Intact – A Defence of the Unmodified Body by Clare Chambers

June 26, 2023 – Thornbury

So I have actually read books this year despite failing to post! I seem to be reading a lot of philosophy? Starting with this, which I heard about via Jessica DeFino.

Clare Chambers is interested in why some body modifications are "good" and others "bad", and how we might look at different forms of body modification — from cochlear implants to mastectomies to bodybuilding to makeup to circumcisions — and draw out a theory of ethics.

One story truly rattled me, the story of a UK woman who upon learning she was at risk for breast cancer, asked for a double mastectomy with no reconstruction (she wanted freedom of movement and loved to exercise). The surgeon refused, and wouldn't let her get the mastectomy unless she agreed to reconstruction. He then put in larger implants than she agreed to. Wild.

The argument here is fascinating and well reasoned, ultimately landing at a place where we might understand when deciding on a body modification on behalf of another is ethical or not, going beyond the "right to an open future" and towards a specific formulation of conditions and caveats.

Chambers' work may end up influencing legislature in the UK and beyond. If you have ever wondered why natural births are considered morally good or whether circumcision makes any sense, if you want to better understand gender affirming care or the arguments for and against cochlear implants among other things, you might find this interesting! I did!