Processos mobilizadores em contextos embaraçosos: a atuação dos agentes implementadores no enfrentamento à exploração sexual infantojuvenil no Vale do Jequitinhonha

Abstract

In this thesis we aim to understand how street-level bureaucrats are inserted and act in the mobilizing processes that pervade the public problematization of embarrassing issues at the local level. To that end, we have chosen to look at the issue of the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents (SECA), which is a controversial question, because, in addition to being denied by many as a form of violence, it is surrounded by coercive factors such as organized crime, the trafficking of drugs, weapons and people, the corruption of public agents, among others, that often make silence those who want to fight it. Regarding the street-level bureaucrats, we examined the work of social workers and psychologists working in the Social Assistance Referral Centers and the Specialized Reference Centers for Social Assistance, public equipments of social assistance policies in the territories and who carry out actions to confront and care for the victims of SECA. In this direction, we seek to understand the dynamics of socialization and mobilization in which the street-level bureaucrats are inserted and engendered, as well as to understand the intervening factors in the publicity conditions of the cause of confrontation with the SECA. We emphasize that we also seek to identify the socio-historical, political and peculiarities that permeate the practice of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents and to understand the particularities that make up the actions of agents who implement policies to promote and protect the rights of children and adolescents. In order to achieve these objectives, we chose two cities of the Vale do Jequitinhonha Itaobim and Medina as a locus of study, since they present, in general terms, a situation of poverty and evident social problems, are cut by BR-116, as well as equipments publics prepared for the care of victims of SECA and non-governmental organizations that act strongly in the fight against sexual violence. As methodological procedures, we used documentary analysis, in-depth interviews, systematic observations, focus groups and the application of qualitative questionnaires. We constructed an analysis model composed of three main dimensions: situational analysis, analysis of communicative interactions and analysis of the factors that conditioning publicity. These analyzes delineated the size and nature of the SECA, as well as its visibility, and allowed us to identify seven factors that the implementing agents and the other actors identified as incidents in the publicity conditions of the cause of confrontation with SECA: the naturalization of the practice; sociocultural stigma; the privacy of victims; structural violence; competition with other agendas and obligations; the lack of investments and the lack of information and diagnoses.