"Healthism" and looking good: Body ideals and body practices in Norway

Aims: This article explores judgemental and disciplining attitudes and "gazes" found in magazines and among Norwegian men and women concerning body ideals and body practices. The analysis is informed by Michel Foucault's argument on governmentality and Nikolas Rose's on governing the soul. Methods: The data consist of 20 qualitative interviews and four selected Norwegian magazines. Results: The analysis shows a corresponding relationship of how magazines depict ideal bodies and how the informants describe good-looking bodies. The interviews also indicate that people who train (ie work out) give more detailed and clear descriptions of good-looking bodies than those who do not train. Body dissatisfaction is present among both men and women, but seems more widespread among women. Body dissatisfaction is understood as a public health issue. Conclusions: The analysis suggests that the Norwegian men and women in the study are governed by "healthism" and dominant body ideals depicted in media discourses concerning description of ideal bodies and their own body practices. In addition, the material shows widespread body dissatisfaction particularly among women, and suggests that this is a health issue and an indication of new forms of patriarchal power governing the thoughts of women and to an increasing degree also men. Having a free choice concerning body practices is thus suggested to be an illusion.