When gender and sexuality intersect with history teaching

Abstract

The argument pursued in this chapter is modest but important to understand the current Brazilian political context of strong confrontations and the production of moral panic. On the one hand, the chapter illustrates how the issues of gender and sexuality have come together in history teaching, and the impact it has produced, proving the roots of these issues in the educational field. On the other hand, the author argues in favor of gender and sexuality being structural elements of the Brazilian social order in the current context, diverging from a traditional statement that they would be smaller, less important elements, facing issues such as class and race. In order to accomplish the above, the chapter is organized into three parts. First, it reviews the main elements of the Brazilian historical path from the 1988 Federal Constitution to the present day, with special attention to the implications for education. Second, the author makes theoretical considerations about studies in gender, sexuality, and education, and advances in the field of history teaching and examines how these areas came together over the period under review. Last, the author narrates and analyzes some scenes from the school culture, collected from research projects, showing the ways in which situations involving gender and sexuality markers appear and are addressed in history classes.