If ever I were to tell a student that I wished they had a larger chest, plumper butt, or more attractive proportions, I would immediately be met outside Barton Hall by an angry mob with pitchforks. So why, I ask, do you think it’s okay to wish that my curves were bigger, wider, or more “evenly distributed?”
You refer to me by scientific measures as if I am some sort of zoo animal or rare mineral, describing my features with such terms as “bell curve” or “linear distribution.” But the truth is, I am just like you, with hopes, dreams, desires, wants, and needs–even if the powers that be have subjected me to a life bound to 8.5 x 11 printer paper only seen twice a semester.
Since you never cared to ask, I’ll just tell you anyway: I am a Virgo sun, Aquarius moon, and Sagittarius rising; I enjoy deep philosophical debate, crossword puzzles, and the early works of Jackson Pollock; my favorite color is vermillion and someday, I hope to be a neurosurgeon and use my expertise to cure rare genetic conditions prevalent among disadvantaged children in the Global South–but you wouldn’t know any of that about me, would you?
I am not my curves. I am my glowing sense of humor, quick wit, and green thumb. I am the sun in the sky and the moon in the night, the grass that grows from the ground, and the rain that falls from the sky. I am me.
Although I am presently unable to speak, move, weep, dance, or play rock, paper, scissors, I too, have dreams for my future. I am more than just a “curve.” Perhaps one day, I will also be a chest, butt, and genitals too.
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