Abstract

LOPES, Amliz Ferreira  and  MENDONCA, Érika de Sousa. Being young, being beautiful: the youth under the spotlight in contemporary society. Rev. Subj. [online]. 2016, vol.16, n.2, pp. 20-33. ISSN 2359-0769.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5020/23590777.16.2.20-33.

The cult of the body in the contemporary world has been producing and disseminating norms of social adequacy that are propagated through media and reinforce the idea of the existence of an ideal body, whose representation appears linked to the youth, along with the benchmarks of happiness and success. Among the disseminated standards is the young, lean and beautiful body, so that on the young the social expectations of beauty are even greater. In this context, the research aimed to understand how the young person is relating to his body. For that, a qualitative research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with youngsters from 18 to 29 years of age, attending a gym. On the transcribed data, a content analysis was carried out, revealing three categories of discussion, namely: relationship of the youth with the body; youthful beauty design; and feelings assigned to values propagated by the media. Among the main results, we are struck by the tensions in the young's speeches who point to the search for an ideal body, even though they understand that it is a media invention with demands that they define as impossible to reach. Media references and patterns of beauty went through the narratives, being classified as "abusive" and "crazy," but that prompted them to seek the "perfect body". Normative speeches of beauty also permeate their narratives, pointing the body to success, judging the body of the other and exposing the need for acceptance of the other to feel fit for social, professional and affective life.

Keywords : youth; beauty; body; media.

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