Masculinity and soccer: gender issues in a psychosocial rehabilitation experience with men in Brazil’s Federal District

Abstract

This article presents a study of men’s participation in soccer workshops at a mental health services facility (CAPS). The sport is considered a relevant practice in terms of men’s sociability processes. Qualitative research was conducted at two CAPS facilities in Brasilia, Federal District from August 2017 to September 2018. Data were collected through observations of daily activities and with 10 semi-structured interviews with male participants who were selected during observations. The findings of this study demonstrate the potential of therapeutic soccer workshops for the psychosocial rehabilitation of men with mental disorders – the users of these mental health services – based on social and cultural re-insertion through an activity that materially and symbolically constructs masculinity and what it means to be a man in Brazil. As patients with mental disorders who are customarily marginalized from hegemonic masculinity, the users of CAPS services were able to access possible masculinities and reconstruct their new identities as men.