From abortion rights to forced medical examinations: everything revolves around the body

What was once considered a normal body and what was abnormal? And what are the consequences of these perceptions for legislation and medical practices, for example? These are the questions explored by Willemijn Ruberg, professor of Cultural History of the Body. “The body feels eminently personal and individual. But culture and politics also have a major influence on how we see and experience our bodies. By being aware of this, you can see how certain types of bodies are excluded or normalized.”

The modern body: the focus on average and normal

The cultural history of the body examines themes like gender, ‘race’ and ethnicity, sexuality, disability and beauty. The modern body is not simply good enough. “Since the twentieth century, the focus has been mainly on what a ‘normal body’ is and on average measurements. Take for example the body mass index, or BMI,” says Ruberg. “The body also becomes a ‘project’ that you can work on as a person, for example at the gym.”

The human body really became political in the twentieth century, Ruberg explains. “Think of the ‘Black is beautiful ’slogan of the Black civil rights movement. The activism of the fat acceptance movement and disability rights movement from the 1960s and 1970s is also part of this.” These social movements aim to promote inclusion through activism and combat stigmatisation and exclusion of bodies that fall outside ‘the norm’.

Our bodies are at the centre of a battle against the power of cultural norms, the state or the church.

Public debates about physical examination by the police

“I am studying, among other things, the role that the body plays in law, forensic medicine and psychiatry,” says Ruberg. For her research, she analyses nineteenth- and twentieth-century legislation and court cases in various European countries and the discussions surrounding them. 

Think of the right to abortion or physical integrity. “There were, for example, legal and public debates about how far the police could go in examining the body. Examples include the admissibility of blood tests for drunk drivers, vaginal and anal examinations, and cutting hair for DNA testing.”

Ruberg continues: “I also look at protest movements by anarchists, feminists and human rights activists who demand the right to self-determination over your own body.” 

Women as the property of men

The cultural-historical perspective is important because history shows that seemingly neutral terms such as ‘body’ and ‘sexual violence’ conceal hidden cultural assumptions about gender, Ruberg explains. “The fact that marital rape has only been a criminal offence in many countries since the 1980s and 1990s, exposes the persistent idea that a woman is her husband's property within marriage.” 

 “That was one of the reasons why the male suspects in the recent French sexual assault case of Gisèle Pelicot believed that her husband’s consent was sufficient to do whatever they wanted with her unconscious body.”

Class differences affect how people are treated physically

Ruberg observes that class differences are also linked to gender in how the body is perceived, as evidenced by how nineteenth-century prostitutes were physically examined. “Why did they have to undergo vaginal examinations without consent at that time? The reason is that only their bodies were seen as spreading sexually transmitted diseases, not their male clients’ bodies. The right to physical integrity did not apply to sex workers from the lower classes.”

“By looking at this kind of inequality from the perspective of the cultural history of the body, we learn about the issues surrounding our bodies. This goes beyond beauty ideals and appearances. Politics and systems of exclusion also play a role,” explains Ruberg. “Our bodies are at the centre of a battle. A battle against the power of cultural norms, the state or the church and for self-determination and physical autonomy. Cultural history can help us unveil this struggle.”