Body Worlds
Filed under: Heebie Jeebies - December 13, 2007 @ 6:42 am
I went to see the Body Worlds exhibit at the St. Louis Science Center the other day. Talk about Heebie Jeebies! I had to keep reminding myself that I was surrounded by dead bodies - they looked fake to me, like huge Visible Man models.
Naturally there is a lot of controversy surrounding the exhibit. One example:
In an ethical analysis, Thomas Hibbs, Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Culture at Baylor University, compares cadaver displays to pornography in that they reduce the subject to “the manipulation of body parts stripped of any larger human significance.”
Um, I thought pornography was anything people get off on. Guess Hibbs finds the exhibit arousing. I have to admit it was interesting to see all the cocks and balls stripped of their skin (hey, they’re ALL cut!) and pepperoni nipples and little muscle buttholes. Seriously, I haven’t seen that much cock since the last orgy I attended.
The most curious thing was how they had the fetuses curtained off from the rest of the exhibit. I guess they think people can handle seeing a man holding his own skin or people in elaborate dance poses sliced into three chunks, but fetuses in jars might be a bit too much for the general public to stand.
Margaret Cho wrote a fabulous post about this very topic a couple years ago. An excerpt:
There are few women’s bodies in the exhibit of hundreds of specimens. When the corpses are female, they are active participants in the exchange of womanhood. There is a large barrier put up between the main exhibit concealing the small aisle focusing on the uterus and fetal development. A large disclaimer is placed next to the entrance, explaining that the corpses on display, pregnant women and their embryos, in different stages of development, were all people who had died of natural causes or accidents. It fell just short of saying, “No women or children were killed for educational purposes.â€Â
That is so dumb. We didn’t need that assurance coming into the Body Worlds show, because we assume that the human beings on parade gladly gave themselves to science for our edification. They are not victimized by our gaze or our curiosity. However, the gender of the specimen changes, and all hell breaks loose.
December 13th, 2007 at 10:50 am
That is so dumb. We didn’t need that assurance coming into the Body Worlds show, because we assume that the human beings on parade gladly gave themselves to science for our edification.
I thought I read that more than a few were unknown Chinese political prisoners.
December 13th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Jesse, There is another touring group that comes from China–and there is some suspicion of ethical problems with that tour. The Body Worlds exhibits appear to have been carefully documented to avoid those types of suspicions.
December 13th, 2007 at 11:24 am
The link in the first paragraph of the post is to a Wiki page about it, detailing all the controversies. There are feminist, religious, ethical objections galore.
But yeah, this exhibit is clean as far as all bodies being voluntarily donated to science. I actually watched the DVD on the process. The German scientist in charge of the whole thing is all artsy and always wears a trademark hat. One wonders what sort of DNA can be found on that hat…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunther_von_Hagens
December 15th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Ooooooh, I saw this in Boston last year. I remember being nervous has walked in…. it was so unreal, creative, and beautiful.
This certainly did not reflect my experience of viewing the cadaver in Anatomy and Physiology class. Eeek!!
December 16th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Hey that’s one thing good about Body Worlds exhibit - it didn’t smell.