Papers by Tamara Kayali Browne
Journal of Medical Ethics
American Journal of Bioethics, May 2, 2023
Medicine Health Care and Philosophy, Dec 21, 2019
Gender disappointment' is the feeling of sadness when a parent's strong desire for a child of a c... more Gender disappointment' is the feeling of sadness when a parent's strong desire for a child of a certain sex is not realised. It is frequently mentioned as a reason behind parents' pursuit of sex selection for social reasons. It also tends to be framed as a mental disorder on a range of platforms including the media, sex selection forums and among parents who have been interviewed about sex selection. Our aim in this paper is to investigate whether 'gender disappointment' represents a unique diagnosis. We argue that 'gender disappointment' does not account for a unique, distinct category of mental illness, with distinct symptoms or therapy. That said, we recognise that parents' distress is real and requires psychological treatment. We observe that this distress is rooted in gender essentialism, which can be addressed at both the individual and societal level.
The American Journal of Bioethics
International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, 2022
Lilith: A Feminist History Journal, 2022
COVID-19 has exacerbated women's vulnerabilities because Western neoliberal societies expect, sup... more COVID-19 has exacerbated women's vulnerabilities because Western neoliberal societies expect, support and celebrate individuals who embody and exercise an individualistic view of autonomy. In reality, however, many people, especially women, operate on a relational view of autonomy which mostly goes unrecognized and unsupported. Relational autonomy recognizes that our interpersonal relationships are not only important but inform our decision-making. In contrast, the individualistic view of autonomy does not take into account one's relationality and shifts responsibility to the individual alone. It blinds proponents of this view of autonomy to institutions, norms and values that position some citizens in situations in which it is all but impossible to exercise autonomy on the individualistic ideal, and encourages those institutions to maintain the same systems. COVID-19 has put more pressure on people in female-dominated roles such as carers, nurses and teachers, and magnified the risks for those who endure domestic violence, and little support has been made available to protect or compensate them. The pandemic has thus laid bare the consequences of valuing the atomistic ideal of the autonomous subject over a relational one.
Social Science Research Network, Feb 1, 2013
Fredrik Svenaeus has applied Heidegger&am... more Fredrik Svenaeus has applied Heidegger's concept of 'being-in-the-world' to health and illness. Health, Svenaeus contends, is a state of 'homelike being-in-the-world' characterised by being 'balanced' and 'in-tune' with the world. Illness, on the other hand, is a state of 'unhomelike being-in-the-world' characterised by being 'off-balance' and alienated from our own bodies. This paper applies the phenomenological concepts presented by Svenaeus to cases from a study of depression. In doing so, we show that while they can certainly enrich our understanding of depression, they can also reveal a clash between some societal definitions of illness and the individual's definition. Phenomenological analysis may thus cause us to question what we mean, or think should be meant, by the terms 'health' and 'illness'.
The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Bioethics, Jun 24, 2022
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Jul 20, 2016
Health, Risk & Society, 2012
This paper investigates the relationship between an individual's experience of depression an... more This paper investigates the relationship between an individual's experience of depression and her conceptualisation of its role in her life and sense of identity. Based on a mixed methods study involving interviews with 37 women diagnosed with unipolar or bipolar depression, the findings indicate that women who considered most of their episodes to have been triggered by events or circumstances in their lives were more likely to believe that their depression could in future be overcome, whereas those who did not consider the majority of their episodes to have been triggered were more likely to believe their depression to be chronic. Thus, women who participated in the study perceived the risk that they might never be able to overcome depression differently according to whether they believed most of their depressive episodes could be categorised as having been triggered or not. The reasons behind their beliefs are explored. Implications for the traditional medical exogenous–endogenous (reactive–endogenous) distinction are discussed.
Journal of Moral Education, 2019
The prospect of enhancing ourselves through the use of new biotechnologies is for the most part, ... more The prospect of enhancing ourselves through the use of new biotechnologies is for the most part, hypothetical. Nevertheless, the question of whether we should undertake such enhancement is worthy of discussion as it may become possible in the future. In this article, we consider one form of argument that conservative opponents of biotechnological means of enhancement (bioconservatives) deploy in opposition to the use of enhancement technologies-the backfiring objection. This is the objection that the use of such technologies is liable to go wrong and lead to outcomes that are inferior to the outcomes intended. We will argue that the objection is not nearly as significant as bioconservatives suppose it to be. Bioconservatives sometimes supplement the backfiring objection by arguing that change will be irreversible, that the new (or the unconventional) is especially liable to backfire and that humans possess severe and permanent limitations which cannot be overcome. We consider these ways of supplementing the backfiring objection and argue that each of them, when properly understood, is of limited value to the bioconservative. We also consider how traditional approaches to moral education can be supplemented by bioenhancement.
Journal of child health care : for professionals working with children in the hospital and community, 2018
What is family-centred care of a hospitalized child? A critical understanding of the concept of f... more What is family-centred care of a hospitalized child? A critical understanding of the concept of family-centred care is necessary if this widely preferred model is to be differentiated from other health care ideals and properly evaluated as appropriate to the care of hospitalized children. The article identifies distinguishable interpretations of family-centred care that can pull health professionals in different, sometimes conflicting directions. Some of these interpretations are not qualitatively different from robust interpretations of the ideals of parental participation, care-by-parent and partnership in care that are said to be the precursors of family-centred care. A prominent interpretation that regards the child and his or her family collectively as the 'unit of care' arguably arises from ambiguity and is significantly problematic as a model for the care of hospitalized children. Clinical practice driven by this interpretation can include courses of action that do no...
Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 2017
A response to the commentaries on "A role for philosophers, sociologists and bioethicist... more A response to the commentaries on "A role for philosophers, sociologists and bioethicists in revising the DSM".
Journal of bioethical inquiry, Jan 15, 2017
Non-medical sex selection is premised on the notion that the sexes are not interchangeable. Studi... more Non-medical sex selection is premised on the notion that the sexes are not interchangeable. Studies of individuals who undergo sex selection for non-medical reasons, or who have a preference for a son or daughter, show that they assume their child will conform to the stereotypical roles and norms associated with their sex. However, the evidence currently available has not succeeded in showing that the gender traits and inclinations sought are caused by a "male brain" or a "female brain". Therefore, as far as we know, there is no biological reason why parents cannot have the kind of parenting experience they seek with a child of any sex. Yet gender essentialism, a set of unfounded assumptions about the sexes which pervade society and underpin sexism, prevents parents from realising this freedom. In other words, unfounded assumptions about gender constrain not only a child's autonomy, but also the parent's. To date, reproductive autonomy in relation to sex ...
Journal of Medical Ethics, 2016
A new technique called non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has been developed, which can detect ... more A new technique called non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has been developed, which can detect a range of genetic and chromosomal diseases, as well as fetal sex earlier, more easily and more reliably. NIPT, therefore, potentially expands the market for sex determination and sex selective abortion. This paper argues that both practices should be prevented by not including fetal sex in prenatal test reports. This is because there is a discrepancy between what parents are concerned with (gender) and what the prenatal test can provide (sex). The paper first presents arguments, which indicate a difference between sex and gender before presenting parental motivations for sex selection and sex determination to show that parents are not concerned with their child's sex chromosomes, or even their genitalia, but the gender role that their child will espouse. That, however, is not something that a prenatal test can provide. We are thus left with a situation in which what parents are told, and what they think they are being told, are two different things. In other words, as the conflation of sex with gender is implicit in the disclosure of fetal sex, it may be more accurate to refer to it as misinformation. This misinformation promotes sexism via gender essentialism, which is neither in the interests of the future child nor society.
Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 2014
Eftychis Frangedakis 2021. Anthoceros agrestis (hornwort) transformation v01. protocols.io protoc... more Eftychis Frangedakis 2021. Anthoceros agrestis (hornwort) transformation v01. protocols.io protocols.io
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Papers by Tamara Kayali Browne
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