dreaminghope (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dreaminghope) wrote2006-12-02 11:13 pm
dreaminghope) wrote2006-12-02 11:13 pm
So naked, they don't even have skin
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.
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.
no subject
no subject
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.