“Sometimes, I think I might say too much”: Dark Secrets and the Performance of Inflammatory Bowel Disease^*

Abstract

This study examines the dramaturgical embodiment of chronically ill bodies managing “fecal matters” (Weinberg and Williams 2005) in Inflammatory Bowel Disease ( IBD ) support groups. Data were derived from my reflections as a person with IBD , a year of participant observation, and semi‐structured interviews with support group members. I first uncover the boundaries of the private body (Cahill 2006). Secondly, I focus on the entrenchment of IBD within the stigma of fecal matters. Lastly, I explore the disparate ways that support group members harnessed language to protect their embodied selves from symbolic fecal contamination, from a “soiled self.”