Já tomou seu shake hoje? A construção social do corpo feminino sob a ótica das frequentadoras do espaço vida saudável da Herbalife.

Abstract

The cult worship to the human body is a reflection of the beauty dictatorship imposed on women during their daily lives. Consequently, understanding and analysing the variables that are involved in this phenomenon is important for the study of urban sociology. This paper has as its general objective to analyse the social construction of the female body of the people that go to a Healthy Life Space (HLS). Starting from the assumption that there is a change process occurring in the forms of eating and, following this trajectory, Herbalife shakes can be characterized as an alternative for this new type of eating for the human body in the contemporary world. As a result, I established four theoretical categories to understand the social construction of the human body: in the first, the body and social construction; in the second, the body in a society of show; in the third, the new body culture and, last, the (re)production of the female body in a HLS. The research carried out occurred through an ethnographic study that lasted 18 months, and the chosen instrument was a semi-structured interview, and the information that was collected was compiled into four categories: body, feelings, healthy life space and shakes. The sample was composed of 16 female HLS participants from diverse age ranges, focusing on the heterogeneity of the sample. The choice of the female sex is because, historically, women are under more pressure to have a body seen as perfect. Thus, analysing the sociability practised by them, principally, within this space is relevant for the sociology of the body. Based on this, I observed the narratives developed in this space from the perspective of the female sex, seeing as the body is an important place for the construction of a woman’s identity. I also observed the social practices established through the discussion of the body, without forgetting the medical and media themes triggered by these discussions, which is a form of corporeity management focussing on health and beauty, and to well-being and happiness, which has in common the search for slimness. Images and discussions (verbal and non-verbal) that highlight the exacerbated preoccupation with the body, as an obligatory attitude for women, and which in many forms is instilled in the contemporary lifestyles of these women, were also observed. In this way, I investigated how they cut across the dimensions of cult worship to the body, their motivations and the meaning given to slimness, and concluded that the cult worship to the body is motivated and associated with the standards of health and success for the majority of the group that was researched.