We survived by the skin of our teeth.

Feb. 10, 2012 at 7:57pm with 1,856 notes

Reblogged from bananapeppers

theskinofourteeth:

“Of course, this is one of the profound ways in which oppression works—to mire us in body hatred. Homophobia is all about defining queer bodies as wrong, perverse, immoral. Transphobia, about defining trans bodies as unnatural, monstrous, or the product of delusion. Ableism, about defining disabled bodies as broken and tragic. Class warfare, about defining the bodies of workers as expendable. Racism, about defining the bodies of people of color as primitive, exotic, or worthless. Sexism, about defining female bodies as pliable objects. These messages sink beneath our skin.”

—Eli Clare, “Stolen Bodies, Reclaimed Bodies” (via thenewwomensmovement)

Am I the only person in the entire world who hates the emphasis on bodies?

Maybe it’s because I’m so divorced from mine. Maybe it’s because I’m a dropout. But these things aren’t about bodies. They’re about people and lives—in a couple of examples they’re about reducing people to their bodies, but that’s still a tactic used against people.

It seems so.

Off.

I agree (it scans badly as well). it’s mind–body dualist and strangely objectifying in describing concepts that are ultimately of mind–body monism and dehumanization/humanization; oppressive violence aims to control minority bodies because those bodies include within them minority minds. using mind–body dualism to depict the mechanisms of oppressions which are mind-body monist at their roots is, uh, I’ve never understood it

side note: it always reminds me of dissociating and of my past eating-disordered thought processes