Body Sovereignty

Body Sovereignty is the concept that each person has the right to full control of their body. It counteracts the culturally-promoted ideas that someone’s body is anyone else’s business or property. Society seeks to have folks conform to a standard that it prescribes for many kinds of benefit including economic benefit, access to land, status, etc. Body sovereignty must be considered on many levels (such as diet, clothing, sexual activity, beauty concepts, tattoos, piercing) and promotes a positive relationship between the self and the body. It supports complete body autonomy in every regard.

We believe that there is no “right” way to have a body. Our society has created unattainable standards and demands that people to conform to them. Messages of what bodies are “supposed” to look like and what we’re supposed to do with them circulate in every aspect of our lives. This fuels negative body relationships and self-loathing, and normalizes body-shaming and whorephobia, to name just two. We push back against these standards and celebrate the body in all its varieties.

Suggested Readings on Topics of Body Sovereignty

 

Introduction to Body Sovereignty

more body sovereignty readings

 

 

 

 

 

Consent as Body Sovereignty

Resisting Diet Culture and Healthism