Denominações para o “homossexual masculino” no ALiMA: lendo e discutindo imagens sociais

Abstract

In this text, we seek to show how the analysis of the lexicon can be an important way to unveil crystallized social concepts and images and can contribute to discuss current social patterns.Thus, the research focuses on the hypothesis that the denominations given to the male homosexual result from a dominant ideology regarding the image and sexuality of men in society. The study was based on a set of lexical data collected for the production of the Linguistic Atlas of Maranhão (ALiMA) and has a total of 29 denominations. The study is anchored in discussions of theoretical fields such as the History of Sexuality and Linguistics. In this last field, the work is based on the studies of the Sciences of the Lexicon, of Dialectology and of Geolinguistics. The data were organized in tables and in groups of denominations with or without dictionary, then they were analyzed in the sense of trying to reconstruct values ??and images of the homosexual in the popular imagination. The data show that the denominations given to the male homosexual are often related to the physical and sexual aspects of the gay man and, also, is based on a heteronormative ideology that still predominates in society. Thus, it is possible to conclude that, although there is an intense discussion about existing patterns in society, there is still a long way to deconstruct these idealized images.