Dysmorphophobias and Identity: A Theoretical Reading

Abstract

If as Goffman (1961) affirms, it is true that “whoever takes up a position virtually discovers a self”, then processes of identity construction can also be understood as generative through language and action. “The moment an individual reaches an awareness of self as an entity endowed with social relevance and makes the other’s point of view their own as a guide for how to act, then she tends to actively choose those repertoires of behaviour available in that culture that she deems most apt for her own role and for the social circumstances in which she chooses to compete”* (Salvini 1998). “(Thus) identity as an expressed system of representations unified in themselves and a reconciliation of various roles, is not the exclusive property of the individual thus defined, but rather lies inside normative-symbolic structures and the rules governing the interaction” (ibid.). Individuality should therefore be considered in this way thanks to interactive relationships that are instigated and the semantic matrix that predisposes and gives substance to exchanges of communication.

Naked at the seaside; my face expands with oil stains. I spread it over myself from head to foot. I protect my body with a lotion that contains lyophilised aloe and facial extracts so as not to be burned by people staring.

T. Scarpa, The Body.