Author: goodcucumber

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Piercings

When I was eight, the first piercing into my body was for a ritual, a gentle whisper of tradition inscribed on the skin. Or maybe these were the things little girls did, bearing a tiny badge of belonging. I didn’t question it, didn’t need to. It fell into the soft quilt of childhood.

At twenty, a sharper needle danced across my skin: a second lobe, a nose ring, a tragus. These weren’t whispered rites; they were restless proclamations. Boredom had seeped into my bones, and the sting of metal felt like a remedy, a spark against the dull ache of routine.

But the tragus rebelled, itching, and inflamed, and was eventually lost, snagged in the tangle of intimacy during a hug. A small casualty, nonetheless one that left its mark within memory memory of touch and unintentional loss.

Now, they hang silent companions. Some days, they feel like artifacts of whimsy I can’t quite justify. On other days, they’re ornaments of a self I’ve grown to understand. Mistakes? Maybe. Or maybe they are just chapters, stitched in by silver and steel, each adding texture to the story I wear.

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My Invisible Disability

(Trigger Warning: mention of ABA therapy) 

Although I haven’t formally been diagnosed with autism, the understanding is that if you feel as though you have autism you should treat yourself as if you have autism. As the Stevenson article discussed the infantilization of autism erases the existence of autistic adults. But, here I am an autistic adult. I can discuss my experiences with autism. 

I did not have any experience with ABA therapy. At best it seems controversial at worst it looks problematic. As we discussed in class if we have adult autistic representation in the ways of them talking about their experience with ABA therapy and how destructive it can be. Then, this would lead to a capitalist problem, in that, it would lead to the multibillion-dollar industry of ABA therapy to its demise. 

Growing up I would stim, have trouble with eye contact, not understand or be able to read emotions, and was just in general weird. Not to associate negatively with the word weird just like atypical, not a part of the norm, not “normal.” Whatever that means. No one noticed. Maybe I became really good at masking? Later in life, I thought I had ADHD, another invisible disability, this explained the stimming, but not the other symptoms. But, here I am an autistic adult. And I’m confused about what I should do in the future. A diagnosis is much too costly and I don’t know if it would help. I guess I will just be emboldened by community. 

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Medical Terminology and the Patriarchy

I learned about this in another class and found it to be very relevant to this class. In general, Emily Martin’s The Egg and the Sperm: How Science Has Constructed a Romance Based on Stereotypical Male-Female Roles, talks about how the language in medical textbooks reinforces patriarchal views of men’s and women’s roles in reproduction. Enjoy!

In Emily Martin’s The Egg and the Sperm, she asserts that even when we learn about basic biology, such as eggs and sperm, these notions from the patriarchy are reinforced. This subtle but very deliberate assertion is intentional. It reinforces gender norms and says that the sperm is dominant while the egg is submissive. The sperm travels through the female reproductive system and penetrates the egg. This is very much a Western idea. Now, modern research has found that the egg is the dominant one. Instead of the sperm penetrating the egg, the egg, “traps the sperm and prevents their escape.” (Martin, pg. 493)

The reason these narratives are so problematic is because it devalues the egg’s role in reproduction and, in doing so, reduces the whole female reproductive system and women in general and vice versa. Other things also reinforce this. Like how menstruation is viewed as a failure. The language medical textbooks show menstruation, “as a chaotic disintegration of form, complementing the many texts that describe it as “ceasing,” “dying,” “losing,” “denuding, “expelling. ” (Martin, pg. 486) As if a women’s role is purely reproductive and she is deemed useless or otherized when she is dealing with a completely normal biological function.

Reference

Martin, Emily. “The egg and the sperm: How science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical male-female roles.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 16, no. 3, Apr. 1991, pp. 485–501, https://doi.org/10.1086/494680. 

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Subway Shirts

I recently saw an Instagram reel from @arlenezhxo where she shows her original outfit and then adorns this oversized shirt with Kermit the Frog wearing a Santa hat over it. With the text on the screen saying, “shoutout to my subway shirt” and the caption saying, “what’s ur subway shirt?” Here it is: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_wOd2SyAHV/?hl=en 

The idea behind a Subway shirt is to conceal your body and stop or reduce harassment from people who ride the Subway. This is not the first Instagram reelI have seen about the Subway shirt (I do not have TikTok). It brings up the idea of not wanting your body to be perceived. 

This can be understood through Featherstone’s critique of consumer culture and the focus on the body. Featherstone (1990) highlights that the consumerist obsession with leisure and consumption, especially regarding the body, is often seen as empowering by granting individuals greater freedom to express themselves through fashion and appearance. However, this constant focus on appearance also leads to a form of “ideological manipulation,” wherein the body becomes the primary site of self-worth and identity. The pressure to present oneself in a specific way reinforces conformity to consumerist ideals, which may limit true freedom and alternative ways of being in the world.

In this case, the “Subway shirt” can be seen as a reaction to that manipulation. It symbolizes a rejection of the consumer-driven pressure to always make one’s body available for public consumption and appraisal. The oversized shirt is worn not for leisure or self-expression but as a tool of protection, concealing the body to avoid unwanted attention. This aligns with Featherstone’s view that while consumer culture promises freedom and individualism, it can also act as a means of control, encouraging individuals to conform to certain norms and aesthetics. In this case, the “Subway shirt” might represent a deliberate disengagement from this consumerist gaze, offering a temporary escape from the endless cycle of bodily visibility and scrutiny.

Reference

Featherstone, M. (1990). PERSPECTIVES ON CONSUMER CULTURE. Sociology, 24(1), 5–22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42854622