About Alison Reiheld

Alison Reiheld is Professor of Philosophy at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville and co-President (with Perry Zurn) of the Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory (FEAST).

To reproduce or not to reproduce, and if so how much, that is the question
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Over at Foreign Policy recently, philosophers Travis Rieder and Rebecca Kukla engaged in a thoughtful, pleasant, and yet provocative dialogue about reproductive considerations in light of climate change (Rieder, Colin Hickey, and Jake Earl recently published an article about the … Continue reading

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The Revenge Effects of Electronic Medical Records
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In 1996, historian of science Edward Tenner published his influential book Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences. It is an extended consideration of how technology comes to demand much of us even as it frees us from … Continue reading

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Not a desire which anyone may gratify: what impact might artificial wombs have on abortion?
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Amidst the flurry of news in the last week over artificial wombs–a primitive artificial placental sack, or “biobag”, sustained sheep fetuses for four weeks–most of the coverage focused on the value in caring for premature infants. I was reminded of Judith … Continue reading

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Like and unlike: Late abortion in the case of wanted pregnancies, and miscarriage
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A recent article by Natalia Megas in The Guardian profiles three women who chose late abortions and who had very much wanted to be pregnant.  It is a moving exploration of the seriousness of abortion as a moral issue, and an important set … Continue reading

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Power, othering, and slurs in the clinic: undermining the capacity for care
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Over at the Feminist Midwife, we find a valuable post on WHY something that may seem prima facie wrong is, in fact, wrong.  In an entry called “Patients Are Not Bitches, and Thoughts Medical Othering,” Feminist Midwife considers a case … Continue reading

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What does a Trump Presidency mean for the Affordable Care Act and American patients’ access to care?
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Since Trump’s electoral college victory became apparent early Wednesday morning and especially since Secretary Clinton’s concession speech, many bioethicists–and many more American residents–have been wondering what a Trump Presidency means for the Affordable Care Act, AKA “Obamacare.” While the ACA … Continue reading

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Just Caring for Caregivers in the U.S. Workplace… For Some Workers
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On September 8, 2016, Deloitte LLP announced it would grant 16 weeks of paid leave to employees who provide family caregiving not only to new children, but to older children, parents, and spouses.  This is an enormous improvement in the U.S. … Continue reading

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Telling Tales: Narratives About Black Men and Obesity
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This entry was originally published on IJFAB Blog December 19 of 2014.  In the early hours of July 5, 2016, Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge, LA was shot dead by police. He was a father, selling CDs outside … Continue reading

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Not the parity we want: Disordered eating and normative appetites in North American men and women
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Editor’s Note: This blog entry is based on a paper presented by Prof. Reiheld at FAB Congress 2016 in Edinburgh. Philosopher Sandra Bartky persuasively argued for a Foucauldian framework conceptualizing femininity as a disciplinary regime that creates docile bodies through … Continue reading

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Tweeting a FAB Congress 2016 narrative

The most excellent Kelly Danielle, who has recently become involved with FAB and was at FAB Congress in Edinburgh, volunteered to “storify” FAB 2016 tweets. As you may know, twitter presents the most recent tweet first. This can make it … Continue reading

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FAB Congress in full swing!

FAB Congress kicked off this morning with an excellent talk by Prof. Kate Hunt at University of Glasgow in Scotland. Hunt is the Associate Director at the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit. Hunt’s paper described gender differences in … Continue reading

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The poetry of hands-on healing, and the failure to do so
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In 2013, Rafael Campo–then associate professor of medicine at Harvard–won the Hippocrates Open International Prize for Poetry and Medicine.  First, let us be grateful that there is such a thing, a thing to draw beauty out of what isn’t always. … Continue reading

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