Personal Statements
"What Does Privacy Feel Like?"
A short video in response to the Hannah Arendt Center conference "Why Privacy Matters: What
Do We Lose When We Lose Our Privacy?"
AVA LINDENMAIER:
It was my intention to create a film that conveys the topic of privacy in a language we all speak:
that of metaphor and sensation. Each participant was asked the same question: "What does
privacy feel like?" It's surprisingly difficult to answer. Privacy is associated with many feelings,
ranging from the joy of solitude to the anguish of isolation. The responses we recorded were
diverse, but many gravitated towards similar conclusions: the feeling of privacy is intrinsically
associated with the feelings of safety, home, and freedom.
The question is intended to inspire thinking and a heightened personal awareness to why privacy
is so vital for us to cherish and protect. Asking ourselves questions about our sensations and
striving to articulate these feelings is a practice in emotional literacy that seeks to allow us to
mutually recognize and share in our common experiences. A community well-versed in
questioning, articulating, and (hopefully) respecting the necessity of feelings associated with
privacy might be more inclined to act in order to defend them.
ZELDA BAS:
Privacy feels like the inside of a velvet lined jewelry box. Privacy feels like coming home after a
long trip. Privacy feels like the place held by an avocado pit. Privacy feels like a sparrow’s nest.
Privacy feels like holding hands in the darkness of a movie theater. Privacy feels like family
traditions. Privacy feels like Erik Satie’s Gymnopedies played early in the morning. Privacy feels
like swimming under water. Privacy feels like a memory brought back by a certain smell.
Privacy feels like safety. Privacy feels like being with someone and not having to speak. Privacy
feels like having the right to not answer this question.
Etymologically, to feel comes from the Middle English verb felen, “to perceive by touch, by
palpation”. The phrase quickly came to mean the perception of events within the body. By
asking what privacy feels like, I was curious to witness people’s articulation of privacy as a
sensation. I was not interested in theories or responses to what was said by privacy specialists
during the conference; I was seeking a very private answer. When asked about one’s feelings, a
person is brought to reflect on something they experience at their core, and I believe this is the
place to start in order to truly answer the question: why does privacy matter?