Embodied Knowledge: Refers to how bodies are experienced. The ways people make sense of their experiences, and themselves, cannot be separated from competing and contradictory discourses through which bodies are given meaning. For example, in the context of the uneven gendered social relationships of a public bar, there are normative assumptions about what straight women should do and wear to become “attractive” to men. Hence, because of the possibilities of feeling self-confident, attractive, and feminine, some women may make a deliberate decision to make choices about how they dress. Others may make deliberate decisions to make their bodies less visible to avoid being marked as sexual objects, experiencing inappropriate sexist behaviour and being disrespected. – Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography 5th edition.
Knowledge is not only gathered with the mind, it is gathered through the body. As we move through places and spaces, our bodies are being observed, possibly judged and critiqued (certainly for those who present as women or as non-gendered) and these are experiences that our bodies feel. A holistic understanding of the world includes acknowledgement that we are embodied beings rather than just minds walking around on an empty shell and that on the one hand, we experience our bodies from within, they are the seat of our emotions and senses – all of which contributes to how we gather knowledge from the world. On the other hand, the experiences of/in our body are shaped by the social world around us. Our bodies also influence the experiences of others.