ABNORMALITY: CREATION AND CURE Anchal Jain ABSTRACT: This paper tries to look at the normative body image, how it is constructed and goes on to become the norm. Further, it tries to elucidate how the ‘abnormal’ is constructed in opposition to it. The paper attempts to not only look at the construction of the abnormal but to explore the transition of the deviant or the anomalous to the abnormal and finally to becoming pathological. What are the contributions of the individual as well of science in the conversion of the anomalous to the pathological? The last part of the paper tries to examine, very briefly, the ‘cure’ locating it in various socio-political and economic power structures. Somewhere, on the edge of consciousness, there is what I call a mythical norm, which each one of us within our hearts knows “that is not me.” -Audre Lorde Body forms an integral part of an individual identity. They are not just mere biological systems but the site where an individual recognizes the self in the physical world as part of a group or community. Throughout centuries there have been many practices which mark the body as belonging to either some community or some group. Practices like circumcision or tattooing as a mark of a tribe are examples of making the body personal and at the same time making it belong to the group, a marker of an identity. Even the body types themselves are a marker of cultural identities. Thus even though the society of an individual might not make or produce bodies they influence, shape and misshape bodies [Freund, McGuire: 1991, 3]. Therefore it would not be wrong to state that every society then has certain levels of shared ideas about the body, which then affect the individual’s perceptions of it. These combined perceptions of identity or community can over time be considered the natural form of being. It is this naturalization which can eventually lead to setting up a norm for the entire social group. But no society is homogeneous. Thus by implication one can understand that once there is a characteristic which is seen as the norm, there are bound to be deviations. These deviations are then understood to be abnormal and negative connotations of being unnatural and undesirable are attached to it. This can be understood with the help of an example. With the advent of the phenomena of colonization and imperialism the advent of the idea that certain cultures are superior to others has taken place. In this age of easy access and increased connectivity this idea is now circulating even more. The images that are being circulated are that of the ‘western’ body