“I don’t think I discovered it, because I think I was born like this”: sexual identities ripped from the closet in a small town in the cerrado of Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract

:The research that gave rise to this article aimed to understand how the sexual identity of homosexual men and women is constructed in a small town in the interior of Mato Grosso do Sul. The research is part of a phenomenological-hermeneutic paradigm, thus its approach is qualitative, descriptive-interpretative and the selection of participants was intentional. The information production technique was the semi-structured interview. The results of the analysis of the material identify three categories that interfere in the construction of these people's sexual identity: The discovery of identity as something inherent, the affirmation of this identity in social relationships, especially in childhood, in the school space and it is also verified that the aforementioned axes are important in the way in which interviewees perceive, live and accept their sexual orientation. From the research, it can be inferred that the subjects, despite living in a national social context with legislation that safeguards and protects their rights, often still live their sexuality and their erotic and emotional lives in hiding, due to discrimination who suffer.