was told through the life narrative of actresses who founded and participated in GEPESEX. The history of the group was divided into two generations and these actresses were chosen from these generations. To access the memories of these actresses with the study group, the Narrative Interview was chosen from the definitions of Jovchelovitch and Bauer (2002). GEPESEX was an extremely important group for the CFU Biological Sciences course and teacher training. A group that transgressed the way these students were formed in relation to these themes of sexuality and gender. A study group proposed and maintained by students, who used their spaces for collaborative and collective learning. GEPESEX also surpassed the academic spaces of the Biological Sciences course of the UFC and proposed that education for sexualities should be taught in schools in a way that welcomed and respected the demands and experiences of all who occupied those spaces. The GEPESEX collaborated with society through interventions in schools and research papers published in events. The GEPESEX helped to train a generation of teachers more responsible and better prepared to deal with the challenges that classrooms present in relation to education for sexualities, especially in an identity and multicultural social conjuncture. GEPESEX does not have an end, as it remains alive in the memory of the course and its participants.