Sunday, October 31, 2010

Thoughts on the Body


I wrote is as an assignment for my Feminist Theory class. I thought it was pretty good and ended up reading it for the class. I though i should post it seeing how i haven't put up anything recently.

The body is a wonderful and treacherous thing. It can be the idol, the worshiped, the striven for. But it can be the vile, the disgusting, and the undesirable. In western culture, or in most cultures around the world, there are aspects of the human existence that are revered, like strong chiseled muscles or straight flowing hair. But for every positive there is a negative. Excessive body fat or blotchy and blemished skin for example. These dualities reach into the reproductive areas. Big cocks and perfect amounts of pubic hair (none in some cases) are desirable where small penises and overly pronounced vulva are frowned upon. Even fluids which can be sexualized for obvious reasons become filthy once leaving the body. Semen is gross to some and the menstrual blood, once revered and honored is now detested and seen as a scourge. Like hair once fallen from the head, menstrual blood once excreted from the body is detested. We have be en-cultured to distrust and hate our bodies. To objectify ourselves and place our ideas of perfection on a pedestal so high that the very fact that we are a flesh and blood human means we can never achieve the self fulfillment within reaching those lofty goals. We see the Greek and Roman statues of Gods and Goddess, perfectly carved from stone. Knowing ourselves to be of the same earth, we strive for godliness but fall short by the trappings of mortality.
I call forth an old god. The one of curves and humanity. The one who holds the moon and horn. The ebb and flow of life is her power. The faceless deity carved into stone is the mirror I want to hold. The rust and ocher textures of the walls reflect my rough skin and not the polished marble of so many pantheons. These undefined ancestors who are more flesh and blood than even Zeus of Hera ever dreamed of being. Let us not place our physical appearance goals on the gods of marble and bronze but those who are closer to home. They live in caves and rocks. They are not so high up that we can’t reach them. Down into the earth and into ourselves is where the physical self actualization occurs.