Body and Identity

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Body and Identity

• 11/05/08

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Outline

• reciprocal relationship between body and
  identity/self-concept
• How do my physical features influence my
  self-concept?
• Breasts and Private Dicks

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Outline

• reciprocal relationship between body and
  identity/self-concept
• How do my physical features influence my
  self-concept?
• Breasts and Private Dicks
• How are my social identities written on my body?
  
• self portrait assignment

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How does our physical body influence our
self-concept/identity?
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How does our physical body influence our
identity?

• Self-concept Your global understanding of
  yourselfincludes self-assessments (I am
  pretty), knowledge of skills, and awareness of
  physical attributes

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How does our physical body influence our
identity?

• Self-concept Your global understanding of
  yourselfincludes self-assessments (I am
  pretty), knowledge of skills, and awareness of
  physical attributes
• Identity (psychology)
• properties that make you distinct from others

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How does our physical body influence our
identity?

• Self-concept Your global understanding of
  yourselfincludes self-assessments (I am
  pretty), knowledge of skills, and awareness of
  physical attributes
• Identity (psychology)
• properties that make you distinct from others
• Identity (sociology)
• labeling yourself as a member of a particular
  group (e.g., disabled person, white woman,
  lesbian)

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New assignment

• Shh. No verbalizations.

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take off your clothes and spend the rest of the
day naked
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Your gut reaction?
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public nudity

• Surveillance and insecurity are linked
• concerns about others judgments of our body
• self-imposed restrictions on display of nude body
• insecurity about own body
• Why?

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Conflating sex and gender

• One consequence of assuming sex and gender are
  the same thing and are linked is that
• physical markers of sex become meaningful markers
  of gender identity

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Conflating sex and gender

• females breasts become central to many womens
  identity as women
• males penises become central to many mens
  identity as men

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Conflating sex and gender

• our language even links sexual body parts with
  identity
• stop playing with yourself
• he put himself into her/him

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Conflating sex and gender

• Our breasts and penises become central to our
  feelings of self-worth
• May only realize this after they are affected by
  disease or injury

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Breasts and PenisesRace, sexuality, and power

• Hooks (Selling Hot Pussy)
• legacy of commodification of black womens
  breasts (mammies)
• Friedman (A Mind of its Own)
• Romans generals promoted soldiers based on penis
  size because size was linked with physical
  strength
• Poulson-Bryant (Hung A Meditation on the Measure
  of Black Men in America)
• myth that black men have bigger penises than
  white men was created to control the sexuality of
  black male slaves

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Breasts, penises, and social class

• cosmetic surgery
• body as economical resource

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Cultural messages about breasts and penises

• How are women and men socialized to view breasts
  and penises? How might these messages affect the
  way we feel about our own breasts and penises?
• Whats at stake (personally, institutionally, and
  culturally) if we were all comfortable with our
  bodies? (Who would gain and lose, and how?)

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How do people feel about their breasts and
penises?

• Breasts and Private Dicks
• ways in which the socially-constructed
  definitions of acceptable and beautiful breasts
  and penises affect the individuals who have them
• Sim. to Youngs Breasted Experience

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A word on maturity

• baggage around issues of body and sexuality
• embarrassment, jokes, reactivity
• Check yourself. Ask
• Why am I reacting this way? Am I embarrassed by
  what I see or hear? Am I placing a value
  judgment on someone? Why?

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Reflecting on the films

• In what ways does your physical body influence
  your self-concept/identity?
• 1. Write your own segment for the documentary
  (about your own body).
• or
• 2. Draw your answer to the body gt identity
  question.
• or
• 3. Address through drawing or writing this
  question
• Is there a part of your body that defines you?

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How are our social identities written on our
bodies?
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Embodying identity

• Examples
• body shape or size (muscularity, thinness,
  fatness)
• bodily adornment or modification (hair, makeup,
  clothing, surgery, piercing)
• movement, gesture, facial expressions, and
  posture

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Embodying identity

• How do humans display our gender on our bodies?
• Feminine display make-up, big breasts, demure
  demeanor
• Masculine display no make-up, strong body,
  assertive demeanor
• (Contemporary U.S., recognizing the diversity of
  masculinities and femininities)

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Embodying identity

• How do humans display our sexualities on our
  bodies?
• Fattened women in Popenoe
• Bears in Lorber and Moore

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Embodying identity

• How do humans display our race on our bodies?
• Clothes? Hair styles? Handshakes? Posture?
  Cosmetic surgery?

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Embodying identity

• How do humans display our social class on our
  bodies?
• Hair (Charlemagnes moustache), clothes
  (designer, styles), amount of personal space,
  orthodontia, body size (access to healthy foods)

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Self-portrait assignment

• How are your identities written on your body?
• DUE Thursday, Nov. 13th at 130