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

Uniting Women Across the Globe to Love their Bodies

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 16, 2014

Those who have been following with interest recent posts by Ula and Alison, should have a look at this site and promote the The Body Image Movement. If you can afford to, chip in and help out with the documentary! The five minute clip is worth a view.

My name is Taryn Brumfitt! 12 months ago I posted my non traditional “before and after” photo and the world’s media stood up and took notice. People everywhere were astonished – how could a woman possibly love her body ‘after’?

Symptoms like bloating, fullness, upper abdominal pain, nausea and diarrhea Flu-like symptoms Low blood pressure However, these side effects usually subside within cialis samples free few hours. Whiplash can discount levitra rx have long-term effects on your spinal health. Therefore, one must take proper care about their health and at the buy female viagra correct time. It can take cialis generic pharmacy a better effect on curing hydrosalpinx. Many applauded me for my bravery in posting the ‘after’ shot however, many berated me for promoting obesity. There were others who labelled me a bad role model for my children.

Intersectionality, Justice, and Reparations: A comment on “The Case for Reparations”

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Anna GotlibJune 15, 2014

When I was asked to comment on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Case for Reparations,” published in The Atlantic, I had three simultaneous thoughts: 1. why address the specific issues of reparations in a feminist bioethics blog? 2. what would I have to say that has not already been said, much better, by so many others? and 3. oh $%#@! I will now attempt to offer responses to the first two (allowing the third one just to sit there, enigmatically).

In my own work, my own research and teaching, I am often struck by the centrality and significance of the intersectionality of the systems of oppressions, of power differentials, of discrimination, whether in health care, in education, within the law, and so on. Most times, I am both moved and horrified by how various axes of identity, such as race, gender, religion, class, ability, etc., interact and contribute to systematic inequality, injustice, disempowerment, and suffering of not only individuals, but entire classes of people — in some cases, impacting numerous generations. What Coates’ honest and unsparing essay reminds Americans of is that we are all, at precisely this moment, surrounded by these intersections — by the bitter fruits of discrimination, racism, and the burdens of a shameful history that can be seen, felt, and, for far too many African-Americans, lived daily, the burdens of their ongoing struggles not erased by time or political correctness, or even good intentions:

All of our solutions to the great problems of health care, education, housing, and economic inequality are troubled by what must go unspoken. “The reason black people are so far behind now is not because of now,” Clyde Ross told me. “It’s because of then” (Coates 2014).

So, yes, a feminist bioethics blog is a perfect place to address reparations if we are serious about our intersectional approaches to justice, fairness, and the burdens of multiple oppressions.

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“See How She Runs: Feminists Rethink Fitness”

Posted on June 13, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 13, 2014

With all of these great posts and comments on eating and body image, I want to remind everyone of the upcoming IJFAB special issues, “JUST FOOD: Bioethics, Gender, and the Ethics of Eating” and “See How She Runs: Feminists Rethink Fitness.” You can find the full CPFs here. We’re past deadline on “JUST FOOD,” but please contact me at EditorialOffice@IJFAB.org if you have something you might be able to send soon. The deadline for the latter is April 1, 2015. It will be guest edited by Samantha Brennan and Tracy Isaacs. I quote in part from the CFP:

Fitness is a neglected concept in bioethics but fitness is of key importance to women’s health and well-being. Blogging at Fit, Feminist, and (almost) Fifty Samantha Brennan and Tracy Isaacs have been exploring the connections between women’s bodies, the medicalization of women’s health, and the multimillion dollar fitness industry. Until recently the focus of feminist criticism was on diet and weight loss, while ‘fitness’ was thought to be benign. More recently feminists have been engaging with the rhetoric of fitness as well. Some of the issues discussed show that there are significant impediments to women’s flourishing associated with fitness talk: fat shaming, body image, the tyranny of dieting, the narrow aesthetic ideal of femininity and how antithetical it is to athleticism, the sexualization of female athletes, women and competition, issues about entitlement, inclusion, and exclusion, the way expectations about achievement are gender variable, the harms of stereotyping. Feminists have begun to interrogate the very assumptions about what constitutes “fitness” in the first place. How is fitness connected to ableism and non-disabled privilege? Sport and fitness provide us with microcosms of more general feminist concerns about power, privilege, entitlement, and socialization.

Do consider submitting a manuscript. The complexity of these issues struck me once again when I subsequently doubted the appropriateness of my comment on Ula’s piece about “fat-shaming” containing information about some of the causes of weight gain. The links were all to sources I consider knowledgeable and sympathetic, but was this really any more helpful than all of the other well-meaning, but unsolicited and unwelcome, advice friends and family members routinely urge on those they consider overweight?

