Women's body image in three rural areas in Mexico: perception and desire

Objective. To identify how women who live in rural zones perceive their bodies. Material and Methods. A group of women between 15 and 60 years of age from three rural zones in Mexico were interviewed and measured. They were questioned as to their body image. Results. There was a decrease in the normality when comparing body mass index (BMI) and self-perception, an increase in terms of malnutrition when comparing BMI and self-perception, and a decrease in perceived overweight among the groups of women from Oaxaca.A desire for being thin was detected among roughly 50%. Conclusion. The issue of body image must be more fully explored in order to incorporate, from another perspective, body issues in food and nutritional studies. Body image is fundamentally a subjective experience and thus must be based on different epistemological and methodological premises.