Wellness: uma leitura dos corpos femininos na sociedade do consumo.

Abstract

At present, it is noticeable the accentuated growth of the spaces for the care and improvement of the body. With regard to Brazil, the country is heading for world leadership in number of gymnasiums and bodybuilding. In the wake of the production of the disciplined, beautiful and healthy body, it is important to consider sport as an attractive sector that, in the contemporary world, has revealed itself as a way of life. The research that originates this work was launched to a reading of the production of body architectures, in the scope of the bodybuilding practices, more specifically, in athletes in the Wellness category, authors as (LE BRETON, 2006 and GOELLNER, 2007). In order to understand how this practice develops in the municipality of Sobral-CE, interviews were conducted with athletes and a coach of said sports modality, as well as observations at the place where these practices are practiced. The speeches of the research participants comprise Wellness as a lifestyle. The also called "Iron Ladies" build their bodily architectures through dedication and sacrifice. This representation reflects on the conception of health produced in this environment, which points to a concept of health allied to factors such as beauty, body healed, regulated eating habits. In this sense, subjects mean control over the body as an indicator of achievement and personal overcoming, making it the target of financial, affective and symbolic investment. The outcome of the research show that thinking about body management in the consumer society implies understanding how the discourses, products and services that drive and maintain this lifestyle are forged. In this perspective, investigative research on the body idealized by subjects unceasingly engaged in a rigid discipline brings reflections about the relations that these constitute with the world and with themselves. It is therefore apparent that the body occupies a privileged place in an individualistic type of society and its production shows the values that prevail in a capitalist urban culture.