NEDIC Conference Journal 2018

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Privilege and the Body: The role of Critical Awareness to Enhancing Positive Embodiment Niva Piran, PhD University of Toronto Abstract Societal structures of power and privilege and individuals’ experiences of living in their bodies are inextricably connected. Therefore, the complex social processes that privilege some bodies and disenfranchise others have to be understood in order to engage in socially transformative initiatives that can enhance positive embodiment. The Developmental Theory of Embodiment provides a lens through which to examine social processes that either facilitate or disrupt embodiment. The paper, in particular, examines expressions of privilege and disenfranchisement in the physical, social stereotypes, and social power and relational connection domains and their relationships to embodiment. It further suggests that interventions that aim to enhance positive embodiment among girls and women align with social justice, feminist, anti-oppressive, and human rights goals. 1. Introduction I got this tummy and I couldn’t fit into one of my favorite pairs of pants. I had a dance and it was like, “oh, my God, I have to fit into these pants.” People talked behind my back and said how fat I was and stuff. [Friend—a girl] is really overweight but it does not bother her. She knows she can’t be teased because she has a boyfriend and he has blond hair and he is real cute, and he has blue eyes, crystal blue eyes . . . Girls like a good blue-colored eyes. I know I do and I think most girls do. Girls want to be really skinny and to have a peach skin or blush . . . I wear long sleeves and skirts cover the black hair on my arms and legs . . . I was not in the popular class anymore . . . I was in the dorks, second class . . . Usually fat people are not in the popular group . . . I felt like I was an outsider. I felt like an alien. I was like, ‘I have to lose weight or else I’m gonna be living on Mars for the rest of my life.’ [1, p. 98] In this narrative, Jackie, an 11-year-old girl of Aboriginal heritage and working class background who participated in a prospective interview study with girls, explained her embodied distress and drastic weight loss (16% of her weight) at the onset of puberty. At the intersection of classism (she could not afford to buy another pair of favorite jeans), weightism, racism, and sexism, Jackie felt that losing weight was the only avenue she had to break through her demoted social status. Jackie’s experience exemplifies the inextricable connection between societal structures of power and privilege and individuals’ experiences of inhabiting their bodies [2,3]. Clarifying the complex social processes that privilege some bodies and disenfranchise others underlies social transformations towards enhanced social justice and individuals’ positive embodiment. 2. Theoretical Framework In a recent book entitled, Journeys of Embodiment at the Intersection of Body and Culture [1], I outline the research-based Developmental Theory of Embodiment (DTE), which describes processes that socialize girls and women of different backgrounds into inequity through targeting their bodies. As the DTE suggests, the social processes that shape embodiment take place at the physical, social stereotypes, and social power domains (see Figure 1 for a delineation of the theoretical structure). This paper aims to delineate social processes related to privilege and the body in these three domains in order to inform social transformations towards enhanced body equity. 6
eing. In particular, upon the onset of puberty girls’ and women’s experiences of active engagement in the physical sphere becomes restricted due to multiple factors, such as: the masculinization of sports and restrictive norms of femininity, confining and exposing clothing, the smaller allocation of resources to girls and women’s sports, compromised safety, and inequity in the domestic sphere [1,9]. As Piran describes [1], living in financially challenged circumstances or in unsafe neighborhoods further limits opportunities for engagement in physical activities and the freedom of movement in the public sphere. 3. Privileges and Challenges in the Physical Domain Physical experiences are powerful in shaping experiences of embodiment by affecting the quality of connection and comfort in the body, embodied agency, experience and expression of desires, engagement in attuned care, and resistance to self-objectification. The DTE highlights four key experiences that affect embodiment in the physical domain, that are, in turn affected by intersecting dimensions of social privilege [1]. 3.1. Safety versus violations to the body territory Violence takes places within the context of inequity of power and privilege, leading to enhanced powerlessness, shame, and multiple disruptions in the body domain among victims. Sexual violations are common among adolescent girls and women, who, most commonly experience rape before age 18, with a lifetime prevalence rate of over 1 in 6 women [4]. This challenge is more severe among specific groups of women, such as women of color and members of indigenous communities in North America [5], women who identify their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or questioning [6] or their gender identity as transgender [7], and women living with physical disability [8]. 3.2. Freedom versus restriction to physical engagement and movement. Similar to the experience of safety, freedom to physical engagement and movement in the public sphere is granted to privileged members of society, enhancing their embodied agency, joy and well 3.3 Sanctioning versus Vilification of Desire Connection, comfort, and agency in the practice of desire enhance positive embodiment [1,10]. However, women go through challenging journeys connecting with their sexual desires and commonly report difficulties in being attuned to their desires and communicating their preferences and boundaries in sexual practices [1,10]. Such challenges relate to the lack of validation, and the common vilification, of female desire [8,10,11], sexual objectification and performance expectations [12,13], the range of sexual violations [10], and the practice of sexuality within the context of inequitable power related to gender, class, ethnicity/race, physical disability and other social variables [14]. The experience and practice of sexual desire among individuals who identify their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or questioning or their gender identity as transgender is further oppressed along all these lines [8]. Connection to appetite is also commonly disrupted among adolescent girls and women related to the dictate that they restrict the physical space they occupy in terms of size [1]. In homes where food insecurity exists, connection to appetite is further challenged [15]. 3.4 The practice of care of the body versus body neglect. Greater opportunities to practice attuned care of the body are more available to privileged members of society. Adolescent girls and women face multiple challenges in the physical care of their bodies [1]. For example, adolescent girls and women face little societal support in dealing with the spectrum of sexual violations, the vilification of female desire, menstruation, contraception, 7
Page 2 and 3: ISSN 2562-1513 Key title: The Journ
Page 4 and 5: Acceptance, Equity and Awareness: I
Page 6 and 7: Table of Contents Nine Truths about
Page 8 and 9: palatable prepared and fast foods a
Page 10 and 11: openly, seriously, and compassionat
Page 14 and 15: domestic inequity, salary gap, and
Page 16 and 17: [9] Senne, J. (2016). Examination o
Page 18 and 19: issues of body image and self-estee
Page 20 and 21: In the case of sexting, the girls
Page 22 and 23: 7. Acknowledgements Thank you to Dr
Page 24 and 25: Navigating Differences Within Eatin
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Page 28 and 29: values include, but are not limited
Page 30 and 31: [37] Roosen, K. (2009). From traged
Page 32 and 33: y dominant views about weight and h
Page 34 and 35: For reflection: What would a bod
Page 36 and 37: discrimination based on gender, dis
Page 38 and 39: Adolescent girls use power tools: A
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Page 42 and 43: own skins. The girls were also very
Page 44 and 45: Learning about Real: Critical Media
Page 46 and 47: views. Teachers who are leaders of
Page 48 and 49: “Beyond Images” which is availa
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