A CULTURA DA MAGREZA COMO FATOR SOCIAL NA ETIOLOGIA DE TRANSTORNOS ALIMENTARES EM MULHERES: UMA REVISÃO NARRATIVA DA LITERATURA

doi.org/10.29327/217514.7.1-12

Abstract

The diffusion of weight loss practices in the female population is an assertion of contemporary daily life; and a conceivable consequence of the internalization of the thin ideal, permeated by a culture of cult of severely shaped bodies. In this context, Western culture offers a paradox: an unimaginable variety of foods with high energy density and palatability; while requesting a body of reference and self-denial of behaviors in line with the foods offered: one must question the ascendancy of “obesity as a public health problem” and the influences of these cultural impositions on feeding and eating disorders. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the culture of thinness; as a possible conditioning factor; and feeding and eating disorders. It is a narrative literature review, in which the databases of the Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS) and the CAPES were used; using the descriptors “culture” and “feeding and eating disorders”, using the Boolean operator “AND”. The terms were confirmed by DeSC / MeSh and used in the Portuguese and English languages ​​with delimitation of the coverage period from 2014 to 2019. Restricting to studies written in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Thereby, nineteen studies were included in the review, which demonstrated the cultural pressures on the female gender and the particularities of the multifactorial relationship in the development of eating disorders. It was identified that immigrant, black and transgender women are more susceptible to body dissatisfaction and changes in eating behavior: feeding and eating disorders, as they experience acculturative stress and stress from vulnerable groups. In addition, the social construct of femininity is associated with thinness, hunger and fasts as a way to moral conversion. Moral values ​​are associated to a thin body that “controls itself” and that does not give in to basic needs, such as hunger. Consequently, the fat body is seen socially as a body that violates the norm; a body with a social stigma; which leads to discrimination from health professionals. Image social media actively participate in this construction of what is an “ideal body” in society; facilitating social comparison between individuals, which is a strong predictor of body dissatisfaction. In conclusion, there is a relationship and mediation between, a sequence that goes through cultural factors associated to morality, internalization of the socially recommended ideal, social comparison and the role of social media, body dissatisfaction and body image disorders, risk of changes in eating behavior and development of feeding and eating disorders. However, this relationship has direct and indirect ways of occurring, not necessarily in this order. It also identified the need for health monitoring and public policies that use a more integrative approach with a healthier body image.