Written On The Body

The narrator of ‘Written On The Body’ talks about a physical ‘secret code’ that can be found on someone’s physical being; A code that can describe to someone the person’s life and what they’ve been through. I like to think of this ‘secret code’ as sort of a first impression we get from people. How others dress and present themselves in public gives off an impression of how that person is like. Such as a man who wears leather jackets and big silver rings on his fingers with ripped up jeans and large muscles. We may see this person as a tough guy, someone who’s imposing and someone we may not want to talk to for fear that he may be rude or mean.

One’s own body can write that person’s identity. I believe this to be half true, but we will get to why later. I’ve never understood why people were so worried about their hair or how they dressed in public until a few years ago. But how a person dresses or does their hair call tell a few things about that person. If their hair is a total rats nest and looks like they haven’t taken a shower in a while, we may assume that person doesn’t care about hygiene or may be just too lazy to fret over this kind of stuff. Does that mean they really don’t care about hygiene? No. But we can’t tell specifically why their hair is a mess, we can only assume.

And that’s where I get to my opinion of it. Sure, we may be able to tell a few things just based on looking at someone, but humans are such complex individuals that we have to realize what we assume about others based off their looks may not be true. Take the ‘tough guy’ I had explained earlier. If you saw this man on the street, most wouldn’t go and talk to him because he’s quite imposing. But what if HE walked up to you, holding a kitten in his arms asking where the nearest veterinary clinic was? Just because someone dresses one way, doesn’t mean that what we assume is true about them. A body can only tell so much about someone.

In a way, our bodies do write our own identities, because how we dress has a big impact on how others see us. They are writing the impression for that person, and causing that person to think if we may be a friendly individual or maybe someone they don’t want to associate with. This is why most people can be self conscious. If someone wanted to show people that they are an athlete, they might wear jerseys and team sweatshirts. Or if they want to dress professionally to give off a professional look, they may dress in a suit or a skirt.

But people like me really don’t tend to care in our day to day lives what we dress like, because we don’t care how people may view us. I don’t wear a dress because I want my body to write me off as a girl who likes to dress up, I wear one because I just feel like it that day.  And even though my body is writing an identity for me, it doesn’t mean it’s correct. 

So in a way, yes. Our bodies write identities for us. But are most of the assumptions people get from the ‘secret code ‘ true? In my opinion no. Its judging a book by its cover, and nothing more.