“Exploring Transgender Law and Politics” by Catharine A. MacKinnon, Finn Mackay, Mischa Shuman, and Sandra Fredman in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
Today is World Bioethics Day and the global theme is “non-discrimination and non-stigmatization.” The ongoing genocide in Gaza is an extreme example of discrimination and stigmatization, a health crisis, and a global injustice. We’re using today to add to our previous health and news roundups on the crisis in Gaza and issue an invitation for blog readers to contribute their recommendations for essential bioethics reading on the subject, or to author a post of their own for the blog.
As of mid-October 2024, just over a year since the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas, according to reporting by Common Dreams, “Israeli forces have killed or maimed more than 150,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 10,000 people who are missing and feared dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out buildings, according to Gazan and international officials. Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been forcibly displaced, and at least hundreds of thousands of others have been starved or sickened. Thousands more people have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank of Palestine and in Lebanon, where Hezbollah fighters have launched thousands of rockets and other projectiles at Israel, killing and wounding hundreds.”
Writing after the start of the war in Ukraine and prior to the current conflict in Gaza, Henk ten Have suggests in the Hastings Center Report that: “In bioethics, the issue of war has not been treated as a major concern. The field can do more… Bioethics should focus on strategies to prevent war, encouraging the collective action of health professionals.”
In a scoping review in Bioethical Inquiry, Sualeha Shekhani and Aamir Jafarey sought to identify bioethical contributions related to Gaza since October 7, 2023 through March 30, 2024 in the scholarly and grey literature, focusing on top bioethics journals and related blogs as well as a subset of high impact medical journals. Their review, entitled “Amid Explosions in Gaza, The Silence from the Bioethics Community is Deafening,” found “only fifteen articles have been published in bioethics-related publications included in this scoping review related to the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
Just after this review, two essays ran in the “grey” literature in the Hastings Center Bioethics Forumand Bioethics Today and, more recently, on the Journal of Medical Ethics Blog. But as each of these contributions point out, bioethics engagement remains scant. Notably, a PubMed search for “Gaza” from 2023-present shows over 500 relevant publications (see below), though “Gaza” and “Bioethics” yields only 7 results.
What Should Bioethics Do?
Calls for more bioethics engagement with genocide, war, and the crisis in Gaza specifically often also recognize potential constraints on engagement related to relevant expertise, knowledge, and power. Feminist theory offers important contributions for considering the very concepts of knowledge and power: who is recognized as a knower, what knowledge and perspectives are understood as essential, and which are noticed to be missing.
The idea of standpoint and the positionality of scholars are topics in feminist theory and research ethics applicable to discussions of academic production, knowledge, and power. In a BMJ Global Health essay on “health justice in Palestine,” one author discloses as a “competing interest” that they are “Palestinian, lives in Palestine and has friends and family across Palestine including Gaza. He, therefore, has an interest in his people not being subjected to genocide.” Feminist approaches can help evaluate whether this authorial position is a potential “competing interest” as disclosed, or a source of expertise. It can also unpack broader questions of how power and oppression shape the positions that are normalized or seen as neutral and those that are marginalized or seen as subjective.
Specifically focusing on bioethics, exploring how knowledge and power impact health, medicine, and ethics is a matter for feminist approaches to bioethics. So too are questions of which health and humanitarian crises receive media and bioethical attention and which do not. The World Bioethics Day theme of “non-discrimination and non-stigmatization” also calls attention to how discrimination and stigma impact which crises garner international attention, and which remain under reported conflicts.
We would like to hear from you about your interest in attending FAB in 2026. It will be held in Johannesburg prior to IAB as it has in the past. FAB will run 6/7th July and IAB 8-10th July.
To that end we’ve created a short survey, that should only take 3-5mins to complete. If you could please, provide your input, it would be greatly appreciated: https://forms.gle/bCDcVFTnVFdQxkBr9
Did you know that World Bioethics Day was established in 2015? It is celebrated every October 19th. This year’s theme is “Non-Discrimination and Non-Stigmatization” – a topic ripe for, and in many ways reflecting, feminist approaches to bioethics.
(How) are you or your organizations acknowledging the day? Let us know in the comments!
People research trans feminist bioethics who do archival work should check out this great new opportunity, funded by the Mellon Foundation.
