Most of the time when I hear discussions about body anxiety, it’s about how the body looks. My problem is with how mine sounds.
My stomach growls constantly, regardless of how recently I’ve eaten. And my stomach likes to be an asshole and growl during the quietest, most awkward moments for me- namely, when I’m in a quiet classroom in very close proximity to other students. The inspiration for this post actually came during my Theories of Feminism class one fine Thursday evening where I, at one point, walked out of the room because I was on the verge of having a panic attack from this fit of incredibly loud, long, never-ending growls. I’m sure no one cared, I’m not even sure anyone heard, but I couldn’t control the urge to run. When I tell one of my friends about yet another embarrassing moment when unholy noises bellowed from my belly, they always say something alone the lines of “But it’s not like you can control it…it happens to everyone.” (I’ve also been told that my stomach makes some of the oddest noises they’ve ever heard, but moving on…)
The fact that I can’t control it is the worst part! There are bodily functions that are considered more embarrassing than this one, but a lot of them you can at the very least muffle. Not my stomach.
Taken from: http://24.media.tumblr.com/17779381001dea2dc39f120aaba675a1/tumblr_mqfamfr7xZ1qbx6j1o1_500.png
The second worst part is that I am fully aware that this is such a trivial problem but I can’t help getting horrible anxiety about it. I feel my whole face heat up and turn red, I can’t completely focus on the lecture anymore because I’m searching the classroom for eyes glaring at me and my embarrassing body. I hunch over in weird positions to try and quiet it and I grip my stomach tightly. I’m literally wrestling my own body to keep quiet. And in retrospect, that’s really…odd. What deems a bodily noise socially acceptable or unacceptable? Stomach growling is just the sound of muscle contractions moving food, air, gas or fluid in your stomach/intestines.
I think it being “unacceptable” stems from a larger issue: we live in a society that, for the most part, separates the body from the self. If I make a noise (i.e. talking, singing, whistling, etc.) I have a made a conscious decision to emit that sound and it comes from my self. However, if my body “decides” to emit a noise, as much as a body can decide to do something, it’s a third party decision. I didn’t get any input and I didn’t choose to let my stomach growl, so I’m not claiming it as my own. Have you ever or have you heard someone yelling at their own body? I mean, I called my stomach an asshole in the introduction.
So what’s my solution?
Well, in nearly all other respects I really, honestly cherish my body. I try to nourish it and I have a very conscious connection to it. I appreciate all of the interesting little things it does, when those interesting little things are silent. So now I will have to extend my way of thinking to the things my body does that are not silent. Easier said than done but here are just some thoughts out loud: ‘Kudos to my stomach for breaking my food down and occasionally actually letting me know that I’m hungry. I’m not a doctor but I feel like if my stomach muscles didn’t contract, I could possibly die or maybe have severe health problems, so I’m thankful to my body for sparing me from that.’
To those of you who sit by me in this or other classes, I’m sorry if my stomach growling bothers you. I probably notice it way more than you ever will and it’s just my body doing what it’s supposed to.
P.S. My stomach growled approximately 15 times in the making of this post.
Unruly Bodies 
Body sounds are really tough for me, too. On the point you mentioned of the mind/body split, I think we are generally held to a standard of total control of our bodies, and so the lack of volition in body noises like stomach growling kind of alerts folks that you–the self–don’t have control of your lesser, corporeal body that’s supposed to be like, perfectly managed at all times. For me, it also involves personal and cultural anxieties about food–I often worry that, if my stomach growls, someone’s going to think that I haven’t eaten enough recently, or will infer that I have a weird relationship with food (which is totally true).
This is a great post that gets at how powerful body norms are, and how linked they are to assumptions about the distinction between body and self.
I connect to this post on a spiritual level. Due to really weird class times I never have a chance to eat before class and my stomach is always doing this and I constantly find myself contorting my body into really weird ways during class while trying to look causal in an attempt to keep it from happening. It’s strange because we’re taught from little to keep quiet and control ourselves in a classroom setting but no one ever taught us what to do about the noises we can’t control and it becomes a sense of embarrassment, even though everyone is experiencing them in one way or another. If it helps I’ve never heard anyone else’s stomach growling besides my own.
I’ve never actually heard someone else’s stomach growl, but I guess that’s just a friendly reminder that others growl as well…
Anyway. I don’t think that stomach growling isn’t exactly socially unacceptable. I mean. There are much worse things that come out of your body (as you acknowledged) and I think what makes them worse is that you CAN control them and thus if you let them be audible, it’s a lack of self control (if one can even claim it to be that). Stomach growling, to me, is a perfectly natural way of your body reacting to what’s going on inside yourself. Since I’ve never experienced anyone getting up-in-arms over stomach growling, whenever mine growls I just ignore it. After all, it’s only embarrassing if you think other notice or care. I know that’s not easy to digest or whathaveyou [/lame pun]. But sometimes you just gotta let it wash over you