"You know, they are not used to anthropologists!": an ethnographic analysis of teacher training programs

The school system in Brazil, in the middle of 1990's, went through a significant change in its social functions. As from the publication of the National Curricular Parameters (PCN's), the school was invited to contribute to an affective and sexual socialization among teenagers and youngsters through sexual orientation projects. It was understood that the school shouldn't have sexual education, but 'sexual orientation'. This new demand promoted a lot of debates about school and what should be done in it, besides being the first step for the configuration of teachers' training programs to prepare them for the work with sexual orientation at schools. This article presents reflections based on ethnographic research carried out in teachers' training courses and in classrooms where sexual orientation projects were being developed in Rio de Janeiro. It also describes the classification related to sexuality, sexual diversity and where the school is placed in this debate.

anthropology; gender; diversity; sexuality and sexual orientation