feminist skin

Feminist skin?

Una publicación compartida de Helena Suárez (@ladelentesuy) el 18 de Abr de 2017 a la(s) 1:27 PDT

"What if the skin were not a container? What if the skin were not a limit at which self begins and ends? What if the skin were a porous, topological surfacing of myriad potential strata that field the relation between different milieus, each of them a multiplicity of insides and outsides?"
(Erin Manning, Toward a Leaky Sense of Self, 2009)

i posted this picture of skin on facebook, along a question: "feminist skin?" a response came, presto. "don't generalise," wrote a man. i chided him for not noticing the question mark, for failing to notice that, indeed, i wasn't generalising. mansplaining. yes, of course. hairy skin might be feminist skin, but then again, it might not. i am hyper aware of the ways in which skin "fields the relation between different milieus." this ranges from decisions i make about whether to keep some body hair but not other, according to where i'll be and with whom, to decisions others make as they encounter my hairy or hairless skin. some feminists look at me with suspicion when i reveal hairless skin, others do so when hair shows up. same with make up, body creams, (head) hairstyles... sometimes i feel i can't win. in south america we talk about "el feministómetro." a device for measuring the depth of your feminism, how far it may be under of your skin.