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Body and sexual objectification: Perceptions in the shuar indigenous community

Abstract:

Objective: To present to the scientific community the voices of the Shuar people, their perceptions about bodies and sexual objectification caused by the influence of the Western World in the context of colonization and globalization. Material and Method: The interpretative research paradigm was used, with a qualitative approach, through in-depth interviews and a focus group. The sample was selected by convenience; 24 people participated: Shuar men and women from the Morona Canton in Ecuador, between the ages of 14 and 60, who had previously signed informed consents. The informants’ responses were recorded, transcribed, processed in Atlas.ti software, and analyzed by the researchers. Results: The Shuar people who participated in the research perceive that their community has been absorbed by the logic of the Western World; they acknowledge the globalized capitalist ideology of consumption and materialism; they perceive that the Shuar female bodies, but also the male ones, have been objectified; that the juvenile mindset focuses more on eroticism and less in biological aspects; they also believe that sexual behaviors have been modified by the influence of pornography, evidenced by the existence of exotic pornography; they believe that prostitution is abundant in the Shuar ethnic group because it offers an economic opportunity and is mostly voluntary; a social awareness of resistance emerges from community leaders and the adult generation. Conclusions: The main results showed a new conceptualization of the body; sexual objectification was manifested by prostitution and pornography.