"I am there - they can't erase me." - Jill Andrew
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"If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive." - Audre Lorde.
If the body could talk, what would it say? Would it tell stories of adventure? Of strength and courage? Perseverance? Perhaps it would tell a story of resistance? Or a chronology of its existence?
The body can be understood as a site of contestation, where meaning and possibilities are mapped, imagined, and expressed. Whether physically, metaphorically, or spiritually, the body is a vessel that carries our thoughts, feelings, and dreams, yet its depth is not fully realized upon first encounter. With this, the body can not only inform our own thoughts and feelings of ourselves, but that of others.
In this panel discussion, you will hear from our esteemed panelists who, together, share reflections on their journeys of advocacy and resistance, giving life to an inclusive body politics that challenges normative understandings and perceptions of the body. They will address, through personal accounts, how Blackness, gender, and fatphobia intersect and produce meanings about how we ought to live and experience our bodies, and how, then, our bodies inform daily interactions. In centering their autonomy, the panelists give life to a politics of care and love that is grounded in liberation and possibility.
