The discovery of sexuality through the graffiti

Abstract

This research seeks to understand the meaning that students give to iconographic representations in the Luis Arango Cardona Educational Institution of the Municipality of La Tebaida (Quindío, Colombia). This qualitative research was undertaken by means of a phenomenological method that allowed to deeper understanding of the meaning that students give to these practices. The information was collected from the observation of school spaces with these representations and the dialogue with focus groups in order to investigate the meaning of the graffiti displayed there. In this study, students in the sixth and seventh grades were selected as a sample. To do this the students were randomly split into five groups of two students; each composed of one male and one female. Among the categories depicted, expressions of sexuality were markedly predominant. In the local context, characterized by traditionalism and good manners, sexuality remains a myth, something that must be hidden and cannot be talked about; this leads to students finding in graffiti the way to express their desires, emotions and feelings about sex. It becomes a way of demonstrating to others, always keeping their identity protected to avoid censorship, social punishment and reproach from the institution.