Social constructs limit our possibilities of how we engage with the world.

I understood this when reading Niva Piran’s Journey’s of Embodiment at the intersection of body and culture — a revelatory and lengthy text on what it means to be a woman at this current cultural moment.

Back to the social constructs– though Piran was showing this to be true of women’s experiences, it is applicable for all bodies.

What is the point of a body?

I think that is the same as asking: what does it mean to be alive?

Our bodies are how we engage with the world.

That is the gift our bodies give us- engagement with the world. To sense, and to be sensed. To see and to be seen. To limit this participation in any way feels like a violation of the sanctity of life.

Most people would never actively try to violate people’s basic human rights and dignity in this way, but I think we do it passively all the time: by ignoring the invitation to deconstruct and rethink the constructs we have held over our bodies for so many years.