If talk of blood and guts makes you squeamish, don’t read further

When I was 12 or 13, I climbed to the top of a water slide with my mom, got scared shitless, and walked all the way back down rather than go on the slide. That’s how I felt while waiting in the 1.5 hour line to get into the Bodies Revealed exhibit. I kept trying to talk friends out of it. Yes, I was bothered by the possible origins of these bodies, but I was also scared that I’d vomit, cry, or pass out. I have a pretty strong stomach normally. Tarantino blood bath films don’t faze me. But I was worried.

    Things I Learned Today
  • the human brain is much smaller than I thought it was
  • tumors and cancerous growths also do not look at all like i had imagined. these things that look minor can kill. hence, should not judge on appearances.
  • some people see fetuses and think they look like aliens. i thought they looked like cute, delicate babies.
  • the uterus is tiny. how can such a small thing cause so much anguish? How can it expand as much as it does?
  • everything is small. i thought the organs had space filled with something like goo… (shut up, i know what my bio grade was in college. don’t remind me) but no, everything is smooshed in there. I thought the lungs were a few inches lower than they are…didn’t realize they were basically right up against the heart.
  • the bronchial tree is really pretty. it seems strange to call an internal body part pretty, but in comparison to most of the other stuff in there, it is.
  • bones are not as wide as i thought they were, especially the leg bones.
  • i learned much more respect for doctors. everything is much more delicate than i envisioned it as. that they are able to save as many people’s lives as they do is amazing. in fact, i’m sort of surprised that as a species we’ve lasted this long.

    Most of the exhibit was thankfully not like a freakshow. There were a few bodies posed as if they were engaged in different activities, like shooting an arrow or holding a book. That was something I did not enjoy. I felt like I missed the point of these. Something else bothered me too. I listened to others there, and heard several people refer to the dead as “it,” even when most were clearly male. I wanted to see signs giving names and ages of these dead models, but found none. I wasn’t really expecting that sort of respect to be extended.

    I overheard a kid about 10 or 11 ask his parents if these were people who were killed. The dad corrected him that “they donated their bodies to science.” Well, the exhibit website claims something like that. The site does not provide detailed info, however, as to how any new donors might sign on. It’s also curious, as some pointed out, that all of the bodies appeared to be Asian, and mostly men. Is there such a cultural difference that Asian men might be more inclined than any other race to donate their bodies? It all seems sketchy to me.

    I was surprised to see that so many parents brought their children to see this. None of the kids appeared to be having any problem with being in a room full of hearts and skeletons.

    There is a room with fetus remains. This one actually had a warning sign up front, so that people who were not into seeing dead babies could take a different route. It’s interesting to me that there are people who would be fine with all the other diced up human bodies, but have a strong reaction to what we were assured were miscarriages (lest anyone think they were looking at aborted or harvested babies). Seeing a real fetus, though, is different from seeing pictures in a textbook. Before attending the March for Choice in DC a few years back, the group that rented the bus showed us a short film about abortion. It was first thing in the morning, nobody had eaten yet, and we were asked to watch abortions. What was on the film was gross, but it was not anything resembling a human being. The second and third trimester fetus remains that I saw yesterday were clearly human–eyes, nose, mouth, bones, fingers. It did not change my belief that women should have legal access to abortion, but it did strengthen my belief that the Pro-Choice movement needs to be more honest with terminology and description of the controversial matter. At one point, it’s just blobby tissue. At another, it’s a person. If a woman, with that knowledge, is okay choosing to abort, then that is her decision to sit with.

    The exhibit was strange. There was this feeling of parts being divorced from a whole. In high school I dated this nice Jewish boy who had a great family. They included me in all of their celebrations, invited me to dinner every week. He had a much younger sister who from what I understand has grown up into this kick ass feminist. Well, back then, she would say the funniest things without trying to. One time, she ordered a half chicken breast at a restaurant. She then proceeded very loudly to ask about who in the restaurant had the chicken’s other breast on their plate. That’s kind of what this was like. I’d see a hand inside of a case and wonder where the other one was, wonder who it belonged to. Did the brain I was looking at belong to any of the skulls in the room, or was this from an entirely different body?

    I noticed that the full bodies that were on display got the most attention, and yet those seemed to be the least respectful or scientific displays. So, I have mixed feelings about the exhibit. On one hand, I did learn in a few hours what years of science classes couldn’t teach me. On the other, there’s something really disturbing about looking at the male reproductive organs completely detached from the rest of the body.