Questões de gênero na Educação Física escolar: um apanhado nas zonas distritais de Rio Grande-RS

Abstract

This research aimed to analyze how gender issues are dealt with in Physical Education classes at the municipal school system in Rio Grande - RS. To this end, we rely on theoretical currents that are based on a materialist understanding of the development of society and the phenomena inserted in it, thus using authors who take Marxism as a philosophical basis, discussing gender issues, entwined with patriarchy, racism and social classes. Therefore, it is an exploratory / descriptive study anchored in a qualitative approach, in which five schools from the municipal school network of the city of Rio Grande - RS participated, covering the five district zones of that city. As participants in this research, we have 9th grade students and Physical Education teachers and professors, who contributed to the research, respectively, through the following collection instruments: questionnaire and semi-structured interview. Using some elements of the methodology called Discursive Textual Analysis - ATD, the data were analyzed, thus emerging the categories, the units of meanings, the chapters, which are the ones who discuss the theme. These chapters started from a wider sphere, bringing society first, then the school institution and finally, Physical Education classes. Regarding our social context and gender issues, there is a diagnosis of a macho society; prejudiced and stereotyped, which labels and determines rules and standards for individuals, and gender inequality in the world of work is also an aggravating factor in this scenario. Regarding gender issues in the school environment, we realize that the school institution is not a neutral field, as it is still a space that internalizes the precepts that structure society, reinforcing binarisms, naturalizing situations. We identified that gender issues are not a very recurring theme in the schools investigated, and teachers have different perceptions about this being addressed in schools and in Physical Education classes, resulting in two groups: the pro-discussion and counter-discussion. In relation to physical education at school, finding a picture more inclined to sports bodily practices, with football as the most mentioned activity with regard to likes and dislikes by students, this being also one of the determining factors for having a division and differentiation between genders at the time of practice. Regarding the composition of the classes, we noticed that most participants prefer mixed classes, since ome defend open classes, claiming that there is a difference in skills and tastes between boys and girls. In a not so declared way, the oppressions that exist in society are also part of the context of Physical Education classes of the investigated schools, with football; stereotypes and the ideal body pattern, as some factors that cause such a situation. Being the oppressive school space, we perceive it as necessary and urgent to discuss the theme in this context, since the school could assume a role that goes against the oppressive system, internalizing precepts that help in the emancipation of everyone present.