I am pleased to announce the launch of Contested Bodies, a new podcast exploring the clash between individual autonomy and institutional authority.
The series enters the moral and ethical grey zones where medicine, law, and society decide what counts as legitimate suffering, what counts as treatment, and what can or cannot be done to the human body.
Season One focuses on Body Integrity Dysphoria, examining its history, clinical recognition, ethical complexity, and the questions it raises about autonomy, identity, suffering, disability, and medical authority.
The first three episodes introduced the history of BID, its diagnostic development, and the problem of body mapping.
Episode 4 — BID and Gender Dysphoria is now out. This episode examines why some forms of body-related suffering become recognised as questions of identity and autonomy, while others remain medically and morally suspect.
You can listen to Contested Bodies here: