Comments on: Mia Mingus Interviewed In Make/Shift http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2008/04/18/mia-mingus-interviewed-in-makeshift/ Feminist, anti-racist, pro-fat, plus whatever else we feel like talking about. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:48:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Madeline http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2008/04/18/mia-mingus-interviewed-in-makeshift/#comment-322338 Madeline Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:44:50 +0000 http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2008/04/18/mia-mingus-interviewed-in-makeshift/#comment-322338 Having worn an orthopedic brace for a year when I was thirteen, I can really identify with what Mingus says here. I have scoliosis, and when I asked my doctors what would happen if the condition got worse, all they had to say was about what I would look like. It wasn't until years later that I found out that scoliosis can affect lung volume and damage organs if left untreated. I didn't even realize what effect it could have had on my ability to walk, or that it could result in chronic back pain. All the doctors wanted me to know is that I would look misshapen and ugly and that "everyone would be able to tell" that I had scoliosis if I wasn't treated. It was definitely about "fixing" my appearance so that I would be acceptable, and not about treating a condition. Certainly appearance was important to me too, as a thirteen year old girl (and still is, I admit; I'm glad that I'm not seriously deformed). However, my doctors emphasized my scoliosis as an aesthetic rather than a medical problem. Because of them, I feel self-conscious when I think that somebody might notice that my shoulders aren't straight or that my rib cage sticks out a little more on one side. These are things that other people have never pointed out to me and I don't think I would have even noticed myself if doctors hadn't obsessed over the aesthetic consequences of my scoliosis. Having worn an orthopedic brace for a year when I was thirteen, I can really identify with what Mingus says here. I have scoliosis, and when I asked my doctors what would happen if the condition got worse, all they had to say was about what I would look like. It wasn’t until years later that I found out that scoliosis can affect lung volume and damage organs if left untreated. I didn’t even realize what effect it could have had on my ability to walk, or that it could result in chronic back pain. All the doctors wanted me to know is that I would look misshapen and ugly and that “everyone would be able to tell” that I had scoliosis if I wasn’t treated.

It was definitely about “fixing” my appearance so that I would be acceptable, and not about treating a condition. Certainly appearance was important to me too, as a thirteen year old girl (and still is, I admit; I’m glad that I’m not seriously deformed). However, my doctors emphasized my scoliosis as an aesthetic rather than a medical problem. Because of them, I feel self-conscious when I think that somebody might notice that my shoulders aren’t straight or that my rib cage sticks out a little more on one side. These are things that other people have never pointed out to me and I don’t think I would have even noticed myself if doctors hadn’t obsessed over the aesthetic consequences of my scoliosis.

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