A boa forma do corpo na modernidade

Abstract

In modern scientific discourse there is the consideration of the person‟s body and the postulate that it is simply the support of the person, an object which is available and which is necessary to work on in order to achieve improvement. Also, it is seen as the raw material in which an individual person‟s identity is both lessened and simultaneously mastered. From reading the reports of female readers of the magazine Boa Forma from the year 2009, this present research aims to investigate the meanings and values of the body and to advance an understanding of the practices of reflective body modification in order to understand their roles in the search for a body plan.The modern form makes possible a body design that consists of shaping it to build and/or reconstruct its individual identity. From this perspective, the body is not a place for criticism, but rather it becomes a new possibility of the manifestation of the self, a new form of the subject to be presented to the world, and therefore is worth all of the investment. The body becomes the means of a person‟s salvation and also of his/her lifestyle. From being a priori the absolute identity of the individual, it was broken up, accompanying the reformation of the subject. As a sign of the messianic promise: the ugly will become beautiful and old will become young, people will realize that, even more than an investment in the covering of the body as an end in itself, the important question for the body is the constant search to define the interior from the exterior.