“MY BODY IN THE WORLD”:

BODY, GENDER, SEXUALITY AND DAILY LIFE AMONG LGBTQIAP+ UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

Introduction: The normalization of bodies within binary standards is based on the structure of colonial-capitalist and patriarchal power. This social control, which seeks to dominate, colonize and make unfeasible these bodies that perform outside of cisheteronormativity, employs the mechanisms of biopower in the capillarity of everyday life. Objectives: Understand the perceptions of LGBTQIAP+ corporeality in narratives about everyday experiences and analyze the use of art as an expression of narratives about the socio-corporeal experience of this public. Methods: Qualitative approach, field study with a descriptive character, using an online questionnaire, face-to-face artistic-experience meetings and focus group with students from a public university, belonging to the community. Data analysis was carried out through thematic content analysis. Results: Ten cisgender students, with homosexual, bisexual and pansexual sexual orientation, participated in the research. The analysis resulted in three thematic categories: “You look straight with your mouth closed: Relationships and bodily existences”; “The body in the world: Fear, Prejudice and Resistance, in everyday experiences”; “Narrating brands: Art as a tool for body narratives”. Conclusion: From a decolonizing perspective of these sexualities that deviate from the norm, artistic processes prove to be an important vehicle for expressing the everyday narratives of LGBTQIAP+ bodies. The reports are crossed by experiences that highlight mechanisms of power capillarized in daily events and social relations to fit these bodies into binary and cisheteronormative patterns.