at the intersections

I built my home in the art and science of nourishing bodies because every system is enacted by bodies and every system is enacted on bodies.

Every system of oppression exists because humans built it to be so. Every system of oppression results in harm done to bodies in exchange for power grabbed by other bodies – from the most intimate rift in a single relationship to the political control of bodily autonomy. 

And since none of these systems exist in a vacuum on their own, together they become a deeply webbed complex system – intersecting and fractaling into what bell hooks names the white supremacist [ableist] capitalist heteropatriarchy.

What fascinates me is that every human at every intersection has their own experience of that identity. Each body contains its own map of the imprints of those systems – and so each body’s nourishment becomes a critical point of inflection, a moment of emergence and possibility.

Lately, I’ve been exploring my own intersections – how disability and femmeness are inherently intertwined in my life through chronic illness and sexuality, how ableism and misogyny have sought to teach me their lessons simultaneously, how the racism I’ve experienced came primarily at the hands of white women acting in pursuit of patriarchy and power.

I find that my medicine in this – my daily practices – includes embodiment rituals, somatic recovery, and a deep wealth of relational meaning. I cannot do the work of world building, system shifting, and policy writing without tending to the body first – mine, and those around me.

How do you find your intersections? Sometimes I name my identities, the words I use to describe myself. Occasionally, I remember the words that others have called me. These days, I try to list my privileges more often than my oppressions – an early practice of humility and of learning to steward power well. Is this a belief that ableism has taught me, a value that capitalism holds to be true?

Start by naming yours. What are the words to describe yourself? What are the words others have used? What are the values that are yours, and what are the beliefs that have been embedded within you?