I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it's shameful or immodest but because I don't want to see it. I don't want to look at something that determines me so completely.
--The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Obviously this quote is not in the context of ED, but I find it hits a chord with me. I separate my mind and my body but body wins. I don't want my me-ness to be influenced by my body, but my body houses me and so it always determines. I define my days by my body. And in that response, I become less sure of my mind. It is a vicious circle of insecurity.
The book is about sexism, not ED, but you should read it anyway.
Yeah, pretty much every time I think I've mined every wonderful and insightful and frightening thing there is in The Handmaid's Tale, I stumble upon yet another wonderful or insightful or frightening thing. There are no words for Margaret Atwood's awesomeness.
ReplyDeleteI read that book in high school...def need to read it again.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard, isn't it? mind-body unity...equanimity. but it's possible to have it, I think. I hope.
I haven't read it, but it sounds interesting. I totally agree with it though. We are not what our bodies reflect, but yet we are what we let our bodies become.
ReplyDeleteThat book was one of the ones I used to chart the evolution of the dystopic genre when I was 17. it never dates, that book. Still brilliant. I need a copy of Brave New World, know where I can find one?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment. Love you.
<3
I LOVE THAT BOOK!! Have you read her other books? The Edible Woman is magnificent. :D
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