The future of diversity: Tolerance or respect?
Elvio Corrêa Porto, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie
Hélio Arthur Reis Irigaray, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro
Introduction and justification: In the past years, social responsibility has been an important issue in the academic and business worlds. For instance, in Brazil, McDonald’s has developed a project called “McInternet”, through which, every client that purchases at least 10 Reais (4 Euros) is allowed to free access to the internet for 15 minutes. Of course that the aforementioned corporation declared that its main objective is to popularize the internet amongst those with lower income; nevertheless this policy reveals that the access to this new technology is directly related to the purchase power of the individuals, so that one only becomes a citizen when he or she belongs to the productive economic system (FONTENELLE, 2006). In this study we argue that the same has happened to the gay and lesbian population; i.e, they have only gained social evidence after their economic power has been recognized (pink dollar); however, it has yet to be studied if these different sexual manifestations are respected or merely tolerated.
Objective: The main objective of this paper is to study gays and lesbians in the Brazilian society through the eyes of the media; i.e., what has been written, how they have been portraited and, based upon these findings and the framework, we will try to decipher the sign of the future, what the future holds for these individuals in Brazil: tolerance or respect?
Methodology: First of all, we shall review the main Brazilian magazines and newspapers in order to understand how the diversity of sexual orientation has been treated in the country. The second step will be to analyze the discourse of the media, using the Atlas TI software in order to determine the emerging categories of the object being discussed.
Framework: The recognition of sexual diversity increases amongst the headlines of business and economic media, apparently reflecting times of wider and open acceptance of homosexuality. Nevertheless, this speech collides somehow with other evidences of continuous prejudice and persecution of different sexual orientations. As well as women, blacks, and other minorities (KESSLER, MICKELSON e WILLIAMS, 1999), gays and bisexual individuals have also been targets of discrimination and assaults. In the USA, for instance, previous researches indicate that verbal and physical assault rates to gays and lesbians are much higher than the national average (MEYER, 1995); in Brazil, every year, an average of 120 gays are murdered on account of their sexual orientation (MOTT, 2006). Gays, lesbians and bisexuals are also discriminated in the workplace, since their paying is 11% to 27% lower than the heterosexuals with the same background, experience, occupation, marital status and region of residence (BADGET, 1995; MAYS e COCHRAN, 2001; MELLO, 2006).
Results and relevance: The result of this research will reveal how the diversity of sexual orientation tends to be treated in Brazil in the future years and its findings may be used in the elaboration of effective policies to create a truly democratic society.