Body Map and Life History of LGBTQIA+ Individuals in Situations of Vulnerability
body map, LGBTQ, visual methodology, sociatry
The LGBTQ community has a recurrent demand for emotional suffering, closely related to experiences of rejection, indifference and social neglect. The absence of spaces of belonging for this population in the conservative society increases their stigma and inclusion. Family abandonment is strongly associated with a situation of vulnerability, which motivates the creation of shelters for LGBTQ subjects, in order to support these subjects to truly conquer a role in society. The construction of this research was supported by socionomic theory, with special emphasis on sociometry. In this study, a qualitative research was carried out with a visual methodology, which uses the narrated body map as a strategy for collecting data about the life history of LGBTQ subjects in vulnerable situations. The objective of the study was to analyze the subjectivity of LGBTQ subjects in vulnerable situations through the narrative of the narrated body map. Data collection was carried out through interviews and application of a narrated body map to a participant residing in an LGBTQ shelter in the Federal District. Interviews were also conducted with the institution's directors. From the thematic analysis of the results, three themes were constructed: 1) Love between people of the same gender is equally love, therefore, as complex as any other kind of love; 2) The mental health balance: equilibrating reason and emotion; 3) The shelter is the sociometric family of the rejected: a place of belonging; and 4) Being gay does not have to be performative: I can simply be me. It is understood that through the experience of corporal inscription in the diverse identity, it was possible to identify the situations that cause these subjects to go to shelters. The research contributed to the formulation of intervention strategies for this population in the sense of expanding services, facilitating preventive access to health services and welcoming the LGBTQ public.