Body-Building

Seminar 7 Body-Building, Slimming and Disciplining the Self

All cultures have ideals of beauty, health, and function. Notions of what a human body should look like, and how it should perform pervade societies across time and around the globe. And as the history of cosmetic surgery has shown, failure to meet or at least approach those norms can be heavily stigmatised. However, while individuals might invest in surgery, what facilitates the emergence of larger subcultures devoted to achieving in life -- rather than just in art -- very specific, often very extreme ideas of physical perfection? This week, we will explore the role of socioeconomic surplus as well as deep stigma in driving the wider commercialisation of our desires for human perfectibility and the social acceptance and capital that comes with it. Here we will scrutinise examples of the commodification of visually 'perfect' bodies and the ways that they intersect with morality, social norms and chosen identities.

Weekly Questions:

• How do the perfect bodies of the Renaissance differ from those of the 20th and 21st century Anglosphere?
• Are perfect bodies always functional bodies? When and when not?
• What is the relationship between capitalism and perfectionism? Is it affected by 'race', and if so, why and how?
• Is 'perfection' political?
• What role does gender play in selling (and pursuing) better bodies?
• Is 'perfection' mandatory in Euro-American cultures? And is global 'perfection' also 'Anglo- or Euro- normative'?