This study is based on the assumption that subjectification through sexuality driven by gender ideologies during childhood and adolescence is closely related to the dominant discourse that interdicts sexuality and influences the construction of nurses' professional identities. This study's objective was to identify in the nurses' testimonies aspects of the process of subjectification through sexuality over the course of the construction of the participants' identities as women and nurses. The study was conducted with nine nurses from Barbacena, MG, Brazil. The empirical material was developed through histories of life and interpreted using the Critical Discourse Analysis framework. The results show that subjectivity involves the acquisition of gender performances, determinants in the learning process of masculinity and femininity, reinforced by social institutions. Therefore, the internalized well-behaved-woman model constructed within the family during childhood and adolescence eases one's acceptance of standards imposed during nurses' nursing education.
Sexuality; Nursing education; Gender identity; Gender and health