A Tsunami of Love: Overcoming the Violence of Curiosity—The Lived Experiences of Young Adults Born with Variations of Sex Characteristics

This study provides insight into the experiences of young adults born with variations of sex characteristics to identify aspects of care and social support that need improvement. Semi-structured interviews with intersex youths in Switzerland were analyzed using interpretative, phenomenological analysis. Young adults desire timely, patient-centered information about their diagnoses. Peer support is key to delivering high-quality care but rarely systematically implemented. Intersex youth often face misrepresentation, stigma, and discrimination in medical settings and in society. Increased visibility alone cannot tackle these issues, but a feminist curiosity of care will enable health providers and society to overcome preconceptions of body normativity.

Donchin and Holmes Emerging Scholar Prize Paper Understanding and Correcting Sex Disparity in Cardiovascular Disease Research: Ethical and Practical Solutions

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death of women in the United States, yet cardiovascular research is disproportionately conducted using male human subjects and male animal models. This article deploys Katrina Hutchison’s (2019) analysis of gender disparity in clinical trials as a moral aggregation problem to address the problem of underrepresentation of women in cardiovascular research. I identify cost concerns, convenience, pregnancy, and negligence as potential reasons for the underrepresentation of women in CVD research. Finally, I suggest that multilevel strategies will be needed to eliminate sex disparity in CVD research and improve patient care.

Narratives of Regret: Resisting Cisnormative and Bionormative Biases in Fertility and Family Creation Counseling for Transgender Youth

Gender-affirming hormone therapy is increasingly available to support healthy development of transgender (trans) youth, but ethical concerns have been raised regarding fertility-related implications. In this article, I present data from an exploratory qualitative study of the decision-making experiences of trans youth, parents of trans youth, and healthcare providers serving trans youth related to fertility and family creation. I discuss how cisnormative and bionormative biases can impact care and contribute to ethically problematic narratives of regret. Finally, I offer recommendations to support ethically sound, gender-affirmative fertility and family creation counseling with transgender youth.

Knowing with the Disability Community: Building a Disability Standpoint for Health Policy Research

For the last eighteen months, I have worked with a group of disability and health policy researchers. I began this interview-based project trying to learn how these researchers’ disability identities shaped their work. How did their disability standpoint contribute to the liberatory nature of their research? I found that the disability standpoint of these researchers was in fact hard-won and grew not just out of their own disability experiences but out of their connections with the larger disability community. These connections, for the most part, helped researchers come to “claim crip,” and that later influenced their research.

Between Autonomy and Solidarity: An African Woman’s Autoethnography

As an infant, my grandmother chewed my food for me because I was not capable of chewing on my own. As an adult, most African men still want to chew my food for me. So, how do African women consent to research when culturally they must surrender their autonomy? We join in solidarity and create our own collective autonomy. We know the rules of our patriarchal society and outwardly adhere to them. As an ethicist, I (Caroline Kithinji) have developed a sense of responsibility and solidarity with female research subjects; we collaborate in the full understanding of our lack of autonomy.

Birthing Alone: An Ethical Analysis of Pandemic Policies Banning Birthing Partners

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several hospitals implemented “birthing alone” policies, banning companions (e.g., partners, family members, doulas) from accompanying individuals giving birth. We offer an ethical analysis of these policies. First, we examine them through a consequentialist framework of risks and benefits. Second, we consider the significance of birth, highlighting the unique ways in which risks, relationships, and rights are understood in the context of obstetrics. We conclude that birthing alone policies are largely unjustified, as the harm they are certain to cause outweighs their possible benefits and because they fail to take into account what matters to mothers.