Commodification of the Human Body

At the beginning of the twenty-first century the uses of the human body, its organs, tissues and cells are increasingly diversified. One can observe the worldwide presence of old uses and misuses of the human body, such as prostitution, organ trafficking, human trafficking but more and more also new forms of commodification, such as surrogacy and the sale of eggs. In biomedical research, in stem-cell research, and in assisted reproduction, the human body is needed to fulfill various scientific and commercial purposes ranging from essential life-saving treatments to aesthetic enhancement. Reflecting on these complex phenomena, this course will apply human-rights and gender-studies approaches to analyze academic texts and judicial cases on the commodification and commercialization of the human body in biobanks, tissueand organ donation, biotechnological inventions, organ and egg trade, organ trafficking and tourism, and trafficking of women. These topics will provide a rich repertoire of social and legal questions for the lectures, seminars and film sessions during the winter semester.

Assessment: Evaluation: active participation in seminar discussion (10% of the final grade), based on the required readings and seminar presentations (20% of the final grade); and a written take home essay (with a length of appr.12,000-14, 000 characters) (70 % of the final grade).

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Encouraging students to analyze the gender component in legal cases about the human body 2. Developing analytical skills in the field of reproductive rights and commercialization of the human body 3. Strengthening the students' capacity to understand and analyze relevant legal cases on commodification, organ, and egg trade 4. Assessing the impact of new commercial challenges on gender, minorities, and future generations Basic reading materials for the course: Braun, Kathrin (2011) Between Self-Determination and Social Technology.Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag Donna Dickenson (2007) Property in the Body.Cambridge University Press Dickenson, Donna (1997)

COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS
Week One -January 8-10 2020 The Human Body and the Law: Introduction to Scope and Methods Human beings are legal subjects, and their bodies and body parts are potentially legal objects.The human body constitutes the physical embodiment of the self, inextricable from our very being.It is potentially a laborer, performing different functions essential to fulfill the goals of the person and cannot itself be property.But human bodies include and produce commodities, spare parts available for occasional donation for therapeutic, research and even commercial uses.
The emergence of various reproductive technologies (such as in vitro fertilization, gamete donation, sex selection, surrogacy, cloning, or pre-implantation genetic tests) is often perceived inconsistently by the general public as well as by policy-makers.Moreover, social recognition and acceptability also changes as our views on biological and social kinship evolve.In addition to the discussion of new reproductive rights and choices, policies on contraception, abortion and sterilization will also be analyzed through academic literature and prominent legal cases.

Required:
Nancy Ehrenreich (1996)"The Colonization of the Womb" in: D. Kelly Weisberg (1996) Sex Due to the development of transplant surgery and medicine, human kidneys, hearts, lungs, livers, pancreases, intestines, corneas, skin, cardiovascular tissue, bones, veins, cartilage, have become all transplantable today, and stem cells, blood, platelets, sperm, eggs, and embryos are all transferable from one human body for use in another.These new technologies have created increased demand for human organs and tissues in such a magnitude that needs for organs are often fulfilled by illegal cross-border trade and even by organ trafficking.This phenomenon raises issues of international justice, enforcement and legal harmonization.The most widespread form of human trafficking involves involuntary sexual servitude, which includes forcing trafficking victims into prostitution.

Required:
Siddharth Kara ( 2009 Transplant tourism is a frequently organized global process.There are several internet sites that advertise "transplant packages", which can include the organ, transplant, travel, hotel stay, and medical care.The countries in which the transplantations are performed facilitate the operations.Often the transplant is performed in a hospital environment with a qualified physician.It gives to the clients the impression that everything is legal.
prohibition.Considering the wide range of other reproductive technologies, we must conclude that these also involve third persons different from the raising parents, namely the gamete donors.Such procedures include assisted insemination with donor sperm, fertilisation in vitro with egg; embryo donation is authorised as well.Examining individual causes of infertility, we find the weird contradiction that the reproductive rights of a woman who has an egg but no uterus are recognised to a lesser extent than those of a woman who has a uterus but no egg or for whom it is more difficult to conceive a child.

Ranee
Khooshie Lal Panjabi (2010) The Sum of A Human's Parts: Global Organ Trafficking in the Twenty-First Century In: 28 Pace Envtl.L. Rev. 1 Phil Dyer and Shelagh McGuinnes (2011) The allocation of organs: the need for fairness and transparency in: Anne-Maree Farrell, David Price, Muireann Quigley (2011) Organ Shortage Ethics, Law and Pragmatism Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 122-138.Nancy Scheper-Hughes the Ends of the Body: Neocannibalism and Military (2015) in: In: Jean-Daniel Rainhorm, Samira El Boudamoussi New Cannibal Markets Globalization and Commodification of the Human Body: Éditions de la maison des sciences de l' home, Foundation Brocher Paris 243-263.Margaret Lock (2002) The Social Life of Human Organs.In Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death.Berkeley: University of California Press, 315

Organ Trade, Organ Trafficking
Becausethe ideal form of motherhood is unattainable for most women, women are set up to constantly attempt and consistently fail at modeling themselves according to this ideal.The ideal mother is also used to justify restrictions and legal interventions on women's liberties and citizenship.
, Violence, Work, and Reproduction Applications of Feminist Legal Theory to Women's Lives Temple University Press Philadelphia 895-907 Judit Sándor (2015) Commodified Bodies: is it a Gender Issue?In: Jean-Daniel Rainhorm, Week Three -January 22-24, 2020Law and MotherhoodNancy Chodorow has noted that being a mother means something more than the physical act of bearing a child; it also means socializing and nurturing that child.
) Sex trafficking Inside the Business of Modern Slavery New York: