Opinion In Medicine, the Morally Unthinkable Too Easily Comes to Seem Normal, 2024, Elliott

[wingate]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/07/...e_code=1.qE0.p6-j.STaHvx7pZIgJ&smid=url-share

What is it that leads a rare individual to say no to practices that are deceptive, exploitative or harmful when everyone else thinks they are fine? For a long time I assumed that saying no was mainly an issue of moral courage. The relevant question was: If you are a witness to wrongdoing, will you be brave enough to speak out?

But then I started talking to insiders who had blown the whistle on abusive medical research. Soon I realized that I had overlooked the importance of moral perception. Before you decide to speak out about wrongdoing, you have to recognize it for what it is.

 

[RedFox]

It should be illegal to operate on a person's genitals unless they consent, or it is medically necessary. This includes pelvic exams (not surgery but broadly similar), sterilization (which has been done non-consensually in the past), circumcision and other cosmetic genital surgeries, and "corrective" surgeries for intersex conditions. When not consensual, these are all medicalized, culturally sanctioned forms of sexual assault.