The Body is Political

Power, Identity & Body Modification

The body is political. It has been described as a ‘tomb’ (Plato), a ‘temple’ (Saint Paul), a ‘machine’ (Descartes), and the self (‘I am my body’ — Sartre). Our body can represent our identity, our past, our race, gender and status, and be a symbol for our society. However, how our bodies are viewed and categorised is not always in the power of the body’s inhabiter, many of these definitions are imposed upon us by systems of power beyond our control. What is considered a ‘normal’, or socially acceptable, body is dependent on when and where you live and what kind of body you were born into (male/female, white/non-white, disabled/not disabled etc). Throughout the years we have created Body Modification technologies and practices which go against these normative templates — enabling us to sculpt our body into a form more relatable to us as individuals, or as members of communities.

IDENTITY

Body modification practices are as old as time, but the 20th century has seen a rise in (particularly Western) practices of piercing, tattooing, scarification and augmenting the body with technology.

Punks from the 1970/80’s wearing Native American mohawk style hair and piercings — showing a clear group identity

• Anarchist Punks in the 1970’s adopted the Native American ‘mohawk’ and pierced their skin with safety pins;
• the Modern Primitivism movement adopted indigenous body modification practices such as scarification, skin stretching and neo-tribal tattoos;
• feminists rebelled against the patriarchal control of the body with pro-sex fetish practices;
• queer communities celebrated ‘deviant’ body styles by experimenting with S&M, transgender dress, and gential piercings;
• cyberpunks broke down the symbolic and physical limits of the body by merging with technology and/or becoming entirely digital in cyberspace;
• and not to mention the radical tranformations created through body building and plastic surgery (among others).

What these groups have in common is a rebellion against normative (generally Western) bodies, challenging gender/sexuality norms, the separation of ‘us’ and ‘other’, and imposed restrictive identities. In the creation of these subcultures, members took control of their meaning by naming themselves and their practices. BM communities frequently describe the body as a ‘work-in-progress’ — in a constant state of change and becoming — creating an identity which is not dictated by others and can constantly change without being limited by society.

Tribal woman of Orissa, India — with traditional piercings and earlobe stretching

RE-APPROPRIATION

Many modification techniques have been appropriated from non-Western cultures — the practices of Modern Primitivism have been particularly controversial as it can be seen to fetishize ‘primitive’ body rituals as a way to articulate their dissatisfaction with Western culture. Also, modern medical technologies, such as needles and surgery, have been appropriated by BM to cut and reconstruct the flesh in innovative ways.

Although body modifications are often seen as radical, rebellious, and even repulsive to some, they are not immune to popular culture’s power to subsume the deviant practices into mainstream culture. Today we can see this re-appropriation particularly with tattoos and piercings. More invasive and experimental modifications are still firmly sat in subcultures, but time will tell if these will also eventually become drained of their radicalness and considered ‘cool’.

Russ Foxx is a body modification artists with over 100 modificiations - including implanted horns, UV tattoos, and scarification — will these more extreme modifications one day become mainstream?

BODY AND TECHNOLOGY

Rapid developments in technology and digital spaces have brought about the Cyberbody which completely deconstructs the boundaries of biology. Bodies are merged with technology becoming ‘cyborg’, or are completely dematerialised to create a digital self existing in cyberspace.

Biohackers and Grinders are communities who advocate for non-institutional science and technology development, aiming to democratise the process, putting the control in the hands of ‘citizen scientists’. Magnets, RFID chips and other digital devices are attached to or implanted under the skin to mix the physical and digital functionality. This DIY movement has a bottom-up structure, with members sharing free open source technology design and documenting their experiences for the benefit of the community.

The team at Grindhouse Wetware ‘hack’ themselves by implanting connected devices under the skin.

Still in its infancy, these modification techniques are still risky relative to more established practices. Although body hacking builds on the knowledge of medical and modification practices, there are now two ‘imperfect technologies’ to contend with — the body and the devices. Both are unreliable and prone to damage, together they need constant fixing in order to function properly. But knowledge comes with practice, and the open nature of the community means that mistakes and successes can be shared to promote the evolution of the field, which has the potential to grow exponentially - becoming Human Enhancement.

POWER

Donna Haraways ‘Cyborg Manifesto’ is frequently quoted for her feminist view on the cyborg — believing that in becoming merged with tecnology we can move away from outdated categorizations — such as male/female, black/white human/animal, human/machine — and become something completely new. This vision aims to liberate the cyborg body, becoming ‘free from any natural and social constraints’ and restrictive systems of power.

Fecal Matter recieve a lot of hate, online and IRL, for their unique expression of beauty — which they have created to challenge censorship and norms.

Although BM practices rebel against these power structures, they are not completely removed from them, but instead create new structures within the existing system — subcultures within cultures. These subcultures cut across geographical and biological boundaries, offering inclusive membership. However they still have their own systems of power and privilege — for example these practices are not accessible to everyone (even if they aspire to be). Access to the technologies, and the privilege to augment your body without serious repercussions, restricts many people from being able to make this physical protest against norms. For some the act of augmenting poses both a physical and a social risk.

However, even though it is individuals who modify their bodies, they represent a wider connected network, a community who are pushing for these new ideals. Their actions represent an act of defiance greater than the self, and a step towards a world which can be more accepting of diverse bodies and identities.

To read more on Body Modification see:

• In the Flesh: The Cultural Politics of Modification by Victoria Pitts
• Body Modification edited by Mike Featherstone

Want to know more about Human Enhancement technologies? Check out the blog here ->

Check out CyborgNest’s website www.cyborgnest.net