Mirror, mirror of mine... Does it allow me to see beyond my self?

Culture as a determinant for the construction of stereotypes, prejudice and new subjectivities in the contemporary world

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the phenomena about the ideal of perfection of the body constructed by contemporary culture and to analyze in the light of the thought of Freud, Adorno and Horkheimer how the relationship of the individual with culture can offer subsidies for the understanding of how the production of stereotypes announces forms of violence such as prejudice and bullying. It is a bibliographic study based on the research and elaborations of Freud, Adorno, Horkheimer, contemporary authors such as Christopher Lash, Jurandir Costa Freire, Naomi Wolf and Leon Crochik. The question that guides the research begins when we set out to think about how people with obesity can be the target of prejudice and bullying? The result of the discussion here portrays that the lack of clarification of the truths imposed by a society, the construction of stereotypes by culture and not the opportunity for a work that allows self-reflection of those who practice bullying and prejudice. A paradox is presented, above all, by a capitalist society, which in its smallest details, works to grab the subject, imposing on him a devouring need. In this way, the fat body can reveal to us a face, often the opposite of the satisfaction obtained by an ideology of consumption and increased relationships in which the use of the image of a standardized body proliferates and, sometimes, can contribute to the analysis of a culture that imposes modalities plastered in ideals and ends up rejecting differences.