Los ideales culturales de la feminidad y sus efectos sobre el cuerpo de las mujeres

Silvia Tubert

doi:10.5565/rev/qpsicologia.760

Cultural Ideals of Femininity and its Effects on Women’s Bodies

Authors

Silvia Tubert

PDF (ES)

Abstract

Inasmuch as there isn't any essential femininity, ideal models are constructed by the culture. These ideals, which are entangled with the codification of power and subordination social relations between both sexes, are incorporated by women into their Ego Ideal through the process of identification. These normative models are usually opposed to the desires, possibilities and expectations of each subject, generating thus conflicts and discomfort which, when not recognized and put into words, show themselves as a symptom or acting out. I shall consider the deleterious effects of two different cultural ideals -that of the slender body and that of maternity- not only in self-perception, self-esteem and the relationship of women to their own body, but also in the manipulation of the body image as well as of the real body. In both cases it is possible to realize that gender inequalities are still present in our "equality times."

Keywords

Maternity, Cultural Ideals, Body Image.

Author Biography

Silvia Tubert

PhD in Psychology, Psychoanalyst. Ex-Professor of Psychoanalytic Theory, Univ.Complutense Madrid (Colegio Cardenal Cisneros Univ.) Visiting Professor of the Master in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the University Complutense of Madrid. Author of: La muerte y lo imaginario en la adolescencia, La sexualidad femenina y su construcción imaginaria, Mujeres sin sombra. Maternidad y tecnología, Malestar en la palabra. El pensamiento crítico de Freud y la Viena de su tiempo, Sigmund Freud (Introducción a la teoría psicoanalítica), Un extraño en el espejo. La crisis narcisista de la adolescencia, Deseo y representación. Convergencias de psicoanálisis y teoría feminista. Editor of: Figuras de la Madre, Figuras del Padre, y Del sexo al género. Los equívocos de un concepto.