MY
LUXURY
Poem by Deborah Cristina de Mello
Images by Sylvana Burns
Dissected
“The hand is not only the hand of a man- it is the hand of society laid on the female subject as a historical and present oppressor. The hand is cold and clinical, but lascivious and carinal nonetheless. There is an interplay between perversity and the scientific “will to knowledge”,
a sort of Heimlich effect in medical examinations where the examiner squeezes a bit too hard than he should. The hand is the physical manifestation of the gaze "touching” the body, turning it into an object. The hand superimposes its presence. The hand is the culmination of the exertion of power through the eye, camera, gaze and power.”
This body doesn’t belong to my parents
that pay my bills
This body doesn’t belong to my ex-boyfriends
who always had opinions about it
This body doesn’t belong to the church
that wants to decide what I can or cannot do
This body doesn’t belong to the government
that makes laws about it
This body doesn’t belong to men on the streets
that rape me with their eyes
This body doesn’t belong to my friends
that call me fat
This body doesn’t belong to fashion
that is always telling me how I should look
I am no longer fitting my body to clothes
that don’t fit me
I’m taking ownership of this body
This body belongs to me
This body is mine
And this is my new luxury



