Cuerpo, identidad y belleza en el imaginario de los estudiantes universitarios

Abstract

Within the construction of beauty and identity imaginary of the undergraduates, the body occupies an important place. The influence of the medical discourse conceives the human body as a purely biological entity. The development of philosophical thought jointly with gender studies give the body a social sense and analyzes it as an object of study that speaks out of pressures and social tensions, resulting in a tour in which the dominion of a gender over other is built. The body becomes a shaping object according to the complexity of the social structure to which the person belongs; influenced by pressure from the media. By applying a Spanish version of SATAQ - 3 the main factors involved in shaping the beauty ideal of university students are explored, whose results provide comparable factors to studies conducted in other countries. Furthermore, with the use of focus groups, specific discussions are obtained, where differences between male and female students regarding the importance of body representation and others perception are found, while there are congruences between male and female students about the perception and meaning of hegemonic beauty disseminated in the media. The relative distance expressed towards hegemonic beauty for both men and women would be a positive factor in the construction of youth identities.