How the way we perceive (our) bodies and practice beauty is shaped by class.

In this talk we will dig into a few bold statements:
We don’t live in a class_less society.
We don’t have class_less bodies.
We practice beauty in a system of power.

The power to define ‘neutral’. Or ‘normal’. And also the power to define who deviates (or is allowed to deviate) from that ‘normal’. Based on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of habitus I will argue that the way we perceive (our) bodies and practice beauty is shaped by class. As much as we might state that our taste is an individual decision - that freedom of individuality already comes with a class bias. Class_ed assumptions are projected on bodies and practices of beauty: The clothes, the shapes, the colors, the nails, the materials.
Classism is omnipresent - and once you learn about it you can’t unsee it.

Tanja Abou is a Social Justice Trainer with over fifteen years of experience in Political Education. Her work is focused on Class(ism), inequality and queerness. Her CV is not a straight line from A to B but a rollercoaster with a degree in Social Work (MA) and Systemic Therapy. Sometimes she uses comics to express herself and in 2011 she published a gender neutral Children's Book.

The lecture series is jointly curated and organised by Prof. Dr. Sandra Noeth (MA SODA/HZT Berlin) and Prof. Dan Belasco Rogers (UdK Studium Generale).