Feminist Philosophy Reading Group

Only one class in Carnegie Mellon University’s philosophy department, Intro to Political… Only one class in Carnegie Mellon University’s philosophy department, Intro to Political Philosophy, discusses feminism, and for only one day, according to Joanna Tamburino and Leslie Jumper.

Unsatisfied with the single-day discussion, in which they said the professor only showed the two extremes of feminists, graduate students Tamburino and Jumper started the Feminist Philosophy Reading Group this spring semester for a few reasons. They said that no reading groups existed in CMU’s philosophy department, and they felt the women did not have good interactions with the men in the department.

“There are many shades of feminism,” explained Tamburino, who says the group tries to stay away from the political and activist sides of feminism, instead discussing the philosophy of feminists. “We are doing academic feminism.”

“I don’t want to say [a feminist in the 21st century] is the working woman, per se, but one who is autonomous,” Jumper said. “We want to say it is women who work, but at the same time, women at home also face [social injustices].”

The feminist of the 21st century claims “autonomy, and takes it back, since [women] are born without it,” Tamburino said.

Jumper added that the most common misconception the public has about feminists is that they are “man-hating.”

“We are not about blame, but describing what the state of affairs is,” Jumper said.

Another misconception the group faces “is that philosophy and the notions are inaccessible to others, and there is no application to real life,” Tamburino said.

Tamburino and Jumper choose each month’s readings based on certain issues in moral and political philosophy that interest them, and they look at the feminist aspects of the readings.

The reading group met last Friday in a small conference room in CMU’s philosophy department. Tamburino and Jumper facilitated the discussion, among four undergraduates, of Monica J. Casper’s article, “The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery.”

Fetal surgery, as defined by Children’s Hospital Boston’s Web site, “is the surgical treatment of a fetus with certain life-threatening congenital abnormalities. Surgical intervention during pregnancy on the fetus is meant to correct problems that would be too advanced to correct after birth.”

During an ultrasound, doctors can tell whether a fetus is not going to make it to delivery or much longer after birth.

During the discussion, Tamburino and Jumper pointed out that the woman is not always aware of what will happen to her body during and after the operation, because helping the fetus is the main concern. Jumper said that a healthy woman is exposed to infection, disease, and most likely will not be able to have kids again, “all to help the fetus that doesn’t have rights.”

When a woman undergoes fetal surgery, the idea is to “make the fetus the best it can be,” Jumper said. This causes the woman, seen solely as a vessel carrying the fetus, to be regarded as less important, she added.

The group discussed “what is the person” — person meaning something that has rights — “the fetus or the mother,” when doctors suggest fetal surgery?

“The fetus isn’t a person because it’s not rational and not legal until it is born, according to many feminists,” Jumper said.

“But women choose to do this,” argued undergraduate Lexi Kamauff.

“Do they have the choice?” asked Jumper. “You lose yourself as a person because you are pregnant.”

Kamauff said that the mother would want to protect her child.

“We’re not against pregnancy,” Tamburino said. “Because of the way society is structured, women lose their rights because they are pregnant, and they don’t have a choice as far as what society’s preconceived conceptions are.”

“Feminism argues that the fetus is [the woman’s] when [she is] pregnant, but women are vulnerable because society says the woman’s fetus is not just [hers],” said Jumper. “If all women said the fetus was only theirs and that they had autonomy over it, then fetal surgery wouldn’t be a problem. The problem is most women do not feel this way.”

Women need to be well informed about the risks and benefits of fetal surgery, according to Tamburino.

Tamburino and Jumper want to see their reading group continue after this semester, since they will be leaving at the end of the school year.

“It is good that women think about these issues, because half of the problem is, women don’t know about them,” Jumper said.

The group meets once a month, with the next discussion coming up on March 19. Call CMU’s philosophy department at (412) 268-8568 for more information. Pitt students are welcome.