As I mentioned at the beginning of my presentation, I feel that the issue of the commodification of women's bodies is probably one of the most important issues for women's groups everywhere in the world.
I also believe that it is related to a debate that was never successfully resolved in the 1980s, which is to say pornography, the use of women's bodies, our sexuality, a sexuality that is specific to women, etc.
At the moment, what we see is mainly the imposition of a male model of sexuality, a model in which women are there to serve men in general. In such circumstances, the search for beauty and the perfect body has become all important, at least in the Western countries and in the countries of the South, where more and more women are getting into debt.
In Brazil, plastic surgery is the main cause of indebtedness among women. Women go into debt in order to live up to the ideal model of big-breasted women. In some countries of the South, it is being as white as possible, and hence bleaching the skin is very fashionable.
Look at all the diets people are on and the value placed on a bodies that meet the standards of male desire. In a neo-liberal society, industry and the marketplace are considered all powerful. We need to question what lies behind it, to question industry. At the moment, traffickers are benefiting from the increased commodification of women's bodies.