The Master of Arts in Medical Humanities & Bioethics
Presents
A Montgomery Lecture
With
Lisa Campo-Engelstein, PhD
Associate Professor and Associate Director
Alden March Bioethics Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Albany Medical College
No More Clitting Around: Let’s Talk about Clitoris Transplants
In the last two decades transplants for sexual and reproductive organs—specifically allogenic transplantations of the uterus, ovary, and penis—have emerged as yet another type of quality of life transplants. Yet no one is discussing clitoris transplantation. Why not? While there may be some medical factors at play, I believe at least part of the answer is simply that culturally we discount women’s sexuality. In other words, the idea of clitoris transportation has not been explored because we as a society do not value women’s sexual pleasure. We do, in contrast, strongly value women’s fertility (hence the attention to uterus and ovary transplantation) and women’s sexual appeal for the male gaze (hence the increase genital surgeries like labiaplasty and vaginal “rejuvenation” focused on improving aesthetics and experience for men). Furthermore, men’s virility and the existence of “normal” male genitalia is extremely important on the social level, which is why penis transplants have received so much attention. There is growing attention to female sexuality (dys)function as well as continuing global advocacy against female genital cutting, so perhaps clitoris transplantation will become a reality if we as a society place more value on women’s sexuality and sexual pleasure.
Cost: FREE