Effects of homophobia on mental health of youth who experience themselves as homosexual men

Abstract

This research seeked to understand the implications of homophobia on the mental health of university students who experience themselves as homosexual men. Experiences permeated by homophobic prejudice are shown to be potential generators of suffering for this population group that transgresses the status quo of heterosexuality, structurally installed in modern western societies. For this, semi-structured interviews were carried out with young people self-declared as homosexual men, students from universities from Southern Brazil. The reports were analyzed by Sartre’s theory, in dialogue with critical contemporary studies on gender and sexuality. As a result, the existence of homophobic violence aimed at these bodies was confirmed, both within and outside families, mediating episodes of psychological discomfort in the biography of most of the interviewees, in addition to resistance to this violence, through the reaffirmation of their ways of being.