Assexualidade e diversidade sexual: percepções de pessoas assexuais acerca de sua educação sexual escolar

Abstract

Asexuality can be defined as a spectrum in which individuals do not experience sexual attraction, or feel attraction infrequently and/or under specific circumstances. This work considers asexuality as a sexual orientation since this is the prevailing perspective among asexual individuals and a way of legitimizing their political struggle. In an effort to intersect asexuality with education, this research concentrates on school sex education. The reason for this choice is that the school is one of the main spaces for socialization, allowing students to learn how they see themselves and are seen by the world, as well as the personal differences between them. To understand how school sex education takes place in the country, we discuss national guidelines that regulate Brazilian school curricula. Therefore, the current study searched the literature on sexual diversity aimed at the teaching of sex education, which concerns the different forms of expression of sexuality, affections, and identities. Given this, the goal is to understand how asexual people experienced their sexual education process in the school environment. This qualitative research had as participants ten people who self-identify as asexual and who answered an online survey about asexuality and sex education. In our findings, it is shown that school sex education did not cover the needs of asexual people, such as the differentiation between sexual and amorous attraction, and that asexuality was never even mentioned in these environments. The sex education that the participants had contact with had a biological and heteronormative bias, thus excluding any perspective of interdisciplinarity or sexual diversity. Participants indicated that it would be necessary to include in their educational process discussions about asexuality, sexual diversity, consent, knowledge about their own bodies, and other nuances not only about asexuality. Furthermore, it appears that the relationship between peers in the school environment during adolescence is an important factor in the asexual-sexual differentiation. Also, that the lack of knowledge about asexuality during this period can make some people more susceptible to performing sexual acts that they are not comfortable with, plus feel as if something is wrong with them. Finally, with this study, we expect to promote the visibility of asexuality and its normalization, and help build a more inclusive education based on respect for sexual diversity