Culto ao corpo: expressões contemporâneas do exibicionismo e voyeurismo

Abstract

The body cult, characterized by the overvaluation of the physical beauty, has been a common behavior in the western society. The increasing number of plastic operations and health clubs are some of the facts that testify some of the worries of individuals concerning the acquisition of some esthetical patterns. The cultural industry has encouraged individuals to identify themselves with esthetically standardized beauty models exposed by itself. Such fact, associated with the weakening of the individual in the contemporaneous society, has contributed to the formation of homogeneous esthetical concepts. The voyeur and exhibitionist impulses have to be mobilized in the individuals so that the beauty patterns, presented by the object, constitute the esthetical experiences. The exacerbation or the weakening of these impulses may contribute to the formation of various related problems, respectively, the obsession with doing physical activities and a sedentary behavior. Three Likert scales -- voyeurism(V), exhibitionism (E), and esthetical patterns (EP )-- were developed in order to verify the possible differences in the expression of these phenomena in three different groups related to practicing sports: group 1 (sedentary people); group 2 (people who practice weightlifting) and group 3 ( people who practice other physical activities).The study hypotheses were that group 2 would present scores superior to the other groups on the three scales in which they would be co-related. The data analysis, based on the results obtained by the application of scales, showed the existence of meaningful co-relations among voyeurism, exhibitionism and the compliance with esthetical patterns. The co-relation coefficients ρ of Spearman had a p < 0,01 level and were the following: ρ = 0,46 ( V and E scales ); ρ = 0,52 ( scales V and EP ); ρ = 0,49 ( scales E and EP). Group 2 score was higher than the other groups only on scale EP having an associated probability level of p < 0,01. These results show that group 2 has a higher compliance with the esthetical patterns. The basic theoretical references of this study were the Critical Theory of the Society, specifically the authors who belong to the first generation of Frankfurt school and the Freudian Psychoanalysis