Awareness of Embodied Oppression
“If I am willing to begin undoing oppressive social systems from the ground up, at the level of the body, I must begin interrogating the ways in which I unconsciously and unintentionally reproduce oppressive body–centered patterns through my movement, my posture, my gesture, my use of space, the way I relate to other people. I must be willing to investigate and begin to change those patterns so I am not unwittingly injuring, dismissing and insulting other people.”
—Rae Johnson, PhD (The Embody Lab, n.d.)
Embodied oppression can show up in myriad ways, including but not limited to posture, habits, and limitations in movement repertoire and use of space and the experience of one’s body from the inside including physical pain and other interoceptive cues. How people show up physically impacts how they are perceived; therefore, embodied oppression may further perpetuate oppression.
Health professionals must recognize that oppression is not an abstract politicized concept. Rather, it is a very real, embodied experience. Therefore, health professionals must remain sensitive and curious regarding how both oppression and privilege may play out between bodies in the therapeutic relationship and how embodied oppression may relate to an individual’s healing journey.
Example 1
For example, a health professional might make a request or invitation like "what's it like if you were to sit a little bit taller and straighten your spine?"
While well intentioned to invite an embodied exploration of increased alertness or strength, if they cannot appreciate that the client's habit of slouching forward is in fact rooted in experiences of embodied oppression (such as being racially bullied in elementary school), they lose an important perspective on what such an 'innocuous' invitation might bring forward for a client. The client may not even know their slumping is linked to past racial traumatization.
Example 2
In another example, a health professional who positions themself lower than a client (such as the client on couch and the health professional on floor) might not be aware that for a client with embodied oppression, being situated above someone else may bring up discomfort or it may bring up an experience of autonomy or freedom which, when explored from a lens of embodied oppression, may yield much richer insight and empowerment.
Ultimately, awareness of embodied oppression can help a health professional to assist a client with widening postural and movement and relative body position repertoires that were stifled implicitly through oppressive conditions.
References
The Embody Lab (n.d.). Meet your embodied social justice certificate co-director – Dr Rae Johnson. https://www.theembodylab.com/blog/meet-dr-rae-johnson