INSATISFAÇÃO CORPORAL, MÍDIA E MUSCULARIDADE: a busca pelo padrão inalcançável

Abstract

Body image can be understood as an internal representation of the individual's physical structure and appearance. One of the dimensions of body image is body satisfaction, which can be understood as the extent to which the standard of beauty internalized by the subject approaches their real body. Evidently, sociocultural factors influence which body type is internalized as ideal and one of these factors is the media. In this way, the present theoretical and reflective study sought to discuss the construction of the male and female beauty standard propagated in beauty pageants, magazines, and toys reported by scientific literature. The male pattern has gone in the direction of muscularity over the decades. The female, for a long time, has gone in the direction of thinness, but now it also seems to be more permissive to muscularity. Thus, the possible negative consequences of the pursue for the ideal body were discussed, such as psychological disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and muscle dysmorphia. The latter receives special attention precisely because the current male and female standards have converged in the phenomenon of the pursue for muscularity.