‘Fight like a girl’: Virtual bedroom culture in public school occupations in Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this work is to analyse a possible association of feminist engagement, young women and media activism through observing the public school occupations (PSO) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2015. This issue has implications for education, gender and media policies, and citizenship. Cultural Studies was the main theory approach used, especially the concept of bedroom culture. The research design of this study was qualitative and exploratory with focus group data analysis. In the results we observe that gender had a specific relationship with the PSO due to the central role of females in the movement, which was highlighted by the six girls who participated in the focus group. The online and offline involvement with this movement helped increase gender awareness among the youth, enabling the development of a political posture for the confrontation of the oppression and domination of women, especially for girls who had never had contact with feminism out of their bedrooms.