Myths, categories, and crystals: Revisiting the classics on the brazilian homosexual movement

Abstract

This paper revisits the classic literature on the brazilian homosexual movement (BHM). It discusses the difficulties inherent to the social movement category and demonstrates how the dissemination and incorporation of the founding myth and the notion that the artisanal gay press, with the exception of Snob and Gente Gay, contained only gossip and parodies. In the end, it proposes a methodology for examining the constitution of social movements whose actors are marked by disqualification dynamics – as is the case of LGBTI+ people, blacks, indigenous peoples, women and prostitutes – that, in addition to being procedural, contemplates the consistent challenge in overcoming the introjection of the deteriorated identity. Its theoretical approach is based on Maria da Glória Gohn, E. P. Thompson, Peter Burke, Howard Becker, and Michel de Certeau.