How Digital Omission Shapes Your Body, Identity, and the New Fight for Sensory Sovereignty
You don’t always say it out loud.
But you feel it.
When a camera can’t find your face.
When your skin gets lightened by default.
When your features are softened until they no longer feel like yours.
You’re not imagining that ache.
That’s aesthetic trauma.
It’s what happens when the systems around you—yes, even the so-called smart ones—fail to mirror you back accurately. Over time, this doesn’t just stay on the surface. It settles in your nervous system.
You might call it fatigue.
Or frustration.
Or that quiet, constant tension you carry in your shoulders and jaw.
But what’s really happening is a kind of misrecognition. One that teaches your body to stay alert. To keep performing. To question whether your softness, your color, your complexity are too much—or not enough.
And here’s the part no one tells you:
It doesn’t take overt harm to create harm.
Omission is its own kind of wound.
Why This Matters
Because the algorithm isn’t neutral.
And when it edits you, skips you, or smooths over your realness, it sends a message to your brain and body: “Hide. Adjust. Disappear.”
But that’s not your story.
What Comes Next
This is where sensory sovereignty becomes your quiet rebellion.
It means reclaiming how you are seen—on screen, in your home, in your rituals.
It’s not about filters.
It’s about frequencies—the ones your body recognizes as real, as yours, as safe.
Want to go deeper into this conversation?
🎧 In Episode 2 of The Future of Wellness, I sit down with Dr. Monique Akassi—scholar, Director of First-Year Writing at Howard University, and author of the upcoming AI Unveiled: The Fight for Justice in the Age of Algorithms—to talk about AI bias, aesthetic misrepresentation, and how being erased—bit by bit—impacts more than your image. It rewrites your health. But you don’t have to accept that script.
You get to write a new one.
In your tones.
In your texture.
In your time.
Listen to this episode on Spotify or stream it on your favorite platform, including Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and iHeartRadio.
Then, begin your soft return to self with the Color Archetype™ Quiz.
This blog post was authored by Dr. Stacey Denise (founder, The Neuroaesthetic MD and The Neuroaesthetic Reset™ Program) and published on July 28, 2025.
The corresponding podcast episode—The Future of Wellness, Episode 2—featuring Drs. Stacey Denise and Monique Akassi (Howard University professor and author of AI Unveiled: The Fight for Justice in the Age of Algorithms) was published June 17, 2025, establishing both authors’ priority and thought leadership in the domains of technocolonialism, algorithmic beauty bias, and sensory equity.
This post and episode predate the August 2025 release of Dr. Akassi’s book and documentary, and together serve as a public record of joint scholarly and creative contributions to equity in AI, digital wellness, and visual culture.
© 2025 Dr. Stacey Denise | The Neuroaesthetic MD & SDM Medical PLLC. All rights reserved.
For citation:
Moore, S.D., & Akassi, M. (2025). The Neuroaesthetic MD. When AI Doesn’t See You, Your Body Feels the Omission. SDM Medical PLLC. Published July 28, 2025. https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6127-4194
