O corpo feminino no futebol universitário: percepções sobre questões de preconceito e gênero

Abstract

Sport is a rich space to promote discussions on gender issues, but it needs studies that discuss these issues in more depth. We are far ahead of the time when women’s football was prohibited, but situations of prejudice and differences in opportunities are recurrent in this scenario. Thus, the objective of this work is to investigate the perceptions of female football athletes at the Federal University of Ceará regarding issues of prejudice and gender in the sport. This research has a qualitative, descriptive approach, using semi-structured interviews, in which four athletes from the women’s football/futsal team at the Federal University of Ceará participated. The results were analyzed using Bardin’s content analysis technique, in which they were grouped into three themes: sports initiation, prejudice and university. The interviews show that the difficulties encountered in starting women’s football still recur, in which many girls did not have the space to play at school. The common practice of questioning sexuality simply because they practice the sport in question and situations of prejudice for being a woman who plays football still persists. Regarding the university, it offers similar resources to teams, regardless of gender. It is recommended that more studies discussing this topic be carried out in order to expand knowledge regarding issues of prejudice and gender that accompany women’s football.