Demetra (Aug 2016)

THE MODELED AND GENDERED BODY AS A MIRROR OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY: CONSIDERATIONS FROM THE QUEER THEORY

  • Manoel Antônio dos Santos,
  • Raquel de Freitas Banuth,
  • Érika Arantes de Oliveira-Cardoso

DOI
https://doi.org/10.12957/demetra.2016.22525
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 3
pp. 511 – 520

Abstract

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The aim of this theoretical study is to make some reflections on the relationship between eating behavior and gender in contemporary times. We believe that queer theory provides a useful theoretical model to develop this approach. Our central argument is that eating behavior and our body care are performances and also products and producers of gender. Consequently, they are products and producers of individual identity. After a brief explanation of key concepts of the queer theory, we discuss the influence of social discourse engendered by the media, social networks and health sciences on human bodies, highlighting its effects on the subject. At the same time, we demonstrate that the exposure to these discursive practices does not have a direct cause and effect relationship, hence one should consider the transformation that these discourses undergo when they are appropriated in each process of subjectivity, which produces greater or lesser capacity of individual agency in social life. DOI: 10.12957/demetra.2016.22525

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