BODY IMAGE AND MEDIA: A NECESSARY REFLECTION
Body image. Media. Adolescent.
The present study aims to analyze the central elements that make up the construction of the concept of body image, considering its relations with the media. Body image can be determined as the configuration formed in the individual's mind about his own body. The media, as a means of social communication, is responsible for the dissemination of information, currently, it is also responsible for education and knowledge in the modern world, through the transmission of values and standards of conduct in the social environment. The article uses the literature review as a methodological strategy, for which an analysis of 12 dissertations published in the database of the Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD) involving the theme is carried out. It presents how the performance of the media has been or has not been determinant in the process of building an individual's body image. Finally, it is concluded that the analyzed studies point to the influence of the media in the lives of people who have access to social networks, directly affecting their body dissatisfaction and causing image disorders and various types of psychological and physical diseases, such as: anxiety, depression, anorexia and bulimia. Body image can also be affected by the social environment in which one lives.