Cutting to the Core

Edited by David Benatar - Contributions by Michael Benatar; Leslie Cannold; Dena Davis; Merle Spriggs; Julian Savulescu; Heather Draper; Neil Evans; Richard Hull; Stephen Wilkinson; David Wasserman; Donna Dickenson; Guy Widdershoven; Françoise Baylis; Ste

When the benefits of surgery do not outweigh the harms or where they do not clearly do so, surgical interventions become morally contested. Cutting to the Core examines a number of such surgeries, including infant male circumcision and cutting the genitals of female children, the separation of conjoined twins, surgical sex assignment of intersex children and the surgical re-assignment of transsexuals, limb and face transplantation, cosmetic surgery, and placebo surgery.

Part 1 Preface Part 2 Introduction: The Ethics of Contested Surguries Part 3 Part I: Male Circumcision and Female Genital Cutting Chapter 4 1. Between Prophylaxis and Child Abuse: The Ethics of Neonatal Male Circumcision Chapter 5 2. The Ethics of Neonatal Male Circumcision: Helping Parents to Decide Chapter 6 3. Genital Alteration of Female Minors Part 7 Part II: Sex Assignment and Reassignment Surgery Chapter 8 4. The Ethics of Surgically Assigning Sex for Intersex Infants Chapter 9 5. Transsexualism and Gender Reassignment Surgery Part 10 Part III: Separating Conjoined Twins Chapter 11 6. Separating Conjoined Twins: Disability, Ontology and Moral Status Chapter 12 7. Conjunction and Separation: Viable Relationships, Equitable Partings Part 13 Part IV: Limb and Face Transplantation Chapter 14 8. Ethical Issues in Limb Transplants Chapter 15 9. Changing faces: Ethics, identity and facial transplantation Part 16 Part V: Cosmetic Surgery Chapter 17 10. A Defence of Cosmetic Surgery Chapter 18 11. Beauty under the Knife: A Feminist Appraisal of Cosmetic Surgery Part 19 Part VI: Placebo Surgery Chapter 20 12. The Emperor's New Scar: The Ethics of Placebo Surgery Chapter 21 13. Sham Surgery and Reasonable Risks Part 22 Suggestions for Further Reading Part 23 Index Part 24 About the Editor and Contributors