“No-Body’s Perfect”: Women, Aerobics, and the Body Beautiful

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Maguire ◽  
Louise Mansfield
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
Process Sociology ◽  
The Way

This paper seeks to synthesize aspects of feminism and figurational (process) sociology. Women’s bodies are viewed as sites for studying interrelationships between power, gender, and identity construction. The behavioral and emotional rituals of women in a specific aerobics class are mapped out and located within the “exercise–body beautiful complex.” We explore the way in which social constraints and individual self-control interweave in the rationalized management of women’s bodies. The embodied experiences of these women are intertwined with long term enabling and constraining features. Covertly disempowering, the “exercise–body beautiful complex” reinforces established standards of femininity. The realignment of dominant images of femininity is advocated in order to extend the liberating features of the figuration in question.

scholarly journals SUBJETIVAÇÕES RIZOMÁTICAS E A IDEIA DE CORPO SEM ÓRGÃOS EM A FÚRIA DO CORPO, DE JOÃO GILBERTO NOLL

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-275
Author(s):  
Francisca Gilmara da Silva Almiro ◽  
Roniê Rodrigues da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Gilles Deleuze ◽  
The Body ◽  
Felix Guattari ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Deleuze And Guattari ◽  
Brazilian Literature ◽  
Body Without Organs ◽  
The Way

O trabalho apresenta uma leitura da obra A Fúria do corpo, de João Gilberto Noll, a partir dos conceitos de Corpo sem Órgãos e Rizoma propostos pelos filósofos franceses Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari. Nesse sentido, objetiva estudar a construção identitária das personagens da referida narrativa, estabelecendo uma associação com essas noções filosóficas, problematizando, sobretudo, a errância das personagens e a linguagem utilizada para a composição da obra. Ao longo da leitura crítica, destacaremos como o texto de Noll nos desafia à construção de sentidos através de uma subjetividade constituída a partir de linhas de fuga, ideia discutida pelos filósofos supracitados. Ao adentrarmos no texto ficcional pelo viés de tais linhas, é possível entender como as personagens percebem e vivem suas experimentações rizomáticas. Desse modo, não se pretende aqui atribuir sentidos fechados à narrativa, mas sugerir que o Corpo sem Órgãos e o Rizoma são características que representam as experiências errantes das personagens encontradas na escrita de Noll. Palavras-chave: Literatura Brasileira Contemporânea. João Gilberto Noll. Identidade. Corpo sem Órgãos. Rizoma. THE RHIZOME AND THE IDEA OF BODY WITHOUT ORGANS IN THE FURY OF THE BODY, BY JOÃO GILBERTO NOLL Abstract: This paper presents a reading of The Fury of the Body, by João Gilberto Noll, based on the concepts of Body without Organs and Rhizome proposed by French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It aims to study the characters’ identity construction, establishing an association with these philosophical notions, exploring, especially, the characters’ wandering nature and the language used in the composition of the work. Throughout this critical reading, emphasis will be given on the way Noll’s text challenge us to construct directions through a subjectivity built from escape lines, a concept defined by Deleuze and Guattari. By reading the narrative through these lenses, it is possible to understand how the characters perceive and live their rhizomatic trials. Thus, the intention here is not to attribute closed meanings to the narrative, but to suggest that the Body without Organs and the Rhizome are features that represent the characters’ wandering experiences in The Fury of the Body. Keywords: Contemporary Brazilian Literature. João Gilberto Noll. Identity. Body without Organs. Rhizome.

scholarly journals At begribe kroppen

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (120) ◽  
pp. 37-62
Author(s):  
Ivan Lind Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Production Of Knowledge ◽  
Body Culture ◽  
Health And Illness ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
The Relationship

In the intersection between neoliberal entrepreneurship and epidemiological models of causation in late modernity the body has become one of the most prominent symbols of individual self-conduct, self-control and moral. Through the symbolic reading of the body, experts as well as laymen believe they can reach true statements about the individuals’ lifestyle, self-conduct, risk management, moral and not least self-discipline. But how did we come to a point in time where the body, health and illness became primarily the manifestation of lifestyle and individual self-conduct? In this article a few pieces of the Danish historical development towards this place in time will be outlined. The relationship between the body, culture and class has been the focal point of epidemiological research for well over 150 years. Characteristic of this production of knowledge is the formulation of shifting and often contradictory theories about the ontology of the individual and society, and the relation between these two entities. This article focuses on the development within epidemiological production of knowledge and its relations to contemporary intellectual, political and social changes, which seem to have been crucial for the way in which we now understand the body.

Operationalizing Melucci: Metamorphosis and Passion in the Negotiation of Activists' Multiple Identities

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debra King
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
The Body ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
Empirical Application ◽  
The Moment

Activists need to construct and manage multiple identities as activists, as well as negotiate their activist identities in relation to identity positions in other social realms such as paid work or parenting. This research is an empirical application of Melucci's concept of metamorphosis to the processes through which committed activists manage identity work. Metamorphosis facilitates an understanding of how activists maintain a sense of continuity through changes in identity. From life-history interviews with twenty long-term Australian activists this research operationalizes the four concepts associated with metamorphosis: being present or "in the moment," taking responsibility for action, being reflexive, and having a rhythm for managing the identity process. The analysis of these concepts demonstrates the need to extend understandings of identity to incorporate non-instrumental aspects of cognition, such as emotion, the body, and passion. These facilitate an activist's capacity to metamorphose, and therefore manage various aspects of identity construction. Activism is therefore sustained when activists can maintain their passionate participation in creating social change, regardless of circumstances, rather than simply enhancing their commitment to a particular organization.

scholarly journals Case Report: Sacral Nerve Root Pelvic Neural Retraining, With Long-Term Sustainability After the Device Explantation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panteleimon Vassiliu ◽  
Filippos Patoulis ◽  
Leon Naar ◽  
Georgios Dendias ◽  
Nikolaos Arkadopoulos
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Detrusor Muscle ◽  
Case Presentation ◽  
Sacral Nerve ◽  
Urinary Infections ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
The Way

Introduction: Sacral-Nerve-Neuromodulation (SNM) is an effective treatment increasingly used in patients with urinary (UI) and fecal incontinence (FI). The way it acts in the body at its full potential have not yet been elucidated. The authors review the literature on SNM and the way it possibly works, relating it to a case with an unusually favorable outcome.Case Presentation: A female presented with UI and FI. Operated for meningocele as a neonate. It the age of 5 bilateral Cohen ureter reimplantation performed for persistent urinary infections due to vesicourethral reflux. At the age of 13, she started complaining about UI associated with a hyper functional detrusor muscle. After a diary incontinence evaluation with a standardized questionnaire, SNM was applied at the age of 18 and was retained for 4 years. She was re-evaluated with a yearly follow-up.Results: The patient retained the positive effect of SNM even after its removal and in addition showed signs of improvement. The patient developed the sensation of fillingness of the bladder and the rectum, which she never had before the SNM implantation, sensation which she retained 29 months after (last follow-up) device removal, allowing her to control her voids.Discussion: The modern literature hypothesis that SNM contributes to the plasticity of the nerves through the stimulated area is supported by the present case, in which the SNM effect remained and led to improvements even after its removal. Device settings are presented as they may correlate with the result. This reinforces and expands the frontiers of SNM application and research.

The Return of Discourses of Civilization and Barbarism

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-52
Author(s):  
Andrew Linklater
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
Social World ◽  
Recent Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Civilization And Barbarism ◽  
Process Sociology ◽  
The Way

This chapter discusses the revival of discourses of civilization and barbarism in the recent period, specifically in connection with the 'war on 'terror' and the torture debate. It emphasizes continuities between colonial and contemporary perspectives. Drawing on process sociology, it argues that the idea of civilization has been a central part of struggles to shape the way in which people orientate themselves to the social world. Participants in such struggles use the idea of civilization to justify using force against savage enemies but also to constrain violence in those relations. The chapter argues that the torture debate illustrates Elias’s observations about the peculiar entanglements of civilized peoples. It is essential to consider those entanglements and the discourse of civilization that was used in the 'war on terror' in long-term perspective – as aspects of the process of civilization which Elias set out to explain.

scholarly journals Znaczenie wyglądu zewnętrznego dziewic i mnichów w formacji duchowej w klasztorach Galii i Hiszpanii (VI-VII w.)

Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 227-241
Author(s):  
Paweł Wygralak
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Maturity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Spiritual Life ◽  
Dress Code ◽  
External Appearance ◽  
Spiritual Path ◽  
The Way

The article discusses the influence of the way of the monastic dress code on helping nuns and monks stay on their spiritual path during formation. The Focus of the study are the rules for nuns and monks developed in the 6th and 7th centuries in Gaul and Spain. The authors of the rules were convinced that the very strict requirements regarding the clothing, as well as the behavior, of consecrated per­sons, serve the practice of seeking virtue through poverty, obedience and humility. It was required that all the inhabitants of a monastery should wear simple habits with natural colors that no one could consider to be their property. Attention was also paid to the asceticism of sight and the way of walking, which served to pre­serve the virtue of purity. For the same reason, one was not allowed to take too many baths, except in the case of disease. The whole life of the celibate nuns and monks should be focused on the caring for the development of their spiritual life, and not on the pursuit of external appearance. The humble acceptance of poor attire, temperance in care for the body, and the ability to exercise self-control his eyesight, testified to the spiritual maturity of the nun and the monk.

scholarly journals Modified bodies. Between fashion and identity projects

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 45-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambrogia Cereda
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Aesthetic Surgery ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Continuous Change ◽  
Personal Story ◽  
The World ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One

The body has come to play an increasingly crucial role in social context, where appearance represents the privileged sphere for self-expression and identity construction. Among the many ways of decorating, adorning and camouflaging the body, some traditional techniques (tattoing, piercing, scarification) are competing with newer and technological ones (aesthetic surgery, implants) to shape and portray individualities. On the one hand, those techniques are borrowing from the world of fashion purposes and codes of presentation, on the other hand, they challenge that fluidity and continuous change by materializing long term identity projects aimed at resisting transformation.In both cases individuals refer to the body as a privileged realm to narrate and reflect upon their own personal story, they also seem more capable to manage the different techniques, and to mix them for their expressive purposes. The result is a combination of visual codes that can reveal different bodily models as well as different ways of experiencing corporeality and embodiment.The article tries to account for this variety by referring to a research carried out on four techniques (tattoing, scarification, aesthetic surgery and piercing) among a group of users and professionals.

‘‘I Think I’m Gonna Throw up...’’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Elizabeth Hayes ◽  
Dana Gravesen
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
The Body ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Cultural Content ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Grotesque Body

<p>Focusing on the period 1999–2003, this study examines the cultural content of the <em>Howard Stern Show</em> in order to develop a theory of shock radio. We argue that while Stern’s sexist and anti-feminist agenda framed his treatment of women’s bodies, his broader obsession with bodily excess reflected the particular cultural moment of the late 20th century and the long-term problem of embodiment via the radio medium. We draw on Linda William’s concept of body genres, M. M. Bakhtin’s grotesque body, and recent radio scholarship in order to conceptualize the relationship among the voice, the body, and the medium in shock radio.</p>

Defining the Competence of Psychologists with a View to Public Accountability *

1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 293-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ype H. Poortinga ◽  
Ingrid Lunt
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Professional Competence ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
The Body ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Rigorous Evaluation ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
Psychological Knowledge

In national codes of ethics the practice of psychology is presented as rooted in scientific knowledge, professional skills, and experience. However, it is not self-evident that the body of scientific knowledge in psychology provides an adequate basis for current professional practice. Professional training and experience are seen as necessary for the application of psychological knowledge, but they appear insufficient to defend the soundness of one's practices when challenged in judicial proceedings of a kind that may be faced by psychologists in the European Union in the not too distant future. In seeking to define the basis for the professional competence of psychologists, this article recommends taking a position of modesty concerning the scope and effectiveness of psychological interventions. In many circumstances, psychologists can only provide partial advice, narrowing down the range of possible courses of action more by eliminating unpromising ones than by pointing out the most correct or most favorable one. By emphasizing rigorous evaluation, the profession should gain in accountability and, in the long term, in respectability.

Re-imagining Reproduction: Unsettling Metaphors in the History of Imperial Science and Commercial Surrogacy in India

Somatechnics ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalindi Vora
Keyword(s):  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Women's Bodies ◽  
Commercial Surrogacy ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Travel Industry

This paper provides an analysis of how cultural notions of the body and kinship conveyed through Western medical technologies and practices in Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) bring together India's colonial history and its economic development through outsourcing, globalisation and instrumentalised notions of the reproductive body in transnational commercial surrogacy. Essential to this industry is the concept of the disembodied uterus that has arisen in scientific and medical practice, which allows for the logic of the ‘gestational carrier’ as a functional role in ART practices, and therefore in transnational medical fertility travel to India. Highlighting the instrumentalisation of the uterus as an alienable component of a body and subject – and therefore of women's bodies in surrogacy – helps elucidate some of the material and political stakes that accompany the growth of the fertility travel industry in India, where histories of privilege and difference converge. I conclude that the metaphors we use to structure our understanding of bodies and body parts impact how we imagine appropriate roles for people and their bodies in ways that are still deeply entangled with imperial histories of science, and these histories shape the contemporary disparities found in access to medical and legal protections among participants in transnational surrogacy arrangements.

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