08/04/2023
Commodifying Our Parts- Has it Gotten This Bad?
Madainn math (Good Morning) friends. I usually do not write long posts such as this, but upon reflecting, I felt the need to speak and write on this issue, as I know I am not alone in the anxiety that came from this incident.
I am apart of a few groups on FB for buying/selling/trading crafts and supplies, and yesterday I came across a post of an individual selling their hair. It shocked me. Not because they were selling this, the growing, cutting, and selling of hair has been practiced for millennia. The individual has every right to do with their body as they wish, whether that’s body modification, tattoos, or the cutting of their hair to sell. It wasn’t that the individual decided to sell their hair that shocked me, but the casual commodification of the hair itself that awakened this deep seated anxiety in my chest.
I come from a biased stance on this issue. I have always firmly believed that hair is a spiritual part of our body, especially the hair on our heads. There are multiple cultures that share this view point with my personal convictions. The first time I (myself and not my mother/parents) cut my hair was when my parents were going through a divorce. I was in fourth grade, and settled on a bob. It was quite adorable, and it felt comforting to know I had control over something as simple as my hair, when I could not have that control over my life and world. The second time was when I was in middle school, and feeling the crushing surge of emotions around puberty. The third time I cut my hair was when I moved to New Mexico, and felt the need to start over, as I already was in my social life. The fourth time I cut my hair was during lockdown and covid, I felt so powerless and trapped. Cutting hair is not taboo, it is an act of liberation, and it is often done with deep consideration.
It wasn’t that I was shocked that they wanted to sell their hair. It’s the beginning of August and everywhere is so very hot. I often really enjoyed short hair for the ease of care it was. The person’s hair was well cared for, a good color, very minimal damage. Anyone who has grown their hair out knows the time and care that goes into making it strong and healthy. You have to avoid swimming pools with chlorine. You cannot be a smoker. You cannot use heat tools or blow dryers. You cannot dye it. You have to take care to trim regularly to avoid split ends. You have to eat a good diet. To achieve hair that commands top dollar, it takes five to six years to get even close to the length desired for wigs, extensions, etc. There is a lot of time, effort, and care that goes into this process. Much like wool, which I use fondly, I wasn’t upset by the fact this hair, which had been cared for, was going to be used to create something new. It wasn’t the actual hair that caused this surge of anxiety. It was how casual the offering up of this part of the individual, that took so much time and care and attention to produce, that is what made my stomach flip. All I could think, reading their post, was “has it gotten this bad?”
Spend any amount of time on the internet and you can find an approximation of what each of your organs would go for on the black market. We have quantified the black market value of a human’s parts in total to be approximately $250,000 USD the last time I checked (it could very well be higher today). That is all you are worth. A quarter of a million dollars. I often see jokes, I’ve even made them myself, about selling a kidney or a lung to have a down payment on a house. Why has this act of parting ourself for money become so casual?
It’s the casual offering up, offering parts of ourselves for commodification, that deeply unsettles me. It’s not just the hair. It is everything in our lives. We offer our time to salary-based jobs, showing up in only the part of ourself that has no emotion, only the skill to make someone else a rich man. We offer our time up hour to hour for a wage, smiling as we are berated by a customers’ misplaced anxiety and anger. We commodify so many parts-pieces, fragments of who we truly are deep down inside. Is it any wonder we are sick, angry, anxious, depressed, frustrated and deeply wounded in our psyches as a collective? We are all so deeply wounded we are enacting this casual commodification of ourselves every day, in every minute. It is reinforced on social media, the news, our work place, even our families. We commodify our planet, and all of her pieces too, with no regard for how deep that hurts her, just as it hurts us.
We sell ourselves for a few dollars. We make our ancestors weep. This was never the way for us, and it will never be the way. We are worth more as people than $250,000USD. And our home, our planet is worth more than the 1,000,000,000,000,000’s (trillions) of USD we extract from her.
Your parts are so much more than a number. You as a whole are worth even more.
Stop parting yourself out. Stand whole with me, because we are family, and stronger together.
Thank you very much for reading this post, I know it was quite long, but I hope you gained value and insight from it. ❤️