From project co-director Hil Malatino: The project, “Widening the Arc of Trans History: Archival Research for Public Storytelling,” will support a cohort of 8-10 scholars over a period of 3 years as they work in trans-related archives and draft articles and first book projects rooted in that work.The cohort will be supported by a team of co-directors (myself, Myrl Beam, and Sam Tenorio) and will receive four fully funded weeks of archival research in trans-related archives, a $1000 stipend for each year of participation, $5000 towards a development editor for a first book project, access to workshops and seminars on archival methods, trans archives, publishing, public storytelling, and non-fiction craft, as well as ongoing support for writing and revision.You can learn more about the project and apply here – https://bit.ly/TransHistoryApplicationThe deadline is January 12, 2025.
On the blog we’ve previously shared a sneak preview of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) plans for the Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB) Affinity Group. The upcoming session features one of the blog co-editors! Now we’re providing a bit more overview of not only the session (as well as how ASBH members who are not going to be in-person this year in St. Louis can join it) but also about the new FAB Affinity Group co-chairs who are leading the group for a three year term 2024-2026 and plans they have in store for group during this time. In lieu of a scholar spotlight this month, we’re feature two scholars and the FAB Affinity Group.
Read on to learn more directly from the co-chairs who wrote this guest post below.
The Co-Chairs Introduce Themselves
As the new co-chairs of ASBH’s Feminist Approaches to Bioethics affinity group, we (Lindsey Grubbs and Devora Shapiro) are excited to preview our session at the 2024 ASBH conference in St. Louis, and to share a bit about our plans for the next three years.
Devora Shapiro is Associate Professor of Medical Ethics at Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is a philosopher and clinical medical ethicist with research areas including medical trauma and medical gaslighting, intersectional approaches to diagnosis and treatment, experiential knowledge and medical practice, and clinical ethics topics such as ethically engaging “complex” patients. Her work has been published in The Hastings Center Report, The Journal of Clinical Ethics, CHEST, andInternational Journal for Feminist Approaches to Bioethics.
Plans for the 2024 ASBH Conference in St. Louis
We are excited to kick off our term as co-chairs with an absolutely fabulous affinity group session at this year’s ASBH conference, which will take place from 1-2 PM CST on Friday, September 20th. The session will take the form of a panel of short talks at the intersection of feminist and disability bioethics. Noting the large degree of shared membership between FAB and the disability ethics affinity group, the intellectual connections between the approaches, and the strengths of our members in this area, we believe a panel on this topic will be of interest to FAB members. We have a great group of speakers: Kara Ayers will speak on “Reproductive Justice at the Intersection: Feminist and Disability Ethics,” Alison Reiheld will present “’This world isn’t big enough for the both of us’: Fatness, disability, and making spaces,” and Jada Wiggleton-Little will deliver “Normalizing Bodies in Pain.” We plan to advertise the session widely and hope to attract a few new potential members. A zoom option will be available for members who are unable to attend the conference in person – if you’re an ASBH FAB member, you should have received an email about this, and will get a reminder prior to the conference!
Looking Ahead for the FAB Affinity Group
In addition to events at ASBH, we plan to hold 2-3 zoom events per year in order to build community and share thoughts on teaching and research. One of the first things that we did when we assumed leadership of the affinity group was to distribute a survey to get to know our members and assess their interests for the coming years. We learned a lot, both about the wide range of members’ research interests and professional roles, and about the kinds of events that people would like to see. According to our survey, the most popular format for these events is a discussion with authors of recent significant publications (garnering 88% of votes), followed by works-in-progress flash talks (68%) and themed research panels (64%). We intend to organize events of each of these types over the course of the next year.
We look forward to creating spaces, both digitally and at ASBH, for continued connection and the sharing of ideas. We have also established a listserv for the group that members will need to opt into, which we hope people will use to plan conference panels, share recent publications, and build feminist community (again, check out your recent email for an enrollment link and look out for reminders!). Over the next three years, we also hope to continue to plan events that intersect with the interests of other affinity groups, building connections that can help to strengthen coalitions of bioethicists who prioritize issues of justice and equity.
Lisa Brünig, Mirjam Faissner, Regina Müller, & Stefanie Weigold, “A Feminist Bioethics Conference in Qatar? Critical Viewpoints and an Impulse for Further Discussion”: A commentary on the recent FAB/WCB from the German Feminist Perspectives in Medical Ethics and Bioethics focusing on the potential for LGBTQ+ participation in the conference and the potential for anti-Muslim bias in assessments of the conference location.
