Performing Bodies: The Construction of the Unconstructed in Gunter von Hagens’ Body Worlds

Authors

Elizabethada Wright, University of Minnesota DuluthFollow
Mary Fitzgerald, unaffiliatedFollow

Abstract

This article argues Gunther von Hagens’ “Body Worlds” exhibit is not what it purports to be, genuine bodies presented without interpretation that allow observers to better understand and marvel at the human body. Instead, the exhibit is very much an interpretation, performing a fantasy of the social ideal that male is the norm and female exists for its sexual and reproductive purposes.

Recommended Citation

Wright, Elizabethada and Fitzgerald, Mary (2017) "Performing Bodies: The Construction of the Unconstructed in Gunter von Hagens’ Body Worlds," Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 12.
Available at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/vol3/iss1/12