Violence in the affective-sexual trajectories of young gay men: “new” settings and “old” challenges

Abstract

This paper discusses the phenomenon of violence in the affective-sexual trajectories of young, cisgender gay men, from popular strata, in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, Bra-zil. Brazilian literature on violence against gay men generally focuses on the discrimination su-ffered by this population. However, the violence they are submitted to among family relationships due to their sexual orientation, or even their relationships known as “dating” or “hookup”, is hardly discussed. This qualitative study used in-depth interviews based on a semi-structured guide to discuss violence during the young gay men’s affective-sexual trajectory. The results evidenced multiple faces of violence during childhood and adolescence in family relationships, spanning their affective-sexual relationships in adolescence and youth, including sexual, physical, psychologi-cal, and institutional violence. Support networks are limited, for example, to a few friends and access to blogs on the Internet. No health professional was cited as a helping source. There is a need to discuss the prevention of violence and discuss health promotion of this social group, expanding the perspective on the various contemporary ways of relating intimately.