Fatores preventivos de violência de gênero no contexto universitário

Abstract

Gender-based violence is a worldwide phenomenon with high rates of occurrence, including among youth. International studies indicate the effectiveness of actions developed in schools and universities that aim to prevent gender-based violence in adolescence and youth, highlighting the role of friendships and peer group as a prevention factor. The thesis entitled "Preventive factors of gender-based violence in the university context" aimed to investigate how friendships and peer group can act as a gender violence prevention factor for young college women in Brazil and the role of the educational institution in fostering actions that favor the prevention of gender violence in the Brazilian university context. The research was based on investigations and practices linked to the research line of preventive socialization of gender violence, guided by the concept of dialogic learning and dialogical-based authors who highlight the importance of interactions in identity development. For its development, the research was guided by the Communicative Methodology, which implies an equal dialogue between participants and researcher. Ten Brazilian female university students, aged 19 to 23, participated in the research. There were conducted 5 communicative daily-life stories, two communicative focus groups, and two groups for devolutive and intersubjective data analysis. Data collection with the participants took place during the Covid-19 pandemic period and therefore took place virtually. The data were analyzed for their exclusionary elements and their transformative elements. In the case of the present research, the excluding dimensions refer to the actions of peers that do not contribute to the prevention of violence and may favor violence, and the transforming dimensions concern the actions of peers that contribute to decrease and/or prevent violence against women. The elements were categorized into the following thematic categories: identification of violence against women at the university; peer pressure/dominant coercive discourse; informal network support; formal network support; affective-sexual attraction and relationships, and campus culture/climate. The analysis of the data indicated that an important excluding element was peer pressure exerted on students to perform actions they did not want in regard to affective-sexual relationships and other behaviors in the university environment. On the other hand, as international research indicates, in the Brazilian university context the peer group can also play an important preventive role regarding gender violence in youth. The relationships of solidarity and dialogue established among the students, and the respectful relationships among peers stand out as important transforming elements. The support and solidarity network for the victims of violence at the university is also an important transforming element identified. From the dialogue with the students, institutional practices that favor the prevention of violence in the Brazilian university context are also suggested.