Wearing skin is tricky. Shame sometimes hides in the folds of flesh.
Keeping It Under Wraps: Bodies, Uncensored
Edited by Tracy Hope, Alnaaze Nathoo and Louise Bryant
Genre: Non-fiction Anthology
About: Twenty-five personal stories that explore our relationships with our bodies. Topics include weight, bodily hair, penis circumference, society's warped expectations, physical trauma and unseen illnesses. In short, our bodies landscape everything about our lives. Understanding that, and appreciating it, is what this anthology seems to speak to.
The Good
The voices in this anthology are raw, honest, diverse and really stunned me. This isn't a collection of simply 'embrace your flaws', it goes so much deeper. The writers share unique (and for some stories, unique is not strong enough a word) experiences and explore why they have this relationship with their body, allowing room for all feelings to be felt. There's joy and empowerment behind the experiences, but there's also acknowledgement of shame, fear, vanity and guilt. It's a collection that will likely make readers uncomfortable, and that's a good thing. So many of the topics discussed are taboo. By bringing in strong, unfiltered voices like these it's a perfect way to change the conversations around uncomfortable issues. I won't be likely to forget some of the stories I read.
As I think it would be unfair to rank the stories, I wanted to share a few quotes that I think reflect the collection well:
"Maturity doesn’t mean you stop caring about what other think. It means you choose whose opinion matters."
"Fear is the perfect abusive bastard: smart enough not to leave bruises on the skin but diabolical enough to scar the hell out of the inside."
"I was the happy, bubbly girl but never felt like the thin, pretty one."
"Beauty standards come with an expectation that women’s bodies are only beautiful when modified."
The Bad
All of the writing is powerful because all of the stories are powerful, but some are more complete than others. I did feel one or two ended a bit abruptly - or perhaps I simply wanted more of their story. And of course there were some stories that I didn't connect with as strongly as I did others. These are very personal stories, and while some were fantastic at making me see a perspective I have no actual life experience in, others felt more rigid in their perspective.
The Somewhat Iffy
There are strong trigger warnings given at the start of the collection. Listen to them. These are not all easy stories to read, and sometimes it did feel jarring to have an intense traumatic story be followed up by one that, while still important, was maybe not coming from such a dark place. I think Natasha Cabot gives a good example of this jarring effect when she describes feeling self-conscious of her weight at a concentration camp (expecting people's judgement on her) and then how immediately guilty she felt for thinking of that in such an inappropriate setting. This is how it sometimes felt as a reader. You're re-prioritising what matters. Nothing is being trivialised in this collection, although some topics don't reflect well next to others.
Overall
No matter your body type, age, race, gender or sexuality, there's a story in here for you, and you need to read it. This collection made me rethink my own relationship with my body, but mainly I was blown away by the experiences these authors shared about theirs.
Comments