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Alice Dreger Quotes

Purposefully exposing young people to increased risks of major brain problems - even death - for sport is surely even more ethically complicated than sending young people into this same neurological danger zone as soldiers Picture Quote #1

I do work half time as a historian of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and I started my career with work in the 19th century Picture Quote #1

I don’t have the panic I used to have, meeting people who are androgynous, but when you meet someone whose identity is unclear, that throws your own identity into flux because the way we treat each other is very gendered Picture Quote #1

Surely, sport is not fundamentally about the safety of athletes. If it were, we’d probably have to ban professional football, right after boxing Picture Quote #1

So many times I’ve heard people say that the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples won’t really change anything other than some legal and financial stuff. It’s a dumb argument: those legal and financial effects matter Picture Quote #1

If we have a situation where a man is particularly graceful in a sport that rewards grace - say, for example, figure skating - why is it that we don’t say to the man, ‘Well, you’re too feminine to compete?’... I don’t understand why we don’t find it offensive also to say to a women who’s very strong, ‘You’re too masculine to compete.’ Picture Quote #1

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I don’t know what has caused this reawakening in academia. Obama? The GOP’s assaults on science and on patients? Jon Stewart? I’m not at all sure. I just know I don’t feel nearly as alone in academia as I used to. I’m feeling increasingly surrounded by fellow Ph.D.’s and by M.D.’s who seem to be taking a lot of things personally Picture Quote #1

Fact-checking doesn’t exist primarily because some of us are liars and cheats. It exists because writers will be writers, much as they may mean to be historians Picture Quote #1

Many medical students, like most American patients, confuse science and technology. They think that what it means to be a scientific doctor is to bring to bear the maximum amount of technology on any given patient. And this makes them dangerous Picture Quote #1

A hospital may spend several million dollars separating a pair of conjoined twins even though that separation is likely to leave them worse off Picture Quote #1

You want a child who never makes you anything but proud? Please. Don’t bother taking on parenthood if you can’t handle the fact that sometimes your child’s identity won’t be what you would have chosen. And if you want to prevent a child from ever suffering? Well, then don’t have a child. No one is born into the world never to suffer Picture Quote #1

According to my mother, there pretty much wasn’t anything I wouldn’t eat as a child. Not just try, but eat. I was even inclined to dig into stuff about which she expressed open disgust - lobster and other shellfish, and cheap Chinese food with pepper so hot it made your gums feel like a medieval dentist had been at them Picture Quote #1

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You know what Oprah taught me? Unless you count as changing your life having a neighborhood dad say to you every morning at the school bus stop, ‘You sure don’t look as good as you did on ‘Oprah!’, being on ‘Oprah’ doesn’t change your life Picture Quote #1

A democratic medical establishment does not alter people’s bodies to fit regressive social norms; it advocates for patients by demanding the social body get its act together Picture Quote #1

When I ask my medical students to describe their image of a woman who elects to birth with a midwife rather than with an obstetrician, they generally describe a woman who wears long cotton skirts, braids her hair, eats only organic vegan food, does yoga, and maybe drives a VW microbus Picture Quote #1

My mother has told so many times the unbelievable story of how, as a toddler, I would demand raw onions and eat them like apples, I think that, at this juncture, it is a story that just has to be believed Picture Quote #1

Regardless of the cultural system, social pressure to appear straight seems to be fairly intense cross-culturally. Indeed, one is inclined to wonder, if being straight is just natural, why does it require quite so much policing? Picture Quote #1

Being a parent of a boy who wants to wear sparkles and grow his hair long - especially when you don’t know where it’s all going to go - it’s hard stuff. I’m not being politically incorrect in acknowledging that, am I? Picture Quote #1

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I actually completely suck at being a bioethicist. What I do is history of medicine and patient advocacy. Patient advocacy is actually the opposite of bioethics, because bioethicists are the people who increasingly set up and justify the systems we patient advocates have to fight Picture Quote #1

Doctors and scientists, being part of that two-sex culture, have done everything they can to try to force people who are in-between into one of the two clear types. Intersex people themselves have also generally wanted to fit into one of the two clear categories; most are not interested in being in a ‘third’ type Picture Quote #1

Being gay is not a terrible, tragic disease that requires prevention or treatment chosen for you by your parents Picture Quote #1

Using medicine in the service of cosmesis is generally bad for patients, bad for doctors, and bad for democracy. The only exceptions are when we know the intervention will actually reduce suffering, as with a primary cleft lip repair Picture Quote #1

After I dropped out of college at the age of 19, I became a mortgage broker, and when I went back to school I thought about going into real estate law. I probably would have made a lot more money and died of boredom by now Picture Quote #1

Doctors are human animals. They want to be loved, they are tribal, they instinctually favor stories over scientific evidence, they make mistakes, and even small gifts make them susceptible to being biased. If we took doctors seriously as human animals, we might hurt them - and they might hurt us - a lot less Picture Quote #1

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Doctors are human animals. They want to be loved, they are tribal, they instinctually favor stories over scientific evidence, they make mistakes, and even small gifts make them susceptible to being biased Picture Quote #1

