Queering the body-Sean

Queering the body to me, means many things. It means the way that we have categorized what types of anatomies, and body parts are or should be considered the ‘norm’ according to heteronormative and homonormative persons alike.

In the Fat Studies reader, Levy-Navarro writes that “Typically, however, larger-than-average weight among Black women is viewed as a symptom of the deleterious effects of other forms of oppression, and the effects of anti-fat bias within society…”(p.59). I see this from multiple viewpoints.  It can be seen from a viewpoint of sexual expectation and race. In our society everything is typically deemed sexy and or beautiful according to white men and their idea the perfect woman. White women are deemed beautiful, and classy and women of color are seen as more animalistic, aggressive and ravaged with sexual lust. This plays into the body image of those women who happen to be overweight or “fat” as our text puts it. When it comes to weight, there seems to be a different playing field. Black women with extra weight are primarily seen in a positive manner because they fulfill a gender and race stereotype of being voluptuous. White women in the same weight class on the other hand, are considered in a more negative light because they do not uphold the body standards set forth by those in power. When you remove men from the equation and consider lesbian women who are either of color or not, then you encounter different dynamics. I found it interesting that for lesbian women it seemed that the emphasis became more about the social causes to their health stressors. I think that since this article however, perhaps many image ideals have become less constrained and more fluid to interpretation, otherwise known as queer.

Gendering bodies seems to be something that is taught to us all as young children. We were told that women are mothers and they have girl “privates”, men are fathers and they have boy parts. This seems simple enough to understand until you begin learning of other genders beside the usual binary genders. In regards to trans bodies, Butler mentions in Undiagnosing Gender on page 99 “what is most worrisome, however, is how the diagnosis works as its own social pressure, causing distress, establishing wishes as pathological, intensifying the regulation and control of those who express them in institutional settings”.  What this translates to me is that while having a diagnosis may have been what worked for the gays and lesbians many years ago, it can only and has only been a negative association for trans people. A diagnosis is but one of many hoops to jump through to get beyond the gatekeepers of medical gender transition. One must be declared (as of the DSM 4 TR) a dysfunctional person with a mental irregularity and condition in order to fund one’s own surgery, and that is only after having one or more gender and psychotherapists write letters verifying such. A diagnosis of GID remains the last identity of the LGBT… spectrum to continue to be banned from military service due to mental illness. Overall, I thought these were great reads and will definitely have to go back and revisit this more when I have more free time. I swear I could talk all day about bodies and gender.