Feminist theory holds, in part, that women are reduced to their bodies in myriad ways by patriarchal society. Women are defined by their appearance, their sexuality, their ability to give birth, in ways that men simply aren’t. The male body is the normal body, while the female body is alien, Other, and thus an integral part of the woman. Man can transcend his body, but woman cannot.

Earlier this year, I presented a paper at a departmental gathering. The best talk I heard there was on “Embodied Cyberfeminism,” by a Mass Media & Communications doctoral student. She wrote about Donna Haraway’s “cyborg” theory, and discussed gender play online as a way to separate women from their bodies and allow them to be defined as they wish.

In the blogosphere, as plenty of us have noted, we sit behind a screen. I don’t have to identify as Jewish or even as female here. The fact that many of us do speaks to that tendency of our bodies to define us. And once we identify as such out in the blogosphere, certain people seem to get the attention, even though the body is hidden and the writing is the only thing we can see.

I took a course on writing and feminist theory that studied the works of Nancy Mairs, a feminist writer with MS. Mairs wrote about her body in eloquent, beautiful terms, and noted that there is no way for her to separate herself from that body even when it fails her, but that her writing can help her to feel comfortable in that body.

In any case, women of color are doubly defined by their bodies. Nonwhite people are defined by the difference of their body from white people’s. With this definition comes a litany of stereotypes, but the starting place is the appearance of the body. The skin color, the shape of one’s eyes or nose (as I note when I am called out in public as a Jew despite no outward symbols of Judaism on me), as a woman, one’s breasts or ass. The shape and shade of our bodies creates an image of how our minds, our whole persons, must be.

Transgendered people define their own bodies–and despite some “feminists” thinking this is somehow wrong, it is beautiful. But as the title of this film (found through Problem Chylde) says, a black person who is transgendered is still black. (And as Holly points out so well here, just because you’re trans doesn’t mean you are trying to uphold some rigid gender roles.)

A white man may escape being defined by his body because his is the normative body in society. A woman may not, whatever the color of her skin. And people of color may not. And this makes it an issue for all of us. It is an issue when Sean Bell is killed and his killers go free (despite them being police officers), because he is being defined by his body as dangerous and as not valuable enough to care when he is killed.

It is an issue when Rev. Wright is seen as somehow more dangerous, scary, and transgressive than John Hagee, because of the color of his skin.

It is an issue when women are treated poorly because they are larger than what is considered desirable (by who, anyway). Fat phobia is often discussed on feminist blogs.

It is just as much of an issue when these things happen as it is when Hillary Clinton is characterized as a “witch” or when anti-Clinton groups name themselves Citizens United Not Timid, because she is female.

We feminists should not wait, as I said below, until an honest-to-god (and maybe cisgendered, if certain feminsts have their way) woman is hurt by something to speak out, because all of these issues are issues of bias against someone because of their body.

Because of the color of their skin.

The shape of their hips.

The curve of their breasts.

Their bodies.