Banca de DEFESA: Bárbara Almeida de Espindola

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : Bárbara Almeida de Espindola
DATE: 20/12/2023
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: ICC Sul - Instituto de Psicologia - AT 11/10
TITLE:

The elephant in the room: the invisibility of pornography within the context of sexual abuse committed by adolescents

KEY WORDS:

adolescent sexual offender; pornography; sexual abuse; family; polyvictimization.

PAGES: 110
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Psicologia
SUMMARY:

Sexual abuse committed by adolescents is a part of the phenomenon of violence, which has received little attention in Brazil, despite occurring both nationally and internationally. International research is more advanced in mapping the contextual facilitators for committing sexual violence, and recent studies demonstrate that pornography is included among these facilitators. A gap in the literature was identified in the understanding of the role this element plays in the relationships of these young people with the development of their sexuality, and how pornography participates in the circuit of violence. This is a complex situation that involves different layers of family and institutional interactions, social vulnerabilities, polyvictimization, and a topic still considered a taboo in our society. To address most of the contextual interrelationships, the present study was guided by the new paradigmatic epistemology based on the assumptions of complexity, instability, and intersubjectivity. Therefore, considering the existing research gap, this is an exploratory study aimed at broadening the understanding of the association between the use of pornography and the commitment of sexual abuse by male adolescents, using a qualitative, multi-method approach. In order to do this, the methodological strategies used were action and documental research, and the results were analyzed using Braun and Clarke's Reflexive Thematic Analysis. This study was carried out at a public health institution, in a specialized center for handling cases of violence in 2023. The participants were all the thirteen individuals summoned for the first Multifamily Group (MG) and the fourteen of the second GM. The instruments used are part of the evaluation and action protocol adopted by the institution. The first was the records of participants’ life stories, filled out by the multiprofessional team during the family interview stage. The second instrument was the MG, which is the multiprofessional method of intervention with the families. The group sessions discussed in this study concerned the topics “Sexual abuse is a crime” and “Sexuality”. Following the data collection, a deductive analysis was conducted regarding the participants’ life stories, resulting in three themes and four subthemes. These results demonstrated the presence of individual and family polyvictimization, low parental supervision, and a sense of not belonging, revealing the unseen place of pornography in the life of these families. Subsequently, a six-step inductive analysis was conducted to complement the information from the life records. Four themes and four subthemes were created from the “Sexual abuse is a crime” session, and four themes and three subthemes emerged from the “Sexuality” session. The results showed the suffering of families when talking about sexuality, the difficulty in dealing with the topic, the use of denial as a coping strategy, and the silencing of adolescents' suffering caused by hegemonic masculinity. Thus, this study concludes that pornography not only has an invisible place within the context of sexual abuse committed by adolescents, but is also a facilitating element for sexual violence and a maladaptive coping mechanism. These findings contribute to broadening the understanding of how pornography influences sexual violence, enabling the development of new interventions related to the protection of children and youth. Limitations include the type of study, carried out within an intervention setting in which the other methods might not be appropriate, as well as adversities arising from the coronavirus pandemic, which led to the accumulation of cases and the physical and emotional overload of the multiprofessional team.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interno - 1364073 - FABIO IGLESIAS
Externa ao Programa - ***.998.167-** - LIANA FORTUNATO COSTA - USP
Externa à Instituição - KÁRITA RACHEL PEDROSO BASTOS - SEJUS
Externa à Instituição - AMANDA PINHEIRO SAID - UNIEURO