Barbie Legs and Blade Runners: Examining Matrices of Somanormativity

Daniel Caeton, Ph.D.

University of California, Davis

Graduate Group in Cultural Studies

Barbie Legs and Blade Runners: Examining Matrices of Somanormativity

On January 14, 2008 the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) permanently disabled scores of athletes. With a few deft strokes of the pen the IAAF ruled against Oscar Pistorius, a South African double-amputee sprinter, in his bid to formally compete against able-bodied athletes in events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Through this perlocutionary act the IAAF reified the artificial boundaries that separate being able-bodied from being disabled. Like most athletes with transtibial amputations Pistorius utilizes carbon fiber prostheses to compete in running events; the IAAF, however, considered them to be anomalous devices which conveyed unfair advantage to Pistorius. These same legs have earned Pistorius the moniker of “The Blade Runner” among fans and commentators. This obviously references his prostheses, which are manufactured by the Icelandic firm Össur, but it also surreptitiously recalls the 1982 Ridley Scott feature film of the same name. Blade Runner depicts the menace posed by bioengineered “replicants” who posses strength and agility superior to biological humans and who can “pass” as authentically human.

Like Pistorius, her Össur teammate, Sarah Reinertsen was also affected by the IAAF’s decision. Reinertsen has gained prestige and visibility both as the first female amputee to complete the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in 2005 and as a seventh-place finisher on the American reality television show, The Amazing Race 10. Given her success against able-bodied athletes in these competitions it seemed likely that Reinertsen too would forego the Paralympics for the Olympics. As a triathlete she possesses different legs during different aspects of competition. So, she not only runs on blades, but she also cycles with a Veri-Flex foot and Total Knee 2000. However, unlike Pistorious, Reinertsen also possesses a collection of cosmetically enhanced legs, including one that she refers to as her “Barbie Leg.” Not only does this particular prosthesis have a realistic flesh overlay complete with paintable toenails, but it also converts from flats to 2.5 inch heels with the push of a button. On her website she explains that as a woman it is important to be able to wear heels sometimes in order to be “just like everybody else.”

Taken together Pistorius and Reinertsen serve as important examples of how matrices of somanormativity work to ensure that bodies are sorted into categories of acceptability. The term somanormativity is one that I have derived from the more familiar concept of heteronormativity, which describes the discursive and institutional means for sexing subjects within a system of obligatory heterosexuality. Like heteronormativity, which is both predicated on and constitutive of male/female and heterosexual/homosexual binarisms, somanormativity both generates and is generated from binarisms of able-bodied/disabled and authentic/artificial; both systems insulate fragile systems of normality from the pervasive threat of deviance. The cases of amputee athletes are therefore instructive because they reveal the unexpressed anxieties of able-bodied culture in the face of human subjects whose very existence threatens to expose the artificiality of authenticity.