The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability

Product Description



The Rejected Body argues that feminist theorizing has been skewed toward non-disabled experience, and that the knowledge of people with disabilities must be integrated into feminist ethics, discussions of bodily life, and criticism of the cognitive and social authority of medicine. Among the topics it addresses are who should be identified as disabled; whether disability is biomedical, social or both; what causes disability and what could 'cure' it; and whether scientific efforts to eliminate disabling physical conditions are morally justified.

Wendell provides a remarkable look at how cultural attitudes towards the body contribute to the stigma of disability and to widespread unwillingness to accept and provide for the body's inevitable weakness.


Review


"...an important contribution...provides an interesting look at a topic that has been considered as 'other' by many writers and researchers." --
Women and Health

"Even within the feminist framework, our definitions, knowledge, perceptions, and treatments of disabilities require rethinking. A well-informed deconstruction." --
Ms. Magazine

"The author, Susan Wendell, a person living with disabilities, shines through this book, and invites the reader to engage with the issues in which she is interested." --
Canadian Journal of Philosophy - September 1998


About the Author


Susan Wendell is Associate Professor of Women's Studies at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. She is the co- editor, with David Copp, of
Pornography and Censorship (1983).