20 June 2019
Today we got to go to the Body Worlds Happiness Project! This is an incredible museum that has displays ranging from bones to brains to full bodies. The displays in the museum come from real people who were willing to donate their bodies to this museum to allow us to learn from. The bodies and parts are preserved through the process of plastination and are well kept-and surprisingly don’t smell too bad!
This specific Body Worlds exhibit focuses on happiness through their “happiness project.” There were various quotes around the exhibit-my personal favorite being, “don’t compare your insides with other people’s outsides.” I think this not only emphasized the importance of embracing and focusing on our great qualities and less on our appearance, but it also relates to the main idea of Body Worlds-that on the inside we are all the same. We all generally have the same bone structure, muscles, and fibers-regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexuality. This is something that is so important to remember and something we have really focused on this trip.
When viewing these bodies we knew nothing about the people or their backgrounds. We were enjoying the displays for what they were-incredibly beautiful displays of works that is the human body. So often we take for granted our bodies, so my challenge to you all is to continue exploring human sexuality and health in this class and beyond, and to remember of how lucky we are to all be so healthy and unique and to continue to embrace this!
- Yoko Petty
Public Health Abroad! 