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Body Integrity Identity Disorder and the Ethics of Mutilation

Song, Robert

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Authors



Contributors

Brent Waters
Editor

Abstract

The rare phenomenon in which a person desires amputation of a healthy limb, now often termed body integrity identity disorder, raises central questions for biomedical ethics. Standard bioethical discussions of surgical intervention in such cases fail to address the meaning of bodily integrity, which is intrinsic to a theological understanding of the goodness of the body. However, moral theological responses are liable to assume that such interventions necessarily represent an implicitly docetic manipulation of the body. Through detailed attention to the ethics of mutilation and of surgery for psychiatric disorders, this article explores the theological and ethical significance of the body for human identity.

Citation

Song, R. (2013). Body Integrity Identity Disorder and the Ethics of Mutilation. Studies in Christian Ethics, 26(4), 487-503. https://doi.org/10.1177/0953946813492921

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Nov 1, 2013
Deposit Date Feb 20, 2012
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Studies in Christian Ethics
Print ISSN 0953-9468
Electronic ISSN 1745-5235
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 26
Issue 4
Pages 487-503
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0953946813492921
Keywords Body, Body integrity identity disorder, Enhancement, Ethics, Gender dysphoria, Gender identity disorder, Identity, Mutilation, Psychiatric ethics.

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Copyright Statement
The final definitive version of this article has been published in the journal Studies in Christian ethics, 26/4, 2013 © The Author(s) 2013 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Studies in Christian ethics page: http://sce.sagepub.com/ on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/





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