Body parts secure our survival, shaping us layer by layer into a whole. Yet our relationship with them is fractured – especially for FLINTA people: caught between visibility and invisibility, scientific neglect and constant societal judgment.
An ode to the Body
Parts of the body.
They belong to us. They secure our survival.
Every single body part is part of our being. They work – day after day.
They grow, tear, stretch, hold, move, and transform.
They are there for us.
Layer upon layer – cells, tissue, skin, blood.
They shape us into a whole.
Into a lump. A cluster of cells.
Strange, isn’t it?
We squeeze ourselves in, wear ourselves down, just to make this cluster of cells – which does so much for us – bearable.
These body parts are a mirror of my inner self.
My relationship with my body parts is – as with most FLINTA people – a rollercoaster.
Not only with the visible parts. Also with the hidden, the inner ones, a healthy relationship is hardly possible.
Patriarchy forces us to our knees.
How are we to be in harmony with ourselves,
when science ignores our inner being
and society never leaves our outer being uncommented?
How can a body be so invisible and yet so visible at the same time?