[Women's body image in three rural areas in Mexico: perception and desire]

To identify how women who live in rural zones perceive their bodies.

A group of women between 15 and 60 years of age from three rural zones in Mexico were interviewed and measured. They were questioned as to their body image.

There was a decrease in the normality when comparing body mass index (BMI) and self-perception, an increase in terms of malnutrition when comparing BMI and self-perception, and a decrease in perceived overweight among the groups of women from Oaxaca. A desire for being thin was detected among roughly 50%.

The issue of body image must be more fully explored in order to incorporate, from another perspective, body issues in food and nutritional studies. Body image is fundamentally a subjective experience and thus must be based on different epistemological and methodological premises.