Let's Not Enslave Our Bodies

The way patriarchal Westernization has dominated nature can be equated to women’s manipulation of their natural bodies through eating disorders. Ecofeminism, which is “a movement to name, restore, value, and preserve what Western industrialized culture has attempted to destroy” (Gaard, 1997) fights to define how humans have been alienated from nature and its processes (including time, smells, sounds, and energies). Either by chosen or forced conditions, humans have been made to rely on man-made machinery instead. *To be transparent: one’s race, class, gender and sexuality all contribute to how we each experience this alienation—but nevertheless, it is there.* And it is rampant. In fact, there is not one portion of this world that is unaffected by white Western industrialized culture; toxins are carried in to wilderness areas through the air and the rain, and wilderness travelers leave trash in the most pristine areas (Gaard, 1997). The entire idea of “nature” is, in fact, a man-made bifurcation of Western culture.

Throughout history, humans were made reliant upon man-made structures of time, rather than Nature’s seasons, migration patterns, dawn and dusk, creation of shadows, rise and fall of tides. Eventually, nature’s goddess spiritualities and earth-based practices were all replaced by patriarchal religions, thus forcing human separateness on entire cultures.

In Plumwood’s Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, the “Master Model” is the identity which is at the core of Western culture, and has initiated, perpetuated, and benefited from Western culture’s alienation from nature. It can be seen in dualized structures, which create a subordinated ‘other’, such as: master/slave, male/female/, mind/body, reason/emotion, human/nature, heterosexual/other sexualities, civilized/primitive, rich/poor. I will outline the formation of these dualities are formed through 3 stages;

· Meanwhile, I will also analyze the “Master Model” through a modern Western woman’s perspective on her body, one that could be categorized as an eating disorder:

1.) Backgrounding: “The Master” relies on the services of “the Other”, while simultaneously denying his dependency.

· The Human relies on the food The Body needs to survive, while minimizing how much it might need “Just this apple will do for lunch” or, “OMG I ate that whole pizza!-Gross”

2.) Radical Exclusion: “The Master” magnifies the differences between Self and “the Other”, and minimizes shared qualities.

· The Human magnifies the desire for thinness The Body does not have, and minimizes its enjoyment of feeding oneself and resting.

3.) Incorporation: “The Master’s” qualities are taken as the standard and “the Other” is defined in terms of her possession or lack of those qualities.

· The Human’s restriction of food and ability to exercise is taken as standard, and The Body becomes defined in terms of its food and exercise intake.

4.) Instrumentalism: “The Other” is constructed as having no ends of her own and her sole purpose is to serve as a resource for the master.

· The Body is constructed as having no purpose other than how thin it can be, how it can intake and rid of food, and how this viscious cycle can serve The Human’s addiction.

5.) Homogenization: The dominated class of Others isperceived as universally homogenous.

· The dominated Body is now perceived as to homogenous with The Human, as they both receive applause from others for their disintegrating form.

Thus, humans form a “master identity” over nature, that of which is seen in slavery, domination, and industrialization.

· Thus, the Human has formed a “master identity” over their Body.

Let’s. Not. Enslave. Our. Bodies.