Moral Panic and Gender Ideology Articulated in the Suppression of Guidelines on Gender and Sexuality Issues in Schools

Abstract

Coming from a social science approach, this article aims to analyze the conditions that allowed the suppression of guidelines on gender, gender identity and sexual orientation issues in the state and municipal educational plans of Rio Grande do Sul and its capital city, Porto Alegre. Understanding the media as a space of visibility that is able to create events in the consciousness of social actors, we seek to analyze the arguments and contents disseminated through newspapers and their influence on such suppressions. Using the content analysis method we identified the actors and arguments put into action in creating moral panic around the accusatory category of “gender ideology”. Finally, we seek to problematize this category, and address small but significant changes in education plans.