IJFAB Blog | Official Blog of IJFAB: the International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics

Russia’s rough beast slouches on….

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Anna GotlibJanuary 9, 2015

I am a native Russian — I was born there, spent a lot of my childhood there, began my schooling there. I speak the language. I know the culture. And right now, I am at a loss, somewhere between disgusted, mortified, and devastated. I no longer have a sense of where the country is going, what sort of vision it has for itself, or where it will end up. Perhaps it is just the obscenity that is Putin’s near-totalitarian government. Perhaps it is the, yes, often xenophobic, racist, and hetero-normative turn of my countrymen and women. Perhaps it is some of both. But, given the horrors in France and elsewhere, this story was buried — and it should not be. There is much that has been said about Russia’s economic and political failure — indeed, I think that it is fairly safe to call it a failed state. But more needs to be said about its social and moral implosion. Much more. Because I want to begin this conversation via this story, I am posting it here so that it sees the light of day. Because right now I am too profoundly frightened and despairing for my place of birth to offer any deeper analyses, I will simply leave you with the story itself. And, of course, I look forward to any responses and insights from the readers.

Russia has listed transsexual and transgender people among those who will no longer qualify for driving licences.

Fetishism, exhibitionism and voyeurism are also included as “mental disorders” now barring people from driving.

The government says it is tightening medical controls for drivers because Russia has too many road accidents.
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“Pathological” gambling and compulsive stealing are also on the list. Russian psychiatrists and human rights lawyers have condemned the move.

The announcement follows international complaints about Russian harassment of gay-rights activists.

In 2013 Russia made “promoting non-traditional lifestyles” illegal.

“Is the NHS failing women with autism?”

Posted on January 7, 2015 by Patrick J. WelshJanuary 7, 2015

From The Guardian:

Autism, characterised in the past as a result of an “extreme male brain”, is far more prevalent in women than previously thought but is still often untreated because the stereotype focuses on male behaviour; women, it is commonly believed, mask their symptoms by learning to imitate the behaviour of non-autistic people. If the test fails, a man is overnight viagra devensec.com advised to consume only one dose of Kamagra Oral Jelly in your married life, you are sure to touch the bliss giving your marriage a new meaning. Natural admiration supplements for women accommodate abounding herbs online order viagra like those mentioned above. For instance, before utilizing these pills a patient ought to be concurred with your health awareness consultant or spe tadalafil cialis indiat responsible for the case. Shrimp is one of the best foods to increase sperm count include dark chocolate, purchase cialis online eggs, oysters, spinach, bananas, asparagus, garlic, goji berries, carrots, pumpkin seeds and walnuts. But without a diagnosis, experts say, their difficulties with social interaction and attachment to routine are misunderstood at school and then work, leaving them at increased risk of mental health problems including depression, eating disorders and self harm. Often naive and fearful of displeasing people, autistic women are also vulnerable to abuse.

Find the full story here.

On Leelah Alcorn and Neat Narratives

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Jackie Leach ScullyJanuary 6, 2015

Over the last week or so, the blogosphere has seen a lot of comment about the tragic (and it is tragic) story of Leelah Alcorn. According to most of the Internet versions, this is a story of a child born as a boy and named Josh, who felt that her identity was as a girl, called Leelah. As a result of the pressures she found herself under through not having her gender identity acknowledged, and especially as a result of her religiously conservative family’s denial of that gender identity, she felt impelled to take her own life. Earlier this month, she stepped out in front of a vehicle on Interstate 71 in Ohio. She left a note, explaining “Please don’t be sad, it’s for the better. The life I would’ve lived isn’t worth living in … because I’m transgender.”

I want to say, very clearly, that in progressive, twenty-first century societies we should really have no issue with the fact (and it is a fact) that people can come in diverse gender packages, not all of which conform to their biological appearance or how some of us might like them to be. As a society we should be developing a level of sensitivity and empirically grounded matter-of-factness towards the complexities of gender identity, sexuality and sexual orientation, and the knowledge that those things don’t always align neatly in the way our societies traditionally expect. As bioethicists, I think we need to be equally sensitive and empirically alert, and moreover we have a professional duty to highlight instances where we spot that social practices and policy are falling short of this not unreasonable goal.

What has bothered me about this and similar stories, especially as they circulate around the internet, is that this level of – well, tolerance and awareness, often seems to be applied only to some aspects and not others. This is especially troublesome when, as is usually the case with stories that go viral through social media, we know a tiny fraction of the truth, and so much of the debate rides on selected facets of it.

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“Femicide and Impunity: A humanitarian crisis in Central America, and a growing problem worldwide”

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshDecember 16, 2014

This is a reposting of an article from La Via Campensina: International Peasant’s Movement. Please visit their website for more information.

El Salvador has had the highest rate of femicide in the world, with 2, 250 femicides between 2010 and 2013. Guatemala has the third and Honduras the seventh highest rate of femicides. In Guatemala, only 2% of murdered women’s cases were investigated in 2013 and likewise in Honduras less than 2% were investigated. For cases that somehow make it to court in Guatemala, 90% of defendants are not convicted. It is much the same in El Salvador. In 2014 alone, between January and October, over 300 bodies of young women between the ages of 12 and 18 years old have been found in unmarked common graves.

Femicide is the violent and deliberate murder of a woman, and is a crime, but many national governments do not specifically define such murders as a crime in their criminal codes. Thus, femicide is difficult to prosecute through the justice system of many states. Stories of thousands of women and girls who have been murdered and then discarded like rubbish in alleyways, city streets and dumpsters continue to make headlines. The victims of femicide often show signs of torture, rape, or breast and genital mutilation and dismembered body parts.

Continue reading →

Medication and Aging

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Monique LanoixDecember 13, 2014

There have been recent reports on the over-medicalization of older individuals in nursing homes and assisted living residences. This problem is not a new one.

Just imagine: you are overworked and there is not enough staff to take care of everyone. There is a resident that wanders all over the place and you cannot keep an eye on him. Or, there is a woman that keeps repeating the same half sentence every 20 seconds of so. Visitors might find it amusing but hearing this in the course of several hours, every day, non-stop, is driving you crazy. Here is another scenario: you are somewhat trained in elder care but do not have the tools or the time to deal with a troublesome resident who may get violent. The man in room 24 keeps yelling and swearing; you need to calm him down because the family of another resident is complaining. They say they pay good money and they do not like to hear swearing. How do you stop Mister B from spitting on you or stealing his neighbor’s cookies? How do you control unwanted behavior? How do you cope?

Drugs that can control behavior such as antipsychotic medications seem like a good answer to all your problems. Although it is the ancillary care staff that deal with these front line issues, it is the physician who prescribes. But you might just be thankful that he or she does that so that you can go ahead with your job of cleaning messes and bringing food. You get the job done, and everyone seems more or less controlled at the end of your shift; your supervisor is pleased. More than likely there were many under you care so you did not have much time to ponder the mental state of your charges. You can go home and be happy that at least everyone who was under your care got washed and fed in a timely manner. Even if the pay is bad, you know that you can keep your job at least for the immediate future.

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“Encyclopedia Frown: Wikipedia is amazing. But it’s become a rancorous, sexist, elitist, stupidly bureaucratic mess.”

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshDecember 12, 2014

Okay, so no surprise that “beneath its reasonably serene surface, the website can be as ugly and bitter as 4chan and as mind-numbingly bureaucratic as a Kafka story.” And perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised that only 10% of its editors are women, but, never having though about it, I was.

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“Encyclopedia Frown: Wikipedia is amazing. But it’s become a rancorous, sexist, elitist, stupidly bureaucratic mess.”

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshDecember 12, 2014

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U.K. Court Says Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Isn’t a Crime

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshDecember 11, 2014

Read about it at The Daily Beast, featuring commentary from Eva Kittay:

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“FDA Panel Endorses Lifetime Ban on Gay Blood Donation, Suggests Gay Men Are Diseased Liars”

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshDecember 12, 2014

I was shocked when I recently learned about the existence of such a ban. As to doubling down on it now, the title of this Slate article pretty much says it all. See also these reflections from Chemicals like retabolil, but levitra online straight from the source has greater androgenic activity. The life of addicts becomes hell when alcohol or drugs take levitra viagra price over. Brand name and not just the drug itself have a price. cialis cialis uk By taking the capsules you’ll get all the healthful elements without any of the fat from the free sample of viagra original Acai berry. Daniel Susser at The Second Shift about the weirdness (okay: total homophobic irrationality) of the original proposal to scale back to ban only those who have had gay sex in the past year.

UPDATE: More thoughts from Susser.

“Best Way for Professors to Get Good Student Evaluations? Be Male.”

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshDecember 9, 2014

Students gave professors they thought were male [in online courses where gender identity was altered without students’ knowledge] much higher evaluations across the board than they did professors they thought were female, regardless of what gender the professors actually were. When they told students they were men, both the male and female professors got a bump in ratings. When they told the students they were women, they took a hit in ratings. The risks for levitra prices canada the onset of postpartum depression and anxiety was present in women who have not conceived or nursing. The Magento eCommerce platform is sufficiently scalable, flexible and canadian viagra 100mg ready for your increasing online business targets. The cheap price of the order cheap cialis converted this stand like cialis and many people who require this medicine daily. Natural Treatments For Relief of Inflammation And Depression Symptoms For decades, buy levitra canada NSAIDs have been broadly recommended for various aspects of flu-like symptoms or sickness-related behaviors. Because everything else was the same about them, this difference has to be the result of gender bias.

A small study, as they note. Still: hiring and promotion committees, take note. Find the story at Slate’s “XXFactor.”

Where can I go? Conscientious Objection, the Catholic Church, and Patient Access to Care

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Alison ReiheldApril 19, 2018

Catholic hospitals control 1 out of every 9 hospital beds in the United States, either through direct administration or mergers with other health care systems; in eight states, they control more than 30% of beds. According to a 2013 article in AJOB Primary Research, Four of the 10 largest hospital systems in the United States are Catholic, and 1 in 6 patients receives care in a Catholic institution. They provide medically necessary care with dedication to doing so at high quality with an ethical commitment to human health. However, that same ethical commitment to human health which comes from Catholic authorities bears specific content about which forms of health care must not be provided. These prohibitions are contained within the Catholic Church’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, sometimes called “the Directive” or “Directives.”

Three pale-skinned, white-haired men in clerical collars—white bands beneath black shirts and suit jackets—gesture while they talk to each other in this close up shot. They are, from left, Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, KY and president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. The picture was taken during the conference’s annual fall meeting in Baltimore on Monday, November 10, 2014. IMAGE CREDIT: AP Photo/Steve Ruark.

In November of 2013, these Directives were recently revised and approved by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and have thus had a mild media resurgence as of late, as have the refusals to provide care which the Directives necessitate.

Such refusals fall within the terrain of medical conscientious objection, and are based on rights of personal conscience. As Lisa Harris has pointed out, such rights of personal conscience can also motivate conscientious provision of services such as abortion, not just conscientious refusal or objection. In discussing Harris’s article with students, they have raised the point that not only abortion providers but also doctors who work for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) or work in underserved areas may well be engaging in conscientious provision of services. Providers working in Catholic health care systems sometimes face deep conflicts with the Directives which govern the health care they are allowed to provide; correspondingly patients struggle to receive that health care in areas where Catholic-controlled systems dominate the local health care market. Such conflicts have only grown as Catholic health care systems have expanded through merger and through acquisition: the resulting health care institutions are all now bound by the Directives.

Continue reading →

“The Rolling Stone Fiasco Is Terrible News for Rape Survivors”

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshDecember 8, 2014

Just in case you have not already heard about this, and are not already completely depressed about the state of world, here’s this account from The Atlantic of Rolling Stone’s retraction of its earlier story detailing the sexual assault of a young woman using the pseudonym “Jackie.”

Maybe there will be a rebuttal of this–quite defensibly, out of respect for the importance and sensitivity of the subject matter–rather tentative and qualified retraction. Still, it just does not read to me, in view of subsequent investigations, as if the story could possibly be even only “98 percent right.” It sounds as though Jackie pretty much just made the whole thing up. And, although the graph The Atlantic presents was lazily copied off of Twitter with no supporting documentation, on the basis of other studies I’ve read or heard reported, I’m inclined to believe it is basically accurate. This is to say that rape is a huge social problem, massively underreported, that is now going to receive even less attention than it does today. So here’s to hoping for that unlikely rebuttal!

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I think that there are some larger complexities at play here. There’s a lot of good research, you know, citing Dr. David Lisak and Dr. Rebecca Campbell that suggest that traumatic memories are stored differently in the brain. And so as a result, they’re brought out by the brain different as well. So through none of this process have I ever disbelieved Jackie. Have I believed that details may change shape over time because of the nature of trauma? Absolutely.

So we may indeed be much too quick to disregard Jackie’s story. Who, after all, would make up such a thing? I would especially welcome comments from anyone familiar with the psychological effects of traumatic experience who could speak to the plausibility of Renda’s explanation and perhaps expand a bit for other readers.