Introduction

For my Introduction to Anthropology course, we were asked to pick a cultural encounter. For mine, I have chosen to become more knowledgeable of body modifications of women in different cultures. I want to find out what it means to modify one’s body. All women participate in some form of body modification, whether they are aware of it or not. To make the decision to modify one’s body can say a lot about you and the relationship you have with your body; I do not mean that if you modify your body you do not respect it, in fact, you might really appreciate your body and that is why you want to enhance it. Even though it may seem that women make the choice themselves to modify their bodies, in different cultures I have begun to wonder if it is sometimes a form of symbolic violence. Symbolic violence is where the dominant culture imposes its views upon the minority culture. In some cases, women seem to modify their bodies because it is seen as a form of beauty and this form of beauty will help to attract a partner. Additionally, certain body modifications can also give status. Throughout this blog, I want to gain a better understanding of what it means to modify one’s body and what significance is implied when the modification either happens or not.