Masculinity, vulnerability and prevention of STD/HIV/AIDS among male adolescents: social representations in a land reform settlement

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the relationship of masculinity, vulnerability and prevention of STD / HIV / AIDS among adolescent males of a land reform settlement in central Brazil. METHOD: a qualitative study using as precepts the strands of social representations with teenagers between 12 to 24 years. RESULTS: three categories emerged - Perception of vulnerability; Gender and vulnerability; and, Prevention and vulnerability to STD / HIV / AIDS. Adolescents felt invulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases anchored in the social representations in favor of the male hegemony. An ignorance about forms of prevention for STD / HIV / AIDS was demonstrated in their statements. It is believed that institutional projects such as the School Health Program and the Men's Health Care Program constitute essential tools to minimize factors of vulnerability in this population, since the school is recognized as a social facility that promotes socialization of experiences and contributes to the construction of the identity of the adolescent. CONCLUSION: the social representations of masculinity collaborate for the vulnerable behavior of the adolescents for the acquisition of sexually transmitted diseases. One hopes that this study can contribute to the production of knowledge and technical-scientific improvement of the professionals, especially the nurse, in order to discuss issues related to male sexuality of adolescents in the situation of the land reform settlement