Body, Eugenics and Nationalism: Women in the First Sport and Physical Education Journal Published in Brazil (1932–1945).

This research analyses images of the female body shown in Revista Educação Physica, the first scientific journal of Physical Education published in Brazil, from 1932 to 1945. All the published issues were examined as primary sources, considering texts and images related to women, particularly those concerning their body education by means of Physical Education and sports. By crossing the empirical sources, it was possible to identify a remarkable defence of the female body constructed by eugenics, whose scientific assumptions took into account body shape and appearance. By regarding the body as an art object to be sculpted through the practice of physical activities, Revista da Educação Physica spread images and discourses favouring a clean, beautiful, healthy, white body whose construction should comprise things that were conventionally assigned as imperatives for women: beauty, motherhood and femininity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]