Social representations about feminism in psychology students: “freedom to be”

Abstract

Psychology plays a central role in mental health care, consequently it is important to understand its constant movement, as well as the subjects and their social relationships, and to expand debates and studies, given the complexity of human beings. Therefore, one of the categories that requires theoretical deepening from the perspective of mental health stands out, which is gender, as this can be a risk factor, considering that men have a suicide mortality rate three times higher than women in Brazil. In this scenario, there is a need to produce studies that characterize men's needs and demands, mainly related to mental health and the construction of their masculinities, based on gender discussions generated by feminist criticism. Therefore, this research seeks to understand the social representation of feminism for university men in the Psychology course at an institution in Serra Catarinense. The method will be qualitative and has descriptive exploratory objectives. The information in the field will be through an online questionnaire and a focus group, and the data will be analyzed using the critical discourse analysis approach. The results indicate that the students understand feminism as a political movement for social transformation, plural in its pursuit of equity, and contributing to academia. The research also identified the need to foster the discussions of mental health in theories studied in professional training and in healthcare organizations, including intersectional categories such as gender, considering these discussions as part of the ethical-political commitment of the profession.