Vigilância social e a padronização dos corpos perfeitos: o controle de corpos e a beleza feminina no romance distópico "Feios" de Scott Westerfeld

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the construction of elements of social control, bodies, and female beauty in the literary narrative Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld. In order to achieve this objective, it was necessary to examine the main character’s characteristics, Tally, and her relationships with other characters, as well as the political and dictatorial scheme of her city. To this end, it was essential to reflect on theories such as body control, biopower, and female aesthetics. Additionally, as this work is characterized as bibliographic, exploratory and qualitative research, and it adopts the hypothetical-deductive method, an analysis was conducted based on authors such as Claeys (2017), whose writings discuss dystopia; Butler (2023), regarding bodies; Foucault (1977, 1987, and 2024), concerning politics and control; Beauvoir (1980), addressing femininity; and, Wolf (2021), whose feminist perspective explores beauty standards. Through this analysis, it was observed that aesthetic standards and pressures regarding beauty norms are one of the means of control employed in Uglies, and that the main character reveals many female stereotypes in her pursuit of perfection.