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Experts see a setback in the suppression of the term 'sexual orientation' from the curriculum base

The concept of gender was also removed from the BNCC text presented by the MEC

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The removal of the expression “sexual orientation” and the concept of gender from the text of the National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), presented by the Ministry of Education (MEC) on Thursday (6), represents a major setback. The understanding is common among four experts interviewed by Journal of Unicamp. For professor Margareth Rago, from the History Department of the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) at Unicamp, the measure reflects the intention of some sectors “to pull the wheel of history backwards”. The BNCC, which will still need to be approved by the National Education Council (CNE) and approved by the Minister of Education, establishes the general guidelines for defining the curricula for early childhood and elementary education in the 190 public and private schools in Brazil.

For Claudia Bonfim, a collaborating researcher at the Study and Research Group in Philosophy of Education (Paideia) at the Faculty of Education (FE) at Unicamp, by suppressing the two themes from the text, the BNCC reflects a conservative vision. “The school is a space of diversity in itself. Diversity of people, races, thoughts and sexualities. Denying this is denying its constitution”, considers the expert.

Retired professor from FE-Unicamp and president of the Center for Education and Society Studies (Cedes), Ivany Rodrigues Pino understands that the students who will be reached by BNCC are in an important definition phase. “Removing references to these themes from the document compromises the conception of education as a citizen’s right and a duty of the State, since the purpose of education is to work on people’s development, including within the scope of citizenship formation.”

The MEC's ​​position, observes Regina Facchini, researcher at the Gender Studies Center (Pagu) at Unicamp, adds to a process of removing gender and sexuality issues from school curricula, which has been unfolding since 2013 and which has strong social pressure and pressure from conservative sectors of the Catholic and evangelical churches. “The main argument in defense of this stance is that it would be up to the family to educate on topics related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Those in the classroom know, however, that families are diverse and that they often constitute spaces for the violation of the rights of children and adolescents. Furthermore, many parents have difficulty addressing these topics. This measure intensifies the lack of responsibility of education managers for issues that are already present in the school world. Not considering this is disrespecting the rights of children and adolescents”, she ponders.

Below, the main excerpts of the statements given by the three experts about the BNCC.

Margareth Rago is a professor at the Department of History at the Institute of Philosophy and Human Sciences (IFCH) at Unicamp

Photo: Antonio Scarpinetti


“The MEC’s decision represents a profound setback for Brazil in relation to gender discussions, which began in the country in the early 90s. Suppressing the category, the word, does not eliminate the problems to which it refers. It does not mean ending sexual differences and inequalities. This is a dumbing down policy. Discussions around the category of gender represent a democratic advance. These are experiences that affect not only women, but also men, who no longer want to be like the men of yesterday. This stance serves the interests of religious groups and far-right forces, who want to establish a standard of compulsory hetoronormativity. They want us all to be heterosexual, in a different world. Why do we have to follow a standard dictated by the church or by Bolsonaro? [Jair Bolsonaro, federal deputy for the PSC]”.


Ivany Rodrigues Pino is a retired professor from the Faculty of Education (FE) at Unicamp, president of the Center for Education and Society Studies (Cedes) and member of the National Education Forum

Photo: Antonio Scarpinetti

“The BNCC presents several problems. One of them is to propose a single curriculum for the entire national territory, without considering the enormous inequalities between regions, states and municipalities. The issue of removing the concept of gender and the expression 'sexual orientation' from the text is also problematic. The students who will be reached by the legislation are in an important definition phase. The removal of references to these themes from the document compromises the conception of education as a citizen's right and a duty of the State, since the purpose of education is to work on people's development, including within the scope of citizenship formation. I don't know if it will still be possible to correct these flaws. The National Education Council informed that it will call five public hearings to discuss the document, but we do not know who will be called for this discussion. In the case of formulating the BNCC proposal, entities representing the education business community were privileged to the detriment of scientific entities”.
 

Regina Facchini is an anthropologist and researcher at the Gender Studies Center (Pagu) at Unicamp

Photo: Reproduction

“The main argument in defense of this stance is that it would be up to the family to educate on topics related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Those in the classroom know, however, that families are diverse and that they often constitute spaces for the violation of the rights of children and adolescents. Furthermore, many parents have difficulty addressing these topics. This measure intensifies the lack of responsibility of education managers for issues that are already present in the school world. Not considering this is disrespecting the rights of children and adolescents. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not topics that only interest the GLBT community. It is also of interest to heterosexuals because it involves important issues such as unwanted pregnancy, among others. What we assess is that it is important to give visibility to transsexuals and the GLBT community in order to reduce the degree of isolation and prejudice to which they are subjected and which leads to violence, isolation and even suicide. It is also important to highlight that stereotypes are harmful to everyone, not just transsexuals and the GLBT segment. The current standards of masculinity and femininity are new for any boy or girl, in any social segment. It is no surprise that men die earlier than women due to violent causes or lack of health care. It is also no surprise that we still have to worry about domestic violence, rape and inequality in the job market, problems that directly affect women. These are very serious social issues that deserve the attention and intervention of education policies”.
 

Cláudia Bonfim is a Collaborating Researcher at the Study and Research Group in Philosophy of Education (Paideia) at the Faculty of Education (FE) at Unicamp, professor at Faculdade Dom Bosco, in Cornélio Procópio (PR), and author of the book “Undressing Sexual Education ”

Photo: Disclosure

“Talking about sexuality is talking about the integrality of life. The BNCC is a setback. While the PCNs [National Curricular Parameters] gave formal opening to deal with a topic inherent to subjectivity, in a privileged place for this, the Base reflects a conservative vision, based on the formation of technical and specific knowledge. Sexuality is once again thought of as mere biological knowledge. It's unfortunate that people are still so scared to talk about sexuality. We are sexual and sexual beings since we are born. If this is not the case at home or at school, where will we learn to experience an emancipated, qualitative, physically and emotionally responsible sexuality, based on respect and ethical and aesthetic values? The school is a space of diversity in itself. Diversity of people, races, thoughts and sexualities. To deny this is to deny its constitution. This stance reflects the lack of scientific knowledge of what sexuality is in its entirety, how it develops, how our sexual identity is constructed. Lack of knowledge is the source of many prejudices.”

 

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Students in the classroom and facade of the Ministry of Education

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