Property in the Body: Feminist Perspectives

225 Pages·2017·2.504 MB·English

by  Donna Dickenson

Property in the Body
Weliveinanerawhenallbodiesarepotentially‘feminised’bybeingren-
dered‘openaccess’forbiomedicalresearchandclinicalpractice.Adopt-
ing a theoretically sophisticated and practical approach, Property in the
Body: Feminist Perspectives rejects the notion that the sale of bodily tis-
sueenhancesthefreedomoftheindividualthroughanincreaseinmoral
agency. Combining feminist theory and bioethics, it also addresses the
omissionsinherentinpolicyanalysisandacademicdebate.Forexample,
while women’s tissue is particularly central to new biotechnologies, the
requirement for female labour is largely ignored in subsequent evalu-
ation. In its fully revised second edition, this book also considers how
policies and developments vary between countries and within specific
areas of biomedicine itself. Most importantly, it analyses the new and
emergingtechnologiesofthisfieldwhilereturningtothecorequestions
and fears which are inextricably linked to the commercialisation of the
body.
donna dickenson is Emeritus Professor of Medical Ethics and
Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London. In 2006, she became
the first woman to receive the International Spinoza Lens Award for
contributiontopublicdebateonethics.
CambridgeBioethicsandLaw
ThisseriesofbookswasfoundedbyCambridgeUniversityPresswith
AlexanderMcCallSmithasitsfirsteditorin2003.Itfocusesonthe
law’scomplexandtroubledrelationshipwithmedicineacrossboththe
developedandthedevelopingworld.Sincetheearly1990s,wehave
seeninmanycountriesincreasingresorttothecourtsbydissatisfied
patientsandagrowinguseofthecourtstoattempttoresolve
intractableethicaldilemmas.Atthesametime,legislaturesacrossthe
worldhavestruggledtoaddressthequestionsposedbyboththe
successesandthefailuresofmodernmedicine,whileinternational
organisationssuchastheWHOandUNESCOnowregularlyaddress
issuesofmedicallaw.
Itfollowsthatwewouldexpectethicalandpolicyquestionstobe
integraltotheanalysisofthelegalissuesdiscussedinthisseries.The
seriesrespondstothehighprofileofmedicallawinuniversities,in
legalandmedicalpractice,aswellasinpublicandpoliticalaffairs.We
seektoreflecttheevidencethatmanymajorhealth-relatedpolicy
debatesintheUK,Europeandtheinternationalcommunityinvolvea
strongmedicallawdimension.Withthatinmind,weseektoaddress
howlegalanalysismighthaveatrans-jurisdictionalandinternational
relevance.Organretention,embryonicstemcellresearch,physician
assistedsuicideandtheallocationofresourcestofundhealthcareare
butafewexamplesamongmany.Theemphasisofthisseriesisthuson
mattersofpublicconcernand/orpracticalsignificance.Welookfor
booksthatcouldmakeadifferencetothedevelopmentofmedicallaw
andenhancetheroleofmedico-legaldebateinpolicycircles.Thatis
nottosaythatwelackinterestintheimportanttheoreticaldimensions
ofthesubject,butweaimtoensurethattheoreticaldebateis
groundedintherealitiesofhowthelawdoesandshouldinteractwith
medicineandhealthcare.
SeriesEditors
ProfessorGraemeLaurie,UniversityofEdinburgh
ProfessorRichardAshcroft,QueenMary,UniversityofLondon
Booksintheseries
MarcusRadetzki,MarianRadetzki,NiklasJuth
GenesandInsurance:Ethical,LegalandEconomicIssues
RuthMacklin
DoubleStandardsinMedicalResearchinDevelopingCountries
DonnaDickenson
PropertyintheBody:FeministPerspectives
MattiHa¨yry,RuthChadwick,Vilhja´lmurA´rnason,GardarA´rnason
TheEthicsandGovernanceofHumanGeneticDatabases:European
Perspectives
KenMason
TheTroubledPregnancy:LegalWrongsandRightsinReproduction
DanielSperling
PosthumousInterests:LegalandEthicalPerspectives
KeithSyrett
Law,LegitimacyandtheRationingofHealthCare
AlastairMaclean
Autonomy,InformedConsentandtheLaw:ARelationalChange
HeatherWiddows,CarolineMullen
TheGovernanceofGeneticInformation:WhoDecides?
DavidPrice
HumanTissueinTransplantationandResearch
MattiHa¨yry
RationalityandtheGeneticChallenge:MakingPeopleBetter?
MaryDonnelly
HealthcareDecision-MakingandtheLaw:Autonomy,Capacityandthe
LimitsofLiberalism
Anne-MareeFarrell,DavidPriceandMuireannQuigley
OrganShortage:Ethics,LawandPragmatism
SaraFovargue
XenotransplantationandRisk:RegulatingaDevelopingBiotechnology
JohnCoggon
WhatMakesHealthPublic?:ACriticalEvaluationofMoral,Legal,and
PoliticalClaimsinPublicHealth
MarkTaylor
GeneticDataandtheLaw:ACriticalPerspectiveonPrivacyProtection
Anne-MareeFarrell
ThePoliticsofBlood:Ethics,InnovationandtheRegulationofRisk
StephenSmith
End-of-LifeDecisionsinMedicalCare:PrinciplesandPoliciesfor
RegulatingtheDyingProcess
MichaelParker
EthicalProblemsandGeneticsPractice
WilliamW.Lowrance
Privacy,Confidentiality,andHealthResearch
KerryLynnMacintosh
HumanCloning:FourFallaciesandTheirLegalConsequence
HeatherWiddows
TheConnectedSelf:TheEthicsandGovernanceoftheGeneticIndividual
AmelAlghrani,RebeccaBennettandSuzanneOst
Bioethics,MedicineandtheCriminalLawVolumeI:TheCriminalLaw
andBioethicalConflict:WalkingtheTightrope
DanielleGriffithsandAndrewSanders
Bioethics,MedicineandtheCriminalLawVolumeII:Medicine,Crimeand
Society
MargaretBrazierandSuzanneOst
Bioethics,MedicineandtheCriminalLawVolumeIII:Medicineand
BioethicsintheTheatreoftheCriminalProcess
SigridSterckx,KasperRausandFreddyMortier
ContinuousSedationattheEndofLife:Ethical,ClinicalandLegal
Perspectives
A.M.Viens,JohnCoggon,AnthonyS.Kessel
CriminalLaw,PhilosophyandPublicHealthPractice
RuthChadwick,MairiLevittandDarrenShickle
TheRighttoKnowandtheRightnottoKnow:GeneticPrivacyand
Responsibility
EleanorD.Kinney
TheAffordableCareActandMedicareinComparativeContext
KatriLo˜hmus
CaringAutonomy:EuropeanHumanRightsLawandtheChallengeof
Individualism
CatherineStantonandHannahQuirk
CriminalisingContagion:LegalandEthicalChallengesofDisease
TransmissionandtheCriminalLaw
SharonaHoffman
ElectronicHealthRecordsandMedicalBigData:LawandPolicy
BarbaraPrainsackandAlenaBuyx
SolidarityinBiomedicineandBeyond
CamilliaKong
MentalCapacityinRelationship
OliverQuick
RegulatingPatientSafety:TheEndofProfessionalDominance?
ThanaC.deCampos
TheGlobalHealthCrisis:EthicalResponsibilities
v
JonathanIves,MichaelDunn,AlanCribb(eds)
EmpiricalBioethics:TheoreticalandPracticalPerspectives
AlanMerryandWarrenBrookbanks
MerryandMcCallSmith’sErrors,MedicineandtheLaw:SecondEdition
DonnaDickenson
PropertyintheBody:FeministPerspectives,SecondEdition

