Depatriarchalization of the curriculum and approaches to gender and sexualities: an experience report from an educational space in the Northeast of Brazil

Abstract

In recent years, the school curriculum has become a territory of dispute between conservatives and progressives. The tension was heightened when educators inserted debates on genders, sexualities and human diversity into basic education. Attempts to deconstruct the heteropatriarchal curriculum are still timid in Brazil. This is justified by the intensified political upsurge in the period from 2016 to 2022. The legitimization of persecution of education professionals contributed to many retreating from the discussion of gender and sexual diversity issues. However, the struggles attributed to the permanence of the debates were responsible for the construction of a school that was more affectionate and welcoming of diversity. Understanding the importance of this fight for a welcoming curriculum motivated the writing of the article. The objective of the text is to reflect on the perceptions observed during the lecture entitled Inclusions and Diversities. The lecture took place on July 7, 2022, in a public school in the state of Ceará and its target audience was students in the 9th year of elementary school. As a result, the importance of these debates for students was verified: (1) who suffer prejudice for dissenting from normalized sexuality; (2) the reproduction of heteropatriarchy in the school environment; (3) institutionalized violence in society; (4) silencing in the face of LGBTQIAPNphobia.