So naked, they don't even have skin

[dreaminghope]

On Thursday night, Russ and I finally went to see the Body Worlds 3 exhibit at our Science Center. If you've never heard of this exhibit, it is an exhibit of real human bodies that have been preserved by a method called plastination. There are displays of different body organs, complete and in cross-section, and displays of whole bodies.

Most of the bodies – referred to as plastinates in the exhibit – were displayed without glass cases, so you could walk around them and lean in close to see the muscles and tendons and organs.

One plastinate, about a third of the way into the exhibit, was about how the muscles connect, so the organs had all been removed. Facing the display, I could see the body's spine at the back of the empty torso. I had a rush of light-headedness. I wasn't feeling faint or squeamish; it was just a sudden physical reaction to my sudden realization (or re-realization) that I was looking at a real human body. The body in front of me was once a living person. That spine once bent so the person could pick up a pet or child.

There was another plastinate, in a gymnast pose, that showed the muscles under tension. I was admiring the grace in the limbs and the way the muscles all work together when Russ came up beside me. And I had another rush of light-headedness as I realized that beneath Russ' skin, he would look like that plastinate. I would also look like that. Everyone around us was exactly the same under their skin: muscles and bones and organs. Our spleens may be different sizes, but no one's going to tell.

You couldn't tell what race the plastinates were. Without their fat and skin, you can't tell what shape they were. Without looking at their genitals, you couldn't even tell if they were male or female. Because the exhibit is about the human body, there were no names or stories attached to any of the displays.

We are all alike under our skins. It is one of those super-simple truths that sounds cliché until you are actually looking at a bunch of bodies without skin and they do look alike. Even now, thinking about that, I feel that light-headed sensation again.

Comments

[dayweletgo.livejournal.com]

That is so beautiful.

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

It was a beautiful exhibit. I recommend it if it ever hits your city.

[dayweletgo.livejournal.com]

Sadly I think it started off in Chicago but I never got around to see it.

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

There are actually three different touring exhibits. I saw Body Worlds 3. According to this page (http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/exhibitions/future_exhibitions.html) on the official website, Body Worlds 2 is going to be in Chicago starting on January 17th and running until April 29th. In those three months, hopefully you can get there.

[dayweletgo.livejournal.com]

Oh wow thank you for looking!! I'll have to mark my calendar because I would love to see it.

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

My pleasure! I look forward to reading what you think afterwards.

[iisz.livejournal.com]

I *really* want to see that.

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

Oh, do go! I recommend the audio tour if you really want to learn a lot, because there's a lot more packed into that then were on the display write-ups.

[meoka2368.livejournal.com]

Zombies, anyone? :P

[cosmolinguist]

I've seen things like that: the immediate shock of the unusual appearance wears off and you are left with that crazy, dizzying revelation. It's good that we don't think about stuff like that too much, but I think it's also good to actually, every once in a while, appreciate the things we have to take for granted the rest of the time.

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

It's good that we don't think about stuff like that too much...

I wouldn't get anything done!

... I think it's also good to actually, every once in a while, appreciate the things we have to take for granted the rest of the time.

This brought out to me just how much we do take for granted. Our lungs, our spleens, our intestines... there's a hell of a lot of stuff crammed into us, all working together in miraculous ways.

[cosmolinguist]

I wouldn't get anything done!

Well, yeah, that's exactly why I said it's good! Our brains can only pay attention to a tiny fraction of the sensory input they receive -- imagine really contemplating every blade of grass, every distant conversation -- and that's not even counting the things we do ourselves: every breath, every memory, and all the things we hardly know we're doing, like digesting our food or creating insulin and on and on...

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

The ability to be selectively attentive, especially our bodies' abilities to do things with no conscious attention at all, may be one of the biggest miracles of all.

If I even try to think about all the muscles it takes just to type this, I get so overwhelmed that I find myself tripping up like the centipede who was asked how he manages to co-ordinate all his legs.

Right after seeing the exhibit, I was having trouble concentrating on a conversation because I kept thinking about the muscles needed to talk and found myself watching their face instead of actually listening. But I'm easily influenced that way.

OK, now I'm just using this comment to ramble and process random thoughts...

[finn-mac-lir.livejournal.com]

I was quite interested in going to see that display because the human body fascinates me. However, after I learned that the founder of this technique was obtaining bodies of Chinese prisoners to use for his displays, I decided against it.

People in China can be imprisoned and executed for practicing a different religion or for simply disagreeing with the state. The state then sells their organs or their corpse without obtaining their consent.

The founder of the "plastination" technique has reported that he no longer obtains bodies from China but I dunno for sure. How can I be sure one of those people wasn't tortured and killed for believeing in the same God I believe in? :-(

-F-

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

It is my understanding that it is completely false that the founder of BodyWorlds ever used Chinese prisoners or any other bodies attained by unsavoury means. According to Science World's information, all the bodies, past and present, were donated by the person to this specific project before they died. Gunther von Hagens himself was the victim of political discrimination, having been imprisoned for two years in East Germany for political reasons.

There are other exhibits touring that have imitated the plastination techniques and even copied the displays. Some of those may use bodies attained illegally or immorally. I agree with your concerns, and wouldn't have gone to the exhibit myself except for the reassurance that these were donated bodies. I'm considering the donation process myself, in case I die in a way that doesn't allow my organs to be used in transplants.

If you decide to go, I highly recommend spending the extra $5 for the audio tour - it was highly informative.

[oldefool.livejournal.com]

I find it hard to believe that we are all the same, underneath the surface. I mean, why should we be the same inside when we're not the same outside?

[dreamhope.livejournal.com]

Our spleens may be different sizes, but no one's going to tell.

The thing is, we make a big deal about how different our outsides are, when they aren't really so different either (compare two humans to, for example, a dolphin, and the two humans, even if they are different shapes, genders and races, don't really look so different from each other).

Take away skin and fat, where so many of our differences live: the muscles, tendons and organs are remarkably alike. Sure, disease and different lifestyles mean that one person's heart is bigger then another's, or one person's spine is curved differently. But, even with those bodies side by side, a lay person would have a hard time seeing the difference.

We are not literally all the same under our skins, but the differences that "matter" are erased.