“Knowledge is not made for understanding; it is made for cutting.” — Michel Foucault
I wrote in READ MY LIPS that, borrowing from Marjorie Garber, you can get a tummy tuck, eyelid lift, toochus lift, face lift, nose job, and boob job, but you can’t just get a “groin job.”
Genitalia are something that society has invested special meaning. It is the only area of the body over which society exerts such direct control. Along with the face, it is one of only two areas which are identified and tracked, and the only one that identifies us from before we are born through our death.
My nose job was something I “had.” But because genitals are the primary marker of sexual identity, my groin job was something I “was.” That is, it identified my, and in turn, I was supposed to be identified by it. Read the rest of this entry »