Property in the Body: Feminist
Perspectives
Second Edition
Donna Dickenson
BirkbeckCollege,UniversityofLondon
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107160774
DOI:10.1017/9781316675984
(cid:2)C DonnaDickenson2007,2017
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2007
Secondedition2017
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
ISBN978-1-107-16077-4Hardback
ISBN978-1-316-61374-0Paperback
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Contents
PrefacetotheSecondEdition pagexi
PrefacetotheFirstEdition xvii
Acknowledgements xxi
1 DoWeAllHaveFeminisedBodiesNow? 1
Bodies,PersonsandThings 5
TheFeminisedBody 8
PropertyasaBundleofRights 14
PropertyRightsandtheGiftRelationship 18
OrganisationoftheBook 21
2 Commodification,ContractandLabour 27
ObjectsandCommodities 28
LiberalTheory:PropertyintheBody,PropertyinthePersonand
Contract 32
MarxistTheory:CommodityFetishism,Alienationand
ReproductiveLabour 41
3 TheLadyVanishes:EggsforReproductionand
Research 46
TheIVFMarketforEggs 48
DemandforHumanEggsinResearch:StemCellsand
MitochondrialDNA 53
Exploitation:Disparity,DignityandDegradation 61
4 Surrogacy:CanBabiesBeProperty? 65
IsContractPregnancyandChildbirthaService? 70
Needs,GiftandSurrogacy 75
Surrogacy,ExploitationandEmpowerment 83
5 UmbilicalCordBloodBanks:SeizingSurplusValue 88
CordBloodBanking:TheClinicalRisks 90
IfCordBloodIsProperty,WhoseIsIt? 94
Commodification,PatrimoineandCordBlood:TheExampleof
France 102
ix