“We need a society where we don’t step over mentally ill people”: Discussing bioethics with Lucy Yanow

Why do people living with mental illness, including BPD, need to think about bioethics? Because ordinary citizens can now make life-and-death decisions for themselves and others. As laws and regulations change around issues such as involuntary hospitalization and medical assistance in dying, it’s important for everyone to read and watch lectures about bioethics to protect themselves, but it’s essential for those of us suffering from mental health issues. In this second part of my interview with Lucy Yanow, who studies bioethics, we talk about this issue as well as the ultimate unattainability of bodily autonomy.

Trigger warning: This episode will discuss suicide and euthanasia.

If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

Raven Belasco, editor, Adventures in Bodily Autonomy: Exploring Reproductive Rights in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

María Puig de la Bellacasa, Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds

Rosi Braidotti, Posthuman Feminism

Judith Butler, The Force of Nonviolence: An Ethico-Political Bind

Canada’s 2020 report on the estimated cost benefits of MAID

Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene

Chelsea Kamp, “Manitoba Woman Devastated over Delay in MAID for Mental Illness”:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/maid-manitoba-mental-illness-1.7104343

Sophie Lewis, Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family

Mallory Moench, “‘A Ticket to Nowhere’: Thousands Are Brought to S.F. Hospitals Involuntarily. Then What Happens?”: https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mental-illness-san-francisco-hospitals-homeless-17772797.php

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, “Ghostwriting.” Diacritics, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1995.