Writing Body Talk: ‘Writing on the Body’ as Health

Education for Girls

Elizabeth Reid Boyd and Abigail Bray

Introduction to Body Talk

Power means holding your head high no matter what you look like. It means speaking out when you’ve been told you have nothing to say. It means having the courage to celebrate your difference, your uniqueness, believing your own story and not someone else’s vision of who you should be. It’s about cherishing your unique self, taking delight in your eccentricity and wildness, being proud and kicking the shame habit. Real power, the sort you use every day, isn’t about conforming to an image. It’s about creating a space for yourself and writing your own script, your own story….

If you feel the body-image that has been written onto your body isn’t

really who you are, then it’s time for a rewrite. You can rewrite who you are and the rules about who you are not

and who you want to be. You can change your body-image and the

stories that make up who you are with a bit of courage and creativity and a

Tabula Rasa.

When you were born you were a tabula rasa, which means a blank slate or a clean page.

You were innocent. You didn’t know anything. Over time you were told many things about the world and the people

around you, and about yourself. You were told how you fitted in to the world, you were

told who you are, who you are not, and who you are meant to be. Gradually, the blank page of your body-self started to

become covered in writing. This writing has created your body image.

Find yourself a notebook, exercise book or scrapbook, a big one, lined or blank, it doesn’t matter, with a cover you like. Decorate it, disguise it, customise it, make it your own. Or make a file on your computer. This is your Tabula Rasa.

… Think of it as a long letter to yourself, a private history of all the things that matter to you. It will be a diary, a journal, an adventure, a body plan, a creative space where you can experiment with different ways of being. A place to create some new body rules. You can use images from the mass media, your own photos (maybe a baby photo for page one) poems, inspiring quotes, cuttings from all over the place. You can scribble, babble, blurt, get it all out of your system; put it all down. Start creating a new language, a language that works for you…..

“Have you ever walked away from a put-down or being teased and said to yourself ‘I wish I’d said…?’ You’re not alone. But it’s time to start putting those day dreams to good use because figuring out what you might say the next time is one of your lines of defense against the Body Police. You have to learn some new lines and how to deliver them with style and power.

So you've been in a bit of a spat … someone has walked away from you instead of towards you, someone has made a loud, obnoxious comment about the way you look or something you've said or done.

But you said nothing back! Or perhaps you said something a bit lame. You were burning up inside as you walked away and thought to yourself Why didn't I...???!!, I should have...!!!!!, I wish I had said ....!

There is still something you can do. Rehearse.

Tell your story as:graffitias a songas a poemas a playas a letter to the Prime Ministeras a letter to your favourite celebrityas a gossip columnas a letter to Dollyas a websiteas a newspaper articleas a rescue taleas fairy taleas a horror story

“Perhaps it feels like if you have made mistakes, or if you have been hurt by others, that what has happened can’t be changed. It’s hopeless. Everything’s ruined. And what’s done is done.That’s not quite true. It is true that whatever you have done, or has been done to you, can’t be undone. No matter how much you might like to, you can’t go back in time. No, you can’t change the beginning of the story. But you can change the ending.

Think of all the of the fairy tales you were read when you were little. Was it over when the heroine faced her darkest hour? When she was lost in the woods? When she was trapped in a tower?We are not going to tell you that some knight or prince is about to come and rescue you – that idea might have lead to some of your troubles in the first place. As you probably guessed – there’s rather a knight shortage these days. It ain’t going to happen.But you can rescue yourself. Get up on that horse and grab your sword. Because what happens next in the story is up to you.

Don’t let other people tell you how your story ends. … No matter what has happened, no matter what has been done to you, or what you have done, it isn’t too late to change the ending, to make things different, to make things better … no matter how bad it is, no matter if you feel you can’t go on, that you can’t change anything, don’t give in. Don’t make it the end of your story. It’s never too late for a happy ending. Never.