Body, Identity and Body Image: a Narrative Review

Abstract

During its genesis, the body undergoes mutations that suggest being influenced by factors external to its will. In this way, the subject builds his bodily identity starting from the experience of sensations, senses and awareness. The current search for health as an aesthetic ideal produces changes in the way of living that attribute happiness and fullness to certain bodily models. The objective of the text is to propose reflections on the valorization of the cult of the body in the construction of identity, and of body image. It is a narrative review in the form of an essay that establishes relationships with the present, with recurrent themes and new perspectives, contributing to the knowledge and training of the professionals involved. The search for successful bodily images awakens desires in individuals who, as they follow sociocultural tendencies, believe that they lack constant changes in their bodies, on this path marked by the approval of beauty, the figure of the perfect body is overexploited. By body image is understood the figure of the body that forms the subject, which can be produced in a positive or negative way. Its positive form is the result of improvements in global health, the negative ones produce dissatisfaction and changes in body perception, causing damage in health. The work strengthens health promotion and disease prevention measures in the face of growing dissatisfaction with the image, especially in groups of young women, often created by consumerism that encourages the need for constant body changes and adaptations.