[LJ Idol 9: Week 4] This AGAIN?!
Perhaps it is the case that a perfectly straightened back is an unride-able back and that we ought to be all about teaching better posture for social change. Perhaps.
Or perhaps "nobody can ride your back if it's not bent" is another variant on all of that empowerment nonsense that boils down to the idea that "you, and only you, are responsible for 100% of your circumstances 100% of the time, beginning - if not from birth or from that mythical 'age of reason' than certainly from the moment of attainment of legal adulthood in your country."
Consider these things, then:
There are medical conditions that will cause backs to bend - some present from birth and some acquired later on. Perhaps someone has scoliosis, which theoretically can be "fixed" with various treatments, including braces that are cumbersome and surgery that is not without its risks. But perhaps not. Perhaps the bent back has some further underlying cause, and it's something that can be managed rather than "fixed".
There are other medical insufficiencies - for instance, osteoporosis. While some bone loss is likely with aging, particularly in women, there is some evidence to support the idea that malnutrition may aggravate this process. In fact, osteoporosis is a disease that is associated with low weight. The reasons for an insufficient diet may, in turn, be many and complex. Simple poverty is, of course, always a potential factor. Cultural taboos regarding specific foods may play a role (for example, the idea that drinking milk may make a woman sterile or unable to breastfeed). And there is always the risk that someone trying to "get healthier" via weight loss may in fact have accomplished the exact opposite.
Cultural pressures might also lead to a bent back when there is nothing "really wrong" (that is nothing medical that can be diagnosed). I'm a tall woman and I instinctively slump down a bit, so often people don't realize my actual height, how much taller than them I might be, why I'm having a problem finding pants that fit correctly, etc. I'm also aware, as a fan of historical fiction, that the "debutante slouch" was once a fashionable pose, and that someone who was a young lady during that fashion might not have unlearned it when it fell out of favor.
There might also be simple and practical reasons someone needs to bend their back at a certain time - picking up something dropped, harvesting some fruits and vegetables, even being checked for scoliosis. Doesn't make it right for anyone to think that landing on the bent back is a good thing. Or that the shoulders that have been lowered to let a small child climb up for a ride must then be for laying burdens upon un-asked.
And of course, when I talk this way, about considering context and about not considering individual people to have 100% ability to affect their circumstances 100% of the time and about blaming the person jumping on the bent back instead of the person with the bent back, I invite all sorts of accusations that I am saying things I haven't said:
- That I believe nobody ever has any control over their circumstances, and am thus disempowering some particular group of people (generally NOT people of a group that the accuser belongs to);
- That I believe social ills are what they are and that nothing can be done about them;
- That I believe it is wrong to give people the tools they need to keep from being hurt (WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS, but what I do very much believe is the most important tool is the ability to say "HEY STOP HURTING ME!" and have the hurt stopped rather than a bunch of rigmarole about how it's all your fault for being hurt and besides it can't be that bad);
- That I think every instance of back-riding is as harmless as me giving a shoulder ride to my little girl (NOPE NOPE NOPE).
Here's what I am saying:
Whether it is giving full consideration to the social determinants of health before saying unkind things about how individual people manage their health, or [trigger warning] removing the Social License to Operate from the local "Missing Stair" people, or making clear my understanding of why a poor black kid won't make the decisions a rich white guy assumes he would make in those shoes, I will always, always remind people to consider context rather than to assume that some sort of life-skill min/max decisions can be made in a vacuum.
Or perhaps "nobody can ride your back if it's not bent" is another variant on all of that empowerment nonsense that boils down to the idea that "you, and only you, are responsible for 100% of your circumstances 100% of the time, beginning - if not from birth or from that mythical 'age of reason' than certainly from the moment of attainment of legal adulthood in your country."
Consider these things, then:
There are medical conditions that will cause backs to bend - some present from birth and some acquired later on. Perhaps someone has scoliosis, which theoretically can be "fixed" with various treatments, including braces that are cumbersome and surgery that is not without its risks. But perhaps not. Perhaps the bent back has some further underlying cause, and it's something that can be managed rather than "fixed".
There are other medical insufficiencies - for instance, osteoporosis. While some bone loss is likely with aging, particularly in women, there is some evidence to support the idea that malnutrition may aggravate this process. In fact, osteoporosis is a disease that is associated with low weight. The reasons for an insufficient diet may, in turn, be many and complex. Simple poverty is, of course, always a potential factor. Cultural taboos regarding specific foods may play a role (for example, the idea that drinking milk may make a woman sterile or unable to breastfeed). And there is always the risk that someone trying to "get healthier" via weight loss may in fact have accomplished the exact opposite.
Cultural pressures might also lead to a bent back when there is nothing "really wrong" (that is nothing medical that can be diagnosed). I'm a tall woman and I instinctively slump down a bit, so often people don't realize my actual height, how much taller than them I might be, why I'm having a problem finding pants that fit correctly, etc. I'm also aware, as a fan of historical fiction, that the "debutante slouch" was once a fashionable pose, and that someone who was a young lady during that fashion might not have unlearned it when it fell out of favor.
There might also be simple and practical reasons someone needs to bend their back at a certain time - picking up something dropped, harvesting some fruits and vegetables, even being checked for scoliosis. Doesn't make it right for anyone to think that landing on the bent back is a good thing. Or that the shoulders that have been lowered to let a small child climb up for a ride must then be for laying burdens upon un-asked.
And of course, when I talk this way, about considering context and about not considering individual people to have 100% ability to affect their circumstances 100% of the time and about blaming the person jumping on the bent back instead of the person with the bent back, I invite all sorts of accusations that I am saying things I haven't said:
- That I believe nobody ever has any control over their circumstances, and am thus disempowering some particular group of people (generally NOT people of a group that the accuser belongs to);
- That I believe social ills are what they are and that nothing can be done about them;
- That I believe it is wrong to give people the tools they need to keep from being hurt (WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS, but what I do very much believe is the most important tool is the ability to say "HEY STOP HURTING ME!" and have the hurt stopped rather than a bunch of rigmarole about how it's all your fault for being hurt and besides it can't be that bad);
- That I think every instance of back-riding is as harmless as me giving a shoulder ride to my little girl (NOPE NOPE NOPE).
Here's what I am saying:
Whether it is giving full consideration to the social determinants of health before saying unkind things about how individual people manage their health, or [trigger warning] removing the Social License to Operate from the local "Missing Stair" people, or making clear my understanding of why a poor black kid won't make the decisions a rich white guy assumes he would make in those shoes, I will always, always remind people to consider context rather than to assume that some sort of life-skill min/max decisions can be made in a vacuum.