Homework on Little, Cosmetic surgery, suspect norms, and the ethics of complicity


Please read the entire article before answering the following questions