The body is a kind of physical material that also exists in imaginary and metaphorical realms. It is both far and close, a unit and multiple; the closest social self. A self that can be the ground for other discourses or a battlefield for fighting against them. It might even be possible to consider the body as a producer or teacher of political ideology. What is the real carrier of political knowledge is thus a mediator between thought and action. The body has the ability of overturning and replacing that which is most dominant, capable to challenge the deepest socio-political structures and a critical factor in social change.

One way to best affirm political and social control is to take hold of the peoples’ bodies. In this way, power aims at body as a whole and exploits it in order to attain its objectives. A severe level of manipulation is exercised over female bodies as they are seen as key forms of difference. In such a situation, questions around equal access to one’s political body and the public sphere create a specific conflict between power and women. Within power, one side of women’s bodies is expressive of a sexual discourse while the other acts as an ideological mouthpiece. Female bodies are the most central point of struggle against various forms of power and act with a strong voice, particularly through social movements in countries steeped in religion and patriarchy. This body may even stand against the dominant definitions of womanhood, presenting itself as the free agent. Power – through the manipulation of the body and divestment of the person in the face of authority (the loss of personal rights) – exercises social control with extreme categorization, defying law and profiling each citizen as an offender. Therefore, what power exercises is far broader than the torturing of the feminine body. Its aim is the extinction of whatever is considered the self.