Speaking for the Body
The Supreme Court and the Doctor's Art
This week, Featured Author Leah Libresco Sargeant analyzes the oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court case challenging Tennessee's ban on "gender-affirming care" for minors. Sargeant argues that the case reveals a fundamental disagreement about the purpose of medicine.
Speaking for the Body
Leah Libresco Sargeant
Medicine is a collaborative art. The doctor depends on the patient to give an account of his or her discomfort—only the patient can say “It hurts here” and “It hurts like this.” Doctors misserve their patients when they don’t have a lively interest in their patient’s lived experience. But they shortchange the patient if they allow the patient’s account of him or herself to stand unexamined and unleavened by the doctor’s expertise. The aim is to offer a treatment that springs from a deep understanding of the workings of a healthy, integrated body.
This Week in Sex-Realist Feminism: A Message for Girls, Lily Phillips's Spreadsheet, and Ariana Grande
This week: Pamela Paul with a message for girls about women's strength, Mary Harrington on Lily Phillips and spreadsheet egrecore, and Sarah Ditum on Ariana Grande's body. Plus: Wifejak, the need for adults, token women, Christine de Pizan, and more!
From the Archives:
ICYMI: Abigail Anthony on the brave women fighting for improved treatment for endometriosis, in a system that doesn’t value women’s bodies.
The Endo Warriors
Abigail Anthony
“Still, advocating for endometriosis care is one battle in a much larger war. These warriors are up against a society that pathologizes femaleness itself and medicates women just for being women. A healthy female reproductive system—with its regular monthly cycle of ovulation and menstruation—is seen as an illness.”