PRUDENT BODY FOR DECENT PHYSICAL EDUCATION: A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE DECOLONIALITY OF BODY STEREOTYPES

This study aims to understand body stereotypes in Physical Education from the epistemological framework of decolonial thought. It is assumed that the expectation of standardization of the body of the Physical Education teacher/professional persists in society as a model to be worshipped to perfection, and this model is reproduced to the graduates. An overview of body and performance, body stereotypes and athletic decoloniality is conceived in the literature, followed by contributions from comprehensive sociology and phenomenology. The arguments were organized into three categories of meanings: the reification of the body as appearance and performance; body stereotypes in Physical Education; and the decolonization of the athletic body imagery. It is concluded that a decolonial perspective in Physical Education can deconstruct the stereotyped body imaginary, recognizing and breaking with the oppressive logic of modern bodily homogenization, enabling the expansion of the understanding of the body with a prudent look, expanding its field of perception by freeing it from social training, contesting and rethinking the power relations that maintain bodily submissions in the face of normalizations applied to the beauty and beauty market and functional performance.