Reflections on the sociocultural construction of the body and self-care: critical approaches to health discourses from a case study Reflexiones sobre la construcción sociocultural del cuerpo y la autoatención: aproximaciones críticas a los discursos de salud desde un estudio de caso

Abstract

This article analyzes how biomedicine, consumer culture, and social norms shape the social construction of the body based on the case study of Laia, who began a process of self-care through her first visit to a nutritionist. The study was conducted during a period of cohabitation in Donostia, Basque Country, in 2023, as part of an academic exchange. The methodological strategy was qualitative with an ethnographic approach, focusing on an in-depth life story, which allowed for direct observation of Laia's daily experience and understanding of her perceptions, practices, and meanings attributed to the body. The results show that the body is configured as a field of dispute, where market logic and medical discourse coexist, articulating social mandates of beauty and consequently reinforcing the stigma of fatness. In response to these pressures, self-care emerges as a tool for empowerment that allows people to build a healthier and more conscious relationship with their own bodies. The analysis of this experience reveals, from an intimate perspective, the sociocultural structures that regulate bodies, health, and ideals of beauty.