La Tiranía de la Imagen

Reseña de Tejeda Díaz, Ysabel Noemi, Culto al cuerpo: Las tensiones entre la salud y la apariencia, Bogotá, Editorial Aula de Humanidades, 2025, 182 pp.

Abstract

In Culto al Cuerpo (Cult of the Body), Dr. Ysabel Noemí Tejeda Díaz critically examines the contemporary phenomenon of overvaluing physical appearance and the exaggerated focus on the body. Drawing from phenomenology, medicine and sociology, the author explores the cultural and social mechanisms that sustain this cult, as well as its harmful effects on physical and mental health. Dr. Tejeda emphasizes how the pursuit of the “perfect body”, often disguised as healthy living, can lead to harmful behaviors. The book encourages readers to question normalized beauty standards and adopt a more humanistic approach to the care of the body, centered around authentic and holistic bodily care. Tejeda not only challenges the reader on a theoretical level, but also calls on them to reflect on their own involvement in this sociocultural phenomenon and to cultivate a more conscious, critical, and healthy relationship with their body. By revealing the subtle coercions embedded in contemporary health and beauty practices, the author calls attention to the normalization of aesthetic imperatives that shape lived experience and self-perception.