The culture of the perfect body: analysis of the use of dietary and anorectic elements to weight loss and eating disorders

Abstract

Eating disorders are psychological disorders that directly affect the physical health of those who suffer from them, with a high mortality rate. Women are more prone to eating disorders than men, which is why most research focuses on women. Thus, 10% of patients with eating disorders are men. The results of bibliographical research are presented through in-depth interviews about the perception of the body that Social Work and Psychology professionals, who worked in both the public and private sectors, as an element that can influence eating disorders. This perception has been analyzed as an element that influences eating disorders. This research reaches three main conclusions: First, the body is considered by professionals as an instrument to stop time when personal identity problems arise, especially when the patient is a woman. Second, professionals perceive their patients' bodies as a responsibility in open conflict with social perceptions seen as something unattainable, ideal, and subject to unattainable parameters. Finally, the perception of the body is guided by social imaginaries in which morality (taboo and sin) and the biological are predominant.