Rosemarie Tong

Feminist Approaches To Bioethics : Theoretical Reflections And Practical Applications

* Prologue Theoretical Overview * Nonfeminist Approaches to Ethics * Feminist Approaches to Ethics * Nonfeminist Approaches to Bioethics * Feminist Approaches to Bioethics Practical Applications * Nonfeminist and Feminist Perspectives on Contraception and Sterilization * Nonfeminist and Feminist Perspectives on Abortion * Nonfeminist and Feminist Perspectives on Artificial Insemination and In-Vitro Fertilization * Feminist and Nonfeminist Perspectives on Surrogacy * Feminist and Nonfeminist Perspectives on Genetic Screening, Diagnosis, Counseling, and Therapy * Epilogue

Feminist thought in transition: Never a dull moment

Abstract In this essay, I summarize how I believe feminist thought has developed during the period 1960–2000 and where it might go in the future. First, I summarize the evolution of second-wave feminist thought during the period from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, focusing on liberal, radical, and Marxist–socialist feminisms. Next, I summarize multicultural, global, and postmodern feminisms as they emerged in the U.S. and elsewhere during the late 1980s and early 1990s, viewing them as a transition from second-wave to third-wave feminist thought. Third, I claim that young women today, including those who are doing feminism in the manner of third-wave feminists, are shaping a very particularistic, even individualistic form of feminism, with mixed consequences. Fourth, I will conclude that the future of feminist thought depends on its ability to resolve the sameness–difference debate, for unless women and the category of gender have some role to play in feminism, it is not clear that labeling ones self a “feminist” makes sense anymore.

Long-Term Care for the Elderly Worldwide: Whose Responsibility is It?

As human longevity increases, with people living well into their seventies and eighties, the need for long-term care for the elderly most certainly will grow. The longer people live, the more likely they fall prey to chronic disease(s), as well as to the standard toll the aging process takes on human bodies and psyches. In this article, I examine some of the concerns that a wide variety of governments, individuals, and families have expressed about meeting the long-term care needs of large numbers of people over sixty-five. I then claim that each of these groups must do its share of long-term care for the elderly, depending on its ability to do so. Finally, I conclude that the more committed a country is to the deconstruction of ingrained notions about who should care (women) and who should work (men) (Belkin 2008), the more able it will be to meet the long-term care needs of the elderly and other vulnerable populations fairly.

GENDER-BASED DISPARITIES EAST/WEST: RETHINKING THE BURDEN OF CARE IN THE UNITED STATES AND TAIWAN

When feminist bioethicists express concerns about health-related gender disparities, they raise considerations about justice and gender that traditional bioethicists have either not raised or raised somewhat weakly. In this article, I first provide a feminist analysis of long-term healthcare by and for women in the United States and women in Taiwan. Next, I make the case that, on average, elderly US and Taiwanese women fare less well in long-term care contexts than do elderly US and Taiwanese men. Finally, I explore some suggested practical remedies to reduce gender disparities in long-term care contexts.

Blessed are the peacemakers: Commentary on making peace in gestational conflicts

The purpose of this commentary on James Nelsons article [1] is to advocate introducing the ethics of care into the arena of gestational conflict. Too often the debate gets stalled in a maternal versus fetal rights headlock. Interventionists stress fetal over maternal rights: they believe education, post-birth prosecution or pre-birth seizure of pregnant women may be permissible. In contrast to interventionists, other philosophers stress that favoring fetal rights treats women like ‘fetal containers’. I question whether we should really consider issues of moral/parental obligations to children in terms of rights. Rather, the language of care should guide moral conduct vis-a-vis children/fetuses. The particularity of each womans story — the particulars of her human relationships — inform her story. An individuals ability to care is largely a function of whether community cares for her. We must care for others to enable them to care for themselves and their loved ones — born or unborn.

Practice Precedes Theory: Doing Bioethics “Naturally” Is There an Ethicist in the House?: On the Cutting Edge of Bioethics

Jonathan Moreno argues that a pragmatic approach is the best approach for bioethicists and health care practitioners to use when confronted with difficult ethical problems. There is no one formula to which to appeal in determining which course of action is right or wrong when making decisions about hastening or prolonging life, for example. Instead the best decision that can be expected under the circumstances emerges as the result of a slow process of consensus building, negotiation, and compromise. Decision makers’ interpretive and reflective skills need to be strengthened to achieve this type of ethical decision.

Dying in America

For patients and their loved ones, no care decisions are more profound than those made near the end of life. For the millions of Americans who work in or with the health care sector—including clinicians, clergy, caregivers, and support staff—providing high-quality care for people who are nearing the end of life is a matter of professional commitment and responsibility. Health system managers, payers, and policy makers, likewise, have a responsibility to ensure that end-of-life care is compassionate, affordable, sustainable, and of the best quality possible. A substantial body of evidence shows that broad improvements to end-oflife care are within reach. In Dying in America, a consensus report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a committee of experts finds that improving the quality and availability of medical and social services for patients and their families could not only enhance quality of life through the end of life, but may also contribute to a more sustainable care system.

Women, Pornography, and the Law.

Erotica (love or a creative principle) and thanatica (death or a destructive principle), two sexually explicit forms of speech, are discussed in the context of fighting pornography in the courts. Antipornographers are urged to reexamine their political alliances, legal theories, and philosophical assumptions. (ERIC-MLW)

Disorderly Eaters: Texts in Self-Empowerment (review)

is dense and academic, her arguments complex and theoretical, her references wide-ranging through uterature and the visual arts, psychoanalytic and feminist criticism, philosophy and popular culture. It is, however, sufficiently intriguing and unprecedented in its premises and synthesis of scholarship to induce a reader to accept its substantial challenge. While readers acquainted with critical theory should fare better, clinicians with an interest in the humanities but Uttle or no knowledge of criticism could well find Bronfen nearly impossible to follow. Happily, though, her commentaries on individual works of Uterature or art are clear, well documented, provocative, and not at all forced. These alone could make the book, or selected sections thereof, worth reading and useful as a reference. Finally, the text suffers from sloppy proofreading, and while the typographical errors do not pose a serious problem, they occasionally trip up and irritate a reader already struggÃ1⁄4ng to follow the author into uncharted terrain.