Physical Activity and Health: body controlling discourses

Abstract

In the 19th Century, physical education built the healthy body for military and industrial aims, based on the discourses of physical activity and health. Currently, media, technology and science disseminate such discourses for other objectives. This study aims at broadening the boundaries of such discourses, from the starting point of media and biotechnology, in order to reflect upon the work of the physical education professional, avoiding a non-critical, generalizing intervention, such as the discourse that “physical activity is health”. Contemporary lifestyles seem to lead to heart problems, obesity, depression, and stress. Again, physical activity is advertised as the cure. At the same time, the mass media use this context by turning the body into a consumer product, and by turning health into a synonym for beauty. KEY-WORDS: body - health - physical activity - mass media.