Any disorder like ED that makes a function like sexual act down is a matter to be concerned about if it is felt viagra for women online very frequently. Taking the tablet without prescription cause some side effects.It is the first choice for many patients who want to cure erectile dysfunction in sildenafil for women buy them. The fact that human males have seminal vesicles as part of their reproductive anatomy also http://greyandgrey.com/ime-basics-things-to-know-about-independent-medical-exams-under-the-nys-workers-compensation-law/ cialis price no prescription studies by many scientists. Rogaine Foam (aka viagra for uk Minoxidil) Rogaine is also a highly regarded growth stimulant. Yet I remain conflicted because while, on the one hand, I want everyone to live lives free from shame and harassment, on the other, I also want these to be long and healthy lives, and too much of some kinds of fat actually does have negative health implications–the real-world complexities of which are only further compounded by the completely unrealistic (and generally unhealthy) standards to which contemporary society holds women.

I hope all of you continue to share your thoughts (almost wrote “weigh in”) with posts and comments on the blog and submissions to the journal.

Creating a Trans-Inclusive Feminism

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 22, 2014

IJfABster Tim R. Johnston has a review of Sheila Jeffreys’s new book, Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism. I quote from the conclusion:

We need a trans-inclusive feminism that recognises trans people as who they are, while also recognising that the experience of growing up cisgender can be discussed without disrespecting trans identities, and that it could at times be beneficial to have these discussions restricted to people that share this experience. When we abandon our attachment to either sex or gender identity we can more clearly see the experiences we share and let those experiences form the basis of a coalition.
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Gender Hurts is an ugly and divisive book. Because it lacks compelling arguments and evidence, I feel comfortable ignoring it and denying Jeffreys the attention she desires. Let’s treat the publication of this text not as a time to double-down in our familiar positions, but rather an opportunity to put tired and divisive rhetoric to rest.

Ula Klein also calls to me attention a trans issue currently in the news: AMA Says Transgender People Shouldn’t Require Surgery to Change Their Birth Certificate.

Fat Phobia and Thin Privilege

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Ula KleinJune 11, 2014

“Fat phobia,” “thin privilege,” and “fat-shaming” are phrases that have started to enter mainstream discourses on body image and healthy eating, yet they remain contentious. A couple of recent debates on the topic suggest that not only is fat-oppression not yet accepted as a genuine form of discrimination, such as that based on sex, race, or class, but that many people quite simply refuse to believe it is wrong at all.

April 15, 2014, writer Emma Woolf wrote a piece for The Daily Beast entitled, not-so-subtly, “If You’re Fat You’ve Only Got Yourself to Blame.” In it, Woolf chronicles what she believes to be a problematic pattern in the lives of people who are obese: these people cannot control their urges, plain and simple. The subheading to her article sums it up neatly: “just use your willpower.” Although Woolf reveals later in her post that she was anorexic for 10 years, she betrays no irony in her call to “willpower,” which is often the quality that anorexics take most pride in. Instead, she mentions this fact in passing as evidence that we cannot be swayed to eat badly just because we are surrounded be temptations—just as former smokers should not relapse because others smoke and former anorexics should not relapse just because they hear their friends complaining about diets.

Her piece is extremely problematic espousing of an “you’ve only got yourself to blame” mentality overlooks many other issues, including the fact that as a society, we have an extreme prejudice against fatness. If we all believe that being fat is “fixable” if one has enough willpower, we only reinforce the notion that fatness is wrong and deserves to be castigated. Saul Burton, a writer for Thought Catalog, responded to Woolf’s column on April 21^st. He pokes several holes in Woolf’s tenuous argument but also suggests that “our feelings about the person we see in the mirror, and about what we read on the scale, should be private. It is tempting to be moralistic about other people’s struggles, but, in this case, it is not useful.” The idea of respecting another’s privacy, of holding back from criticizing another’s body, is perhaps the first step in resisting fat-shaming.

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Philosophy’s Climate Problem: A Primer

Posted on June 10, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 10, 2014

To atone for yesterday’s rather frivolous post, I would like today to direct your attention to a piece written by my friend and colleague Daniel Susser, “Philosophy’s Climate Problem: A Primer,” which appeared in the most recent issue of the APA’s “Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy.” As he opens,

Women and minority philosophers are all too often expected to do the work of explaining the climate problem in philosophy to their colleagues and their students, to host workshops and training sessions, write materials for teaching practicums, and so on. That this labor is rarely recognized as labor is, of course, part of the problem. What follows is meant to ease some of that burden. It is a pedagogical tool—a short, readymade primer. It aims to explain to allies and potential allies of women and minority philosophers what the climate problem in philosophy is, why it matters, and what, in very broad but concrete terms, one can do about it. In the final section, I address a common response to discussions about the climate problem in philosophy offered by those who believe that no such problem exists.

You will find his contribution on page 42 of the PDF you can access here. The Newsletter also contains pieces on safe spaces, diversity issues in the profession, and other subjects of interest.

Additional APA Newsletters explicitly address LGBT issues, medicine, and race. They are available freely online and can be found here.

