The reaffirmation of male superiority by modern scientism: effects on teacher subjectivation

Abstract

Grounded on bibliographical research, this article aims to show the construction of scientific arguments, based on the supposed feminine and masculine nature, which reaffirmed male superiority, also affecting the process of teacher subjectivation. It is argued that the effort undertaken in modernity to find scientific evidence of male superiority, far from being neutral and impersonal, was a political-cultural practice permeated by male interests, leading to the reaffirmation of already prevailing discourses on the supposed male superiority. Modern scientism has marked our history of education, from the beginning of the constitution of the Brazilian teaching profession and the creation of Normal Schools in the 19th century, up to the current context, in processes of teacher subjectivation in different educational settings. In spite of that, scientism coexists with other discourses in contemporaneity, with an emphasis on feminist discourses, which have also subjectivized teachers, thus contributing to undermining the scientific logic of male superiority.