Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 17 2008 (IPS) – Brazilians, especially women, are among the global leaders in taking meticulous care of their bodies and exhibiting them to advantage. This is a significant factor in climbing social and economic ladders, establishing identities and competing successfully in markets, from employment to romance.
The result is explosive growth in the beauty industry, frenzied consumption of cosmetics and slimming products, enthusiasm for exercise programmes and widespread use of plastic surgery, even among teenagers.
This cult of physical perfection is a central research theme for anthropologist Mirian Goldenberg, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who has just launched a book, O corpo como capital (The Body as a Capital Asset), in which she takes her analysis further.
But not any kind of body is an acceptable capital asset. It must be young, slim and well sculpted, which requires costly investments, such as many hours of systematic exercise, rigid diets, and cosmetics for the skin, hair and every part of the body, according to the anthropologist.
Well-off, middle- and lower-income women invest heavily in their bodies, Goldenberg told IPS.
This is a Brazilian characteristic that contrasts with, say, Germany, where women cultivate different values, but which also can be found in a less intense form in other Latin American countries, and in Mediterranean countries in Europe, she said.
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Preoccupation with the body mobilises an army of professionals, from nutritionists to personal fitness trainers. If these are powerless to help, doctors or pharmacists step in with amphetamines, appetite suppressants, hormones, anabolic steroids and also surgery.
Current standards of beauty can induce women to pursue slimness to the point of obsession, and this has resulted in a substantial rise in eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia.
Brazil has the highest per capita consumption of weight-reducing medication, according to the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
Its market for fitness gyms, cosmetics and plastic surgery vies with that of the United States. But considering that incomes are 14 times higher in the United States, Brazil s expenditure in these areas is hugely out of proportion.
Brazil is a major exporter of professionals who depend on their bodies for a living. Kaká, Ronaldinho and Robinho are national brand names in the wealthy world of European football, as is Gisele Bündchen in the glamorous world of fashion.
Brazilian women s penchant for exposing as much of their bodies as possible is not a sign of liberation, but a kind of prison, a restriction on freedom, because they subject themselves to a body image of thinness and perfection, and to a set of standards that must be met in order for the sacrifice to be rewarded, Goldenberg said.
This state of affairs accentuates the inequalities which are also prominent in Brazil. Women are the worse affected, because men have to work at accumulating other kinds of capital; they can t rely only on one to secure prestige and power. The investment capacity of different social classes is also unequal.
In Brazil, inequality is written upon the body, the anthropologist said.
Women are studying more than men in Brazil, indicating that they are also investing in intellectual capital, but furthering their education does not exempt them from shaping their bodies. The market and society demands it, even of women who don t depend on their bodies for a living; for instance, no woman can appear with grey hair, said Goldenberg.
Brazilian women of prestige all have well-tended bodies, according to the anthropologist, who is now studying how the body culture which is part of the national identity will cope with the current ageing of the population.
Since the 1980s, the most highly admired women in the country have been blonde, as well as beautiful and slender, but not fragile. Actresses, fashion models, television presenters and singers feed girls and teenagers dreams of upward social mobility. The most obvious example today is supermodel Bündchen.
The trend for the future is the accentuation of the obsession with the body, but with a more critical attitude, arising from a hoped-for educational and cultural development among Brazilian people, leading them to cultivate other forms of capital as well, Goldenberg said.
Overemphasis on slim, shapely bodies is not only a Brazilian phenomenon; it also exists in the world s great cities, Thais Corral told IPS, on the basis of her frequent international trips as founder and director of two organisations devoted to women s rights and sustainable development.
The hedonism of the younger generations and the growth of competition worldwide demand that more attention be paid to image and appearance everywhere, she said.
Depending on climate and culture, the body itself is the focus in tropical Rio de Janeiro, whereas in cold countries, clothes are more important, said Corral, who is also chair of the Brazilian Association for Leadership Development (ABDL).
