flâneur

Is It Beauty? Or Is It Coerced Modification?

substack.com · 1,949 words · saved by 1 readers

On the political promise of the unmodified body, with philosopher Clare Chambers.

My teeth are brushed but my hair is not. My face is bare, my under-eyes bagged. I am wearing a loose tank top and have made no effort to conceal my upper arms (my least favorite body part). I don’t feel beautiful. I’m not bothered by that. This is the promise of the unmodified body. I am here, on Zoom, from the comfort of my home, where I face no cultural consequences for forgoing concealer and curl-smoothing cream, to ask professor and philosopher Clare Chambers — author of Intact: A Defense of the Unmodified Body, the book that inspired my low-key look this morning — if what I’m…

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