Dispositivos culturales y prácticas de consumo asociadas al ideal de delgadez en mujeres adolescentes de 13 a 15 años en la ciudad de Guayaquil.

Abstract

This research study examined the cultural mechanisms and consumption practices associated with the ideal of thinness among adolescent girls aged 13 to 15 in the city of Guayaquil. The study aimed to analyze the relationship between cultural mechanisms and consumption practices in relation to adolescent girls’ identification with the ideal of thinness, through a descriptive qualitative study designed to understand its subjective effects. To collect data, the focus group technique was used with adolescents aged 13 to 15 from a school in the city of Guayaquil. The results allowed us to formulate hypotheses suggesting that the participants viewed the ideal of thinness more as a social norm than as a personal aspiration. Although none of them explicitly expressed a desire to be thin, thinness emerged in their discourse as a feminine quality linked to a “should be,” associated with the demands of the cultural “Other.” Thus, it is concluded that cultural mechanisms and consumer practices contribute to the circulation of this ideal in the adolescents’ environment, though this does not allow for the assertion of a singular identification with it in each participant.