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  • Chapter 5 - The Ideal of the Perfect Body

  • from Section 1 - From Exercise to Addiction: An Introduction to the Phenomenon
  • Edited by Ornella Corazza, University of Hertfordshire and University of Trento, Italy, Artemisa Rocha Dores, Polytechnic Institute of Porto and University of Porto, Portugal
  • Book:
    The Body in the Mind
    Published online:
    30 March 2023
    Print publication:
    06 April 2023, pp 77-92

  • Summary

    Sociocultural theories of body image propose that different societies have different conceptions of the ideal body shape. Within contemporary Westernized cultures, advertisements, the Internet, and social media networks promote particular assumptions about what constitutes the ‘ideal’ body, and thus exert a strong social pressure to achieve such a body shape. Individuals go to great lengths to achieve and maintain a body image that corresponds to these archetypes of ‘beauty’, which are reinforced as having a superior social value. Such social ideals of beauty are often entirely unrealistic, and can result in body dissatisfaction, appearance anxiety, body image disorder, low self-esteem, and depressive symptoms. Attempts to attain the ideal body can lead to excessive behaviours, such as compulsive exercising, the use of image- and performance-enhancing drugs (IPEDs), and eating disorders. This chapter focuses on excessive exercising and the use of IPEDs, and how these behaviours relate to distress about body image.