Somatic piracy and biophallacies: Separation, violence and biotech fundamentalism

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Hawthorne, Susan (2008) Somatic piracy and biophallacies: Separation, violence and biotech fundamentalism. Women's Studies International Forum, 31 (4). pp. 308-318. ISSN 0277-5395

Abstract

The bodies, soma, 1 of women have become the raw material for the latest corporate colony. As Mies, Bennholdt-Thomsen, and vonWerlhof [Mies, Maria, Bennholdt-Thomsen, Veronika & von Werlhof, Claudia (1988).Women: The last colony. New Delhi: Kali forWomen] put it, women are the last colony. From the colonial resource of women's somata, new products are created and old services are extended. New biotech and reproductive business opportunities affect women from all classes and cultures. It affects women undergoing medical procedures; isolated or distinctive genetic populations; women with disabilities; poor and wealthy women; lesbians and heterosexuals. A concept explored in this article is the separation of body parts – somata – from the body. The meaning of soma in Homeric Greek was of the dead body, a body not infused with psychic energy or soul. It refers to a human being, but especially to slaves. Separation, the dissociation of mind and body creates acceptability for the biocures that necessitate removal of somata from women.

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Item type Article
URI https://vuir.vu.edu.au/id/eprint/3704
DOI DOI: 10.1016/j.wsif.2008.05.007
Official URL http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S...
Subjects Historical > Faculty/School/Research Centre/Department > School of Communication and the Arts
Historical > FOR Classification > 2002 Cultural Studies
Historical > FOR Classification > 1699 Other Studies in Human Society
Keywords ResPubID16523, new biotech, reproductive business opportunities, women undergoing medical procedures, isolated women, women with disabilities, lesbians
Citations in Scopus 0 - View on Scopus
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