No one wants to be treated like an object, regarded as an item
of property, or put up for sale. Yet many people frame personal
autonomy in terms of self-ownership, representing themselves as
property owners with the right to do as they wish with their
bodies. Others do not use the language of property, but are
similarly insistent on the rights of free individuals to decide for
themselves whether to engage in commercial transactions for sex,
reproduction, or organ sales. Drawing on analyses of rape,
surrogacy, and markets in human organs, "Our Bodies, Whose
Property?" challenges notions of freedom based on ownership of our
bodies and argues against the normalization of markets in bodily
services and parts. Anne Phillips explores the risks associated
with metaphors of property and the reasons why the commodification
of the body remains problematic.
What, she asks, is wrong with thinking of oneself as the owner
of one's body? What is wrong with making our bodies available for
rent or sale? What, if anything, is the difference between markets
in sex, reproduction, or human body parts, and the other markets we
commonly applaud? Phillips contends that body markets occupy the
outer edges of a continuum that is, in some way, a feature of all
labor markets. But she also emphasizes that we all have bodies, and
considers the implications of this otherwise banal fact for
equality. Bodies remind us of shared vulnerability, alerting us to
the common experience of living as embodied beings in the same
world.
Examining the complex issue of body exceptionalism, "Our
Bodies, Whose Property?" demonstrates that treating the body as
property makes human equality harder to comprehend.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!