We are very excited to announce details on the Feminist Approaches to Bioethics affinity group session (organized by Lindsey Grubbs, Case Western Reserve University) at ASBH 2024, which will take place from 1-2pm CST on Friday, Sept. 20. We have a panel of three speakers making remarks at the intersection of feminist ethics and disability ethics:
Kara Ayers, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Hospital Medical Center, will speak on “Reproductive Justice at the Intersection: Feminist and Disability Ethics.”
Alison Reiheld, Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, will present “’This world isn’t big enough for the both of us’: Fatness, disability, and making spaces.”
Jada Wiggleton-Little, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University, will deliver “Normalizing Bodies in Pain”
Please come to hear these fabulous talks – and bring a friend! If you are a member of the affinity group and are not able to attend the session in person, we plan to stream it over zoom to make it as accessible as possible. The link for this session will be https://cwru.zoom.us/j/95313150743?pwd=O9aBQudjgbSBai1APb1CQKKEMxRdHI.1.
We would also like to plan a more informal time for us to gather at the conference, and are currently working on a 5pm happy hour. More to come as the conference draws nearer! ——
In May of this year, Taylor & Francis (which also owns Routledge) sold access to its research to Microsoft for about $10million. Taylor & Francis’ parent company confirmed to Bookseller that “it is providing Microsoft non-exclusive access to advanced learning content and data to help improve relevance and performance of AI systems”. The $10 million will cover initial access, with additional recurring payments of undisclosed sums to continue over the next three years. The announcement strikes a nerve with academics and other authors worried about the possibility of their published works being sold as training data for AI systems. As training data, these published works will serve as the raw materials that large language models draw on in order to respond to a given prompt based on statistical predictions of the most likely association.
Authors were not consulted about this deal, nor were they notified of its signing. Most learned via word of mouth after the fact. This eliminated any meaningful opportunity to opt out and exclude one’s own work from the deal. Taylor & Francis told Bookseller that they remained committed to “protecting the integrity of our authors’ work and limits on verbatim text reproduction, as well as authors’ rights to receive royalty payments in accordance with their author contracts”.
And yet, at least in IJFAB Blog Co-Editor Mercer Gary’s experience, efforts to negotiate the parameters of AI use in academic publishing contracts have thus far taken place on shaky ground. Though language protecting authorial rights and securing compensation for profits made as a result of use of the work for AI training purposes is circulating, legal teams at publishing houses have been reluctant to adopt it. Norms and policies surrounding the issue have yet to be widely established, leaving the state of play somewhat uneven and unpredictable. For instance, while Taylor & Francis has yet to assure its authors that they will receive compensation for their work’s contributions to AI training, personal communications with Oxford University Press have indicated that any future sale of research material for AI training purposes would be covered by electronic subsidiary rights royalties clauses in publishing contracts.
The Author’s Licensing and Collecting Society is currently conducting a survey about two proposed measures for protecting authorial rights. See more of ALCS Chief Executive Barbara Hayes’ remarks on coming changes with AI in publishing.
We encourage continued discussion and brainstorming in the comments about strategies for feminist bioethicists to pursue in negotiating authorial rights and protections over AI use.
“The STAT piece, “Coercive Care: How Doctors Are Pressuring Sickle Cell Patients into Unwanted Sterilizations,” features the harrowing stories of women who now regret their decision to end their ability to have a child in the face of coercive medical practices. The cases allege that women were pushed into making abrupt decisions about their reproductive lives, where the complications of pregnancy for women with SCD were presented as almost certain death.”
FABGab Episode 2 is now live with Prof. Wendy Rogers talking about her work with Jacqueline Dalziell on “What Feminist Bioethics can bring to Synthethic Biology” available in Volume 16 Issue 2 of the journal here. It’s fascinating paper applying feminist analysis to specific cases in synthetic biology to think about relationships, commitments/promises, justice and power. Give it a listen here and let us know what you think.
This June the International Association of Bioethics (IAB) and Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB) is meeting at the World Congress of Bioethics/FAB Congress in Qatar, where the new IAB President was announced to be Dr. Caesar Atuire. Dr. Atuire is a philosopher and bioethicist from Ghana working inter-continentally as the Ethics Lead for the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford, as an Associate Professor of Applied Philosophy at the University of Ghana, and as an affiliate Instructor in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington.
Dr. Atuire brings expertise in global health and ethics, decolonizing bioethics, and bridging conceptual and empirical bioethics, among other topics of research and scholarship, to leading the IAB.
Congratulations (and thanks) to Dr. Atuire for taking on this leadership role.
