Body Practice Blog Post #1

 I proceeded with the body practice of wearing dresses with the clarification. The feel-good vibes from the first week is partially gone. In wearing skirts or dresses, I feel increasingly inconvenient. I am always conscious about keeping my thighs together to avoid a “wardrobe malfunction” and unwanted peeking at my private parts. In addition, dresses are not as comfortable as I thought they would be. Over the two week period, I felt chafing over my thighs, and I have to significantly slow down my walking speed which is very inconvenient for a person who has a large stride. I began to have some questions in mind, such as how could people equate gracefulness with slow and steadiness? I just don’t have that much time to be pretty with more important tasks in mind! If we put this scenario into context, I think certain gender stereotypes can deprive bodily freedom of woman (and men of course). People should not be expected to behave in certain ways to befit a type of gendered aesthetic...

In this body practice exercise, I have decided to wear dresses or skirts for a 5 day working week whilst going out instead of my usual go-to option -- pants.  The reason why I am choosing this as my body practice is because as a child, although I identify myself as a girl, I also find myself often acknowledging and appreciative of masculine or gender neutral embodiment. I can list a few examples such as my preference of pants (often tight ones like jeans) over dresses or skirts. The only dresses or skirts I wore was my uniform dress and other than that I never put on dresses in my leisure setting. I have never wore any jewelleries until after I graduated from high school and rarely do I put on make up, less than ten times now in my life. I often find that people wearing suits and formal dressing more attractive than extravagant dresses like ballgowns or jumpsuits. If dresses are seen as feminine, I will try to see how it feels differently wearing a skirt/ dress than pants on a dail...

I would say the eating culture in Hong Kong is predominantly omnivorous, most people consume both vegetables and meat, making them the unmarked category of the society and vegan and vegetarians the marked category. When I told my parents that I am trying out this vegan/ vegetarian diet for a week, they were shocked and worried that I will not get enough nutrition for my body. I feel uncomfortable with the way that people react to my short term practice as there is nothing wrong with promoting a vegetable based diet.   I realized that in Hong Kong, it is a lot harder to practice this diet than I thought it would be as most restaurants do not offer a menu specially for vegans. More than often, I have to research which restaurants near me offer meatless options to avoid upsetting waiters for giving them false hope that I will eat in their restaurant when I “can’t”. I realized how inconvenient vegan eaters may feel having to always prepare or look for what they can eat and what the...