Experiencing Homophobia in Childhood: Life Story Narratives of Gay, Cisgender Men Residing in the Inland of Paraná, Brazil

Abstract

This work discusses the experiences of homophobia experienced by gay, cisgender men in childhood who reside in cities in the inland of the State of Paraná, Brazil. Based on feminist and gender studies and through the Life Story Narrative, we address the experiences and impacts of the different manifestations of homophobia in the lives of the research participants. The study involved six (06) volunteers whose narratives depict childhood as a period marked by a process of differentiation that was imposed through prohibitions, reprimands, satire, “jokes”, “teasing”, moral and sexual harassment, and psychological, verbal and physical aggression. These constant experiences produced different, more or less precarious, strategies of adaptation to the expectations projected onto the participants. This daily life of violence marked the entire childhood period, clearly demonstrating how the processes of expression, subjectivation and socialization were alienated by the adoption of mechanisms and practices that attempted to cisheteronormativize and normalize the participants’ bodies, experiences and affections.