BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY AND NORMAL: THE SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF CHILDREN’S BODIES IN PAIS & FILHOS MAGAZINE (PARENTS & CHILDREN) (1968-1977)

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the education of children´s bodies in Pais & Filhos magazine, trying to understand what ideal of childhood is legitimized by it. The study investigates the social representations of children´s bodies in the period from 1968 to 1977 when the publication was considered “the monthly magazine of the modern family”, using the theory of social representations as the main reference. The results indicate representations of children’s bodies objecti?ed by the image of the modern factory, marked by an ideal of beauty, and clas- si?ed by the opposition between health and disease and between normality and abnormality.