NORMATIVE BODY IMAGE: FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

The article uses in-depth interviews to determine the perceptions of subjects, whose activities are related to body construction, about the functional characteristics of the normative body, which is understood as socially approved and formed in the process of social ties and relations model. The survey was conducted in the spring of 2023, the object of the study were representatives of the beauty industry (n=2), medical workers (n=3), fitness trainers (n=2), and a practicing psychologist (n=1). In the course of the research the following tasks were put forward: to define the image of a normative body and to reveal the main characteristics of the body as corresponding to modern normative models. The survey materials showed that in the informants' assessments the modern normative body image is a body, first of all, a healthy body. Informants identified the pandemic as a factor that influenced the change in the vector of body standardization: from aesthetics to functionality. The professional community has defined the functional properties of the body, identifying the following normative models: "the body as a tool for expressing oneself in activities ", "the body as a source of competitive advantage", "the body as a demonstration of status", "the body as a tool for everyday mobility", "the body as a condition for longevity", "the body as a result of personal development", "the body as a process of evolutionary development", "the body as a basis for the realization of reproductive function", "the body as a source of comfort". The diversity of images of the normative body raises the question of creating conditions at the level of institutional structures for the formation of such a body, which, in accordance with the ideas of different sex and age groups, would be in demand both in the social system and by the individual.