On requiring unnecessary, invasive exams

I think I have a new hero.

To protest a bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion, Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) on Monday attached an amendment that would require men to have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before obtaining a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication.

“We need some gender equity here,” she told HuffPost. “The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. If we’re going to do that to women, why not do that to men?”

CFP: Theorizing the Body, Embodiment, and Body-Practices

The submission deadline is Feb. 15 for this lovely conference [pdf] of the Canadian Society for Women in Philosophy.  Details are always available at the C-SWIP homepage as well.

Dissolve the APA?

I thought readers may want to know that the question as to why the APA ought to continue to exist has been raised; sure, many American philosophers have privately pondered this, but the question is posed and defended in a serious way by a philosopher tasked with exploring ways to keep the APA afloat.  Our readers are welcome to comment here, but I recommend reading the original post and the responses at the source.

I should note my own bias: Although I’ve been a dues-paying member for fifteen years, I’ve long considered the end of the APA as a good (that is, likely, perhaps even desirable) possibility.