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Text Quotes

Purposefully exposing young people to increased risks of major brain problems - even death - for sport is surely even more ethically complicated than sending young people into this same neurological danger zone as soldiers. (Alice Dreger Quotes) I do work half time as a historian of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and I started my career with work in the 19th century. (Alice Dreger Quotes) I don’t have the panic I used to have, meeting people who are androgynous, but when you meet someone whose identity is unclear, that throws your own identity into flux because the way we treat each other is very gendered. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Surely, sport is not fundamentally about the safety of athletes. If it were, we’d probably have to ban professional football, right after boxing. (Alice Dreger Quotes) So many times I’ve heard people say that the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples won’t really change anything other than some legal and financial stuff. It’s a dumb argument: those legal and financial effects matter. (Alice Dreger Quotes) If we have a situation where a man is particularly graceful in a sport that rewards grace - say, for example, figure skating - why is it that we don’t say to the man, ‘Well, you’re too feminine to compete?’... I don’t understand why we don’t find it offensive also to say to a women who’s very strong, ‘You’re too masculine to compete.’ (Alice Dreger Quotes) I don’t know what has caused this reawakening in academia. Obama? The GOP’s assaults on science and on patients? Jon Stewart? I’m not at all sure. I just know I don’t feel nearly as alone in academia as I used to. I’m feeling increasingly surrounded by fellow Ph.D.’s and by M.D.’s who seem to be taking a lot of things personally. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Fact-checking doesn’t exist primarily because some of us are liars and cheats. It exists because writers will be writers, much as they may mean to be historians. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Many medical students, like most American patients, confuse science and technology. They think that what it means to be a scientific doctor is to bring to bear the maximum amount of technology on any given patient. And this makes them dangerous. (Alice Dreger Quotes) A hospital may spend several million dollars separating a pair of conjoined twins even though that separation is likely to leave them worse off. (Alice Dreger Quotes) You want a child who never makes you anything but proud? Please. Don’t bother taking on parenthood if you can’t handle the fact that sometimes your child’s identity won’t be what you would have chosen. And if you want to prevent a child from ever suffering? Well, then don’t have a child. No one is born into the world never to suffer. (Alice Dreger Quotes) According to my mother, there pretty much wasn’t anything I wouldn’t eat as a child. Not just try, but eat. I was even inclined to dig into stuff about which she expressed open disgust - lobster and other shellfish, and cheap Chinese food with pepper so hot it made your gums feel like a medieval dentist had been at them. (Alice Dreger Quotes) You know what Oprah taught me? Unless you count as changing your life having a neighborhood dad say to you every morning at the school bus stop, ‘You sure don’t look as good as you did on ‘Oprah!’, being on ‘Oprah’ doesn’t change your life. (Alice Dreger Quotes) A democratic medical establishment does not alter people’s bodies to fit regressive social norms; it advocates for patients by demanding the social body get its act together. (Alice Dreger Quotes) When I ask my medical students to describe their image of a woman who elects to birth with a midwife rather than with an obstetrician, they generally describe a woman who wears long cotton skirts, braids her hair, eats only organic vegan food, does yoga, and maybe drives a VW microbus. (Alice Dreger Quotes) My mother has told so many times the unbelievable story of how, as a toddler, I would demand raw onions and eat them like apples, I think that, at this juncture, it is a story that just has to be believed. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Regardless of the cultural system, social pressure to appear straight seems to be fairly intense cross-culturally. Indeed, one is inclined to wonder, if being straight is just natural, why does it require quite so much policing? (Alice Dreger Quotes) Being a parent of a boy who wants to wear sparkles and grow his hair long - especially when you don’t know where it’s all going to go - it’s hard stuff. I’m not being politically incorrect in acknowledging that, am I? (Alice Dreger Quotes) I actually completely suck at being a bioethicist. What I do is history of medicine and patient advocacy. Patient advocacy is actually the opposite of bioethics, because bioethicists are the people who increasingly set up and justify the systems we patient advocates have to fight. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Doctors and scientists, being part of that two-sex culture, have done everything they can to try to force people who are in-between into one of the two clear types. Intersex people themselves have also generally wanted to fit into one of the two clear categories; most are not interested in being in a ‘third’ type. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Being gay is not a terrible, tragic disease that requires prevention or treatment chosen for you by your parents. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Using medicine in the service of cosmesis is generally bad for patients, bad for doctors, and bad for democracy. The only exceptions are when we know the intervention will actually reduce suffering, as with a primary cleft lip repair. (Alice Dreger Quotes) After I dropped out of college at the age of 19, I became a mortgage broker, and when I went back to school I thought about going into real estate law. I probably would have made a lot more money and died of boredom by now. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Doctors are human animals. They want to be loved, they are tribal, they instinctually favor stories over scientific evidence, they make mistakes, and even small gifts make them susceptible to being biased. If we took doctors seriously as human animals, we might hurt them - and they might hurt us - a lot less. (Alice Dreger Quotes) Doctors are human animals. They want to be loved, they are tribal, they instinctually favor stories over scientific evidence, they make mistakes, and even small gifts make them susceptible to being biased. (Alice Dreger Quotes)