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Turns out when you give your personal Facebook account administrative privileges for a page on feminist bioethics…

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 14, 2014

that you start to get all sorts of unexpected new content in your Newsfeed. A few highlights just from today:

i.) “Miss USA 2014: Stunning Miss Indiana Mekayla Diehl’s “Normal” Body Applauded on Twitter During Swimsuit Competition”

This ties in beautifully with Ula Klein’s post from a few weeks back, “Body Image, BMI, and the Continuing Problem of the Standards of Beauty,” as well as more recent posts by Joy and Alison. But, really Entertainment Online in my Newsfeed? I don’t want to be a snob about it, but my actual “liked” pages are somewhat more high-brow.

ii.) “The Lady-Razor Business Is a Total Racket”
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And, I suppose, why not? I wholeheartedly agree—and would add that the argument extends to men’s razors. Both me and my (female) housemate have found ourselves to be much happier with the traditional double-edged safety razor (Merkur is a good brand) and a shaving brush. You invest a little bit more upfront for the razor, but the replacement blades are less than 50 cents apiece: a better shave, less waste, less toxic creams, and modest long-term savings. Does this advance feminism? Almost certainly not. But corporate marketing scams are another very real social problem, so why not push back?

Can’t wait to see what new gems await me tomorrow.

Special thanks to Brian Leiter for giving a shout-out to the IJFAB Blog!

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 9, 2014

Those of you who work professionally in philosophy are already familiar with the Leiter Reports. For anyone else, please find a link here. It contains, in his own words, “News and views about philosophy, the academic profession, academic freedom, intellectual culture…and a bit of poetry.”

You’ll find new content pretty much every day. Check it out. You’ll also find links there to his separate blogs on Nietzsche and the philosophy of law.
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Special thanks to Brian Leiter for giving a shout-out to the IJFAB Blog!

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 9, 2014

You’ll find new content pretty much every day. Check it out. You’ll also find links there to his separate blogs on Nietzsche and the philosophy of law.
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Abandoned by their Religion? People of Faith Encountering Biomedicine

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 6, 2014

IJFABster Jackie Leach Scully writes the following on the Westminster Faith Debates Blog:

“Faith group members are just as likely as anyone else to suffer from infertility or debilitating genetic conditions, and to seek medical help. For those people whose religious identity is important to them, knowing about the relevant guidance of their own particular faith group will be important. But what happens if they can’t find that information? Or if their own ethical evaluation of what it’s right to do differs from their faith’s official position? The findings from our investigation of these questions may not make very comfortable reading for faith leaders.”
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Eating as Shameful: Food, Gender, Daily Life, and Media Messages

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Alison ReiheldJune 4, 2014

Why do women feel such shame about being seen to indulge, whether or not they are fat? Why do others take such glee in shaming them? Why does this extend even to non-indulgent foods?

I was recently at a social gathering of adults over the age of 25, the vast majority of whom hold PhDs and were academics. At this gathering, a male attendee speaking to a group of about seven people began to mock a pair of fat women he used to encounter who would walk together down the sidewalk briskly and clearly for exercise, and whom he would occasionally see end their walk at a fast food restaurant. He commented about the irony of this, and how much space they took up on the sidewalk which required him to get off the sidewalk to let them pass—as though this would not have been the case with two smaller women walking side by side—and connected this with their eating habits and fatness. Despite gentle pushback from myself and one other woman at the gathering, he doubled down on their rudeness and his shaming of them for eating at the fast food place despite the fact that he had no knowledge of their health other than their body size, no knowledge of what they ordered or ate at the fast food place, and was using them as an object of fun in an “amusing” party story. The raconteur fully expected everyone in his audience to share his attitude. And in many audiences, everyone would have.

This sort of shaming of fat people for eating is common. A “normal” sized man eating a hamburger with juices dripping down his chin and an expression of ecstasy may well be perceived as enjoying his food, but a larger man doing the same thing is likely to be perceived as a glutton.

But it goes far beyond shaming of fat people. Even skinny people, especially women, are often made to feel shame for what they eat. Just consider the standard stock photo of women eating salad joyfully. Or this image of model Barbara Palvin with food near her mouth, presented on a “thinspo” (thinsporation) blog critiquing Palvin for gaining weight (though not enough that her thighs actually touch). The phrase which introduces it is from the blog’s author, and is the way she herself introduced this image.

The same blog also attacks Kate Upton for her curvy figure. For those who don’t follow such things, Upton was Sports Illustrated’s 2012 Swimsuit Issue Covergirl. On a page called “Kate Upton is Well-Marbled”, Upton is routinely called a “cow” and the author bemoans what the fashion industry is coming to when Upton is representing the profession:

Look, I’ll admit – I love In’n’Out as much as the next gurl, but it’s not supposed to be an everyday thing, Kate! And we can be sure that Kate is the rare model who poses with food – and then actually devours it.

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A straight, male feminist wants to know…

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Patrick J. WelshJune 4, 2014

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