Gender, sexuality and medical education: experiences in a federal school that uses active learning methodologies

Pedro Mendonça De Oliveira,Rodrigo Otávio Moretti-Pires,Aline Guerra Aquilante,Sueli Fátima Sampaio

doi:10.1590/1981-5271v45.4-20200219.ing

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Sexuality is characterized as a device of power and Medicine plays a key role as one of the main action institutions. Medical education tends to ratify the heteronormative discourse and diagnose deviant patterns as a pathology. It is based on the binary categorization of individuals as an implication of their sexuality. The assessed medical course assumes the methodological proposal of the constructivist spiral, which seeks to guarantee the protagonism of the students, as well as the dialogue with their previous knowledge, using the concept of Meaningful Learning. Objective: To analyze the students’ experiences in the development of the competence profile related to gender and sexuality during medical school. Method: It is a qualitative research using focus groups with students attending the sixth year of the medical course. Result: The study indicates the students’ perception of the importance of active methodologies, as well as the early inclusion in the fields of practice. However, the thematic of gender and sexuality needs to be proposed in the list of triggers for the use of the constructivist spiral. Conclusion: The active teaching-learning methodologies can constitute a counter-hegemonic strategy in the face of the device of sexuality in guaranteeing biopower, as there is a reorientation of these contents in the curriculum.

Highlights

Sexuality is characterized as a device of power and Medicine plays a key role as one of the main action institutions
Group 2 was more heterogeneous, both in terms of gender and sexual orientation, with 2 gay men, 1 bisexual man, 2 heterosexual men, 2 bisexual women and 2 heterosexual women. This group consisted of students with a closer relationship with the topics, whose participants were individually organized to conduct the group meeting on a date and time suggested by the researcher, having managed to encompass both gender and sexuality without the need for intervention
The results indicated important advances in terms of medical training regarding the use of active methodologies and in contact with reality

Summary

Introduction

Sexuality is characterized as a device of power and Medicine plays a key role as one of the main action institutions. Regarding what the author calls the device of sexuality, the construction of knowledge and practices involved in the provision of health services and care starts from certain epistemological questions that have guided Western society since the 17th century. In this context, the emergence of rules and norms, knowledge and surveillance has supported institutions (especially the church and the family) that were used as support to corroborate a progressive internalization process of regulations regarding the exercise of sex and social life. This author discusses the perception of sexual differences and how they are used to differentiate roles in society through cultural meanings and, placing them in hierarchical relationships

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion