The politicisation and commercialisation of health issues in today’s Western culture have led to growing healthism — a peremptory idea of self-preserving behaviour.
This approach criticises everything that fails to fit into the glamourous standards of a beautiful, young and slim body. In extreme forms, healthism is close to eugenics, which selects a “correct” heredity. But even simple concerns about the “standards” of physical condition may provoke hypercorrection, such as surgery on a healthy body, said Evgenia Golman, lecturer at the HSE Faculty of Social Sciences Department of General Sociology, in her article published in the Journal of Social Policy Studies.
Angelina Jolie syndrome has been frequently mentioned in the media recently, implying increased attention to the probability of dangerous diseases. This results not only in the vigilant monitoring of health, but also in possible attempts to prevent even hypothetical diseases. The famous case of the actress, who underwent a preventive mastectomy, is symptomatic of this obsession and fits into the healthism concept.
However, Angelina’s story is an extreme manifestation of the “new understanding of health”. More widespread displays of healthism include the boom in diets, fitness, plastic surgery and organic food, as well as the popularity of mobile apps for health monitoring. Such “body worship” is extensively supported by beauty salons, manufacturers of bioactive supplements and “superhealthy” food, fitness and yoga centres, and, ultimately, even healthcare officials in many countries.
Preventive medicine undoubtedly helps prevent many diseases and can save a lot of resources for families and the state. But if “calculation” of sicknesses and idealisation of beauty and healthy body standards are understood improperly, in a purely commercial way, they can lead to mass neurosis and a social obsession with complying to healthist fashion. The most dangerous thing is that such an approach stigmatizes everything that doesn't fit in with the model of a “healthy lifestyle”.
Source: www.eurekalert.com
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