Bodily Shame

This chapter differs considerably from the previous ones. It consists of a critical analysis of a book dedicated to the subject-matter of the chapter—Luna Dolezal’s The Body and Shame. Second, the chapter begins a transition from phenomenological description to greater interpretation that helps form a bridge to Part Two of the book (Chaps. 7 and 8 ). This chapter also uses associative language in discussing “my body,” but which does not describe an associative relationship. Bodily shame presents itself in phenomena such as visible disfigurement, body shape and size, and powerlessness. The meaning and value judgments inherent in bodily shame are also discussed, as for instance in reference to the phenomena of disgust and the aging body. These phenomena call our attention to the crucial distinction between the body as object and the lived body. The chapter concludes with a lengthy critical analysis of Luna Dolezal’s The Body and Shame. Central to that critique are her criticisms of Jean-Paul Sartre’s account of shame.