Abstract
The clinic is a loaded space for LGBTQI persons. Historically a site of pathology and culturally a site of stigma, the contemporary clinic for queer patient populations and their loved ones is an ethically fraught space. This paper, which introduces the featured articles of this special issue of the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry on “Bioethics, Sexuality, and Gender Identity,” begins by offering an analysis of scrutiny itself. How do we scrutinize? When is it apt for us to scrutinize? And what are the benefits and perils of clinical and bioethical scrutiny? Bearing in mind these questions, the second half of this paper introduces the feature articles in this special issue in response to such forms of scrutiny. How, why, when, and in what ways to sensitively scrutinize LGBTQI persons in the clinic are the aims of this piece.
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Notes
For a comprehensive analysis of the history and uses of the term “queer” in scholarly discourses, see Annamarie Jagose’s (1997) Queer Theory: An Introduction.
Some areas that have received scholarly attention include: issues regarding intersex children; quarantine and policy-making decisions on AIDS in the earliest years of the epidemic; issues surrounding inclusion or exclusion from the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM); blood and organ donation policies; gay etiology studies; gay and transgender parenthood; gender-testing in sports; and queer comfort in the clinic. (For examples in these areas, see: Dreger 1998; Panem 1985; Matthews 1988; Rabin 1986; Spitzer 1981; Galarneau 2010; Schüklenk et al. 1997; Stein 1998; Murphy 2010; Simpson et al. 2000; and Harbin, Beagan, and Goldberg 2012.)
For more information about the Project on Bioethics, Sexuality, and Gender Identity, including its consortium, visit www.queerbioethics.org.
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Wahlert, L., Fiester, A. Questioning Scrutiny. Bioethical Inquiry 9, 243–248 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-012-9376-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-012-9376-9