Embates em torno do pseudoconceito de “ideologia de gênero” na deliberação do Plano Municipal de Educação de Belo Horizonte: reflexões linguístico-discursivas

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the disputes surrounding the inclusion of the term “gender” in the Plano Municipal de Educação de Belo Horizonte (2016) and its amendments, which spread a moral panic that rallied support against social movements focused on gender and sexuality studies. In recent years, this backlash has contributed to political setbacks in Brazil by generating resistance to the concept of “gender,” which reflects a key aspect of the socio-historical construction of social relations, tied to various forms of cultural, economic, political, and symbolic power. The theoretical and methodological foundation of this research is informed by Discursive Semiotics or Greimasian Semiotics (Greimas; Courtés, 2011; Fiorin, 2008; Barros, 2005, among others), the French Discourse Analysis (Pêcheux, 1997; Orlandi, 2015; Courtine, 2016; Mussalim, 2001, among others), and the notion of gender as a performative act (Beauvoir, 1980; Butler, 2003). Drawing on these frameworks, this study aims to analyze ideological and discursive patterns, while also using a semiotic perspective to identify themes (and occasional figures) present in the documents that guide the country’s educational policies. This approach will help us understand the ways in which female identity and the concept of “gender” have been redefined, and it will also map out the discursive imaginaries in Brazilian politics. The study is based on an analysis of the Plano Municipal de Educação de Belo Horizonte and the amendments made to the bill, available on the City Council’s website. The goal is to investigate the proposals to remove gender discussions from public education, looking closely at the strategies used to shape this discourse. Given the right-wing movement’s efforts to eliminate gender studies from official education policies, the study will also explore the values behind these efforts and the broader social contexts that influence how gender is understood. The findings suggest that the thematic paths and figurative elements – shaped by socio-historical and ideological factors – associated with this topic reinforce a negative view of gender in schools and highligh how the rights to discuss and integrate concepts such as “diversity” and “gender” in education are constantly challenged. By cataloging and analyzing the proposals of the councilors, a significant problem in local politics is evident: the distance between legislative decisions and scientific and pedagogical foundations.