What I’m Reading
I’ve always been interested in bodies—not bodies in a medical or anatomical sense, or even in an explicitly sexual sense. But rather, I am interested in the way we—as a culture and as individuals within our particular cultural contexts—relate to our bodies at different points in our life cycle. I want to know what our bodies mean to us, and how that changes over time as our bodies and our circumstances shift.
In other words, I’m curious about how we understand our bodies when we go through puberty; when we experience pregnancy or childbirth; in the context of different sexual and romantic relationships; when our bodies are sick, diseased, or disabled; when we gain or lose significant amounts of weight; and as we age.
In this vein, this week I picked up a copy of Face: One Square Foot of Skin, written by writer/director/producer Justine Bateman. The book is a series of fictionalized vignettes based on interviews Batemen did of women about their fears regarding their aging faces.
What I expected to get from the book was a range of attitudes about aging, particularly given her emphasis on bringing in the voices and experiences of women other than herself. What I got instead was variations on a theme, all with the same conclusion: women are brainwashed into feeling like there is something wrong with their faces, and if they weren’t brainwashed, they would (should) all embrace a naturalism that excludes plastic surgery, treatments like Botox, and other interventions.
What I’m Thinking About
This book takes the form of an old feminist debate, one that I am quite frankly tired of seeing: Can women make decisions about their bodies—particularly in regard to desirability and beauty—outside of the context of the male gaze?
The underlying assumption of these questions is always that the feminist thing to do is to reject the cultural pressures to look young/thin/sexy/conventionally feminine/white, etc.
While I can not in good faith deny that such pressures exist (and that they are mired in misogyny, racism, ageism, ableism, and more), I also think it is important to recognize that rejection is not the only valid choice. Women should be free to to do with their body whatever they want without being accused of caving to cultural pressure.
While feminism has gone a long way in paving a way for women to have freedom from oppressive norms, it has done considerably less to create space for those who desire freedom to relate to their bodies in a way that may fit certain conventions. Not all of us, in other words, feel conflicted about getting Botox injections or fillers, and feminism should allow for the possibility of many different types of choices women (and people of all genders) make with their bodies.
The oft-cited abortion-rights slogan, “My Body, My Choice,” in other words, should be broad enough to encompass abortion, natural aesthetics, and plastic surgery.
What I’m Excited About
This weekend my good friend and colleague Kaytlin Bailey is coming into town and staying with me. She is coming into town in order to perform her one-woman comedy routine Whore’s Eye View, which is a tour of 10,000 years of whore history. The show will be on Sunday night at The Government Center in the North Side. More information about the show can be found in this City Paper interview with Kaytlin.
If you are in Pittsburgh this weekend, I highly recommend the show!
Availability & Booking
Youngstown, OH: October 25-26
Akron, OH: November 1-2
Boston, MA: November 11-14
Pittsburgh in between
My travel calendar is kept up to date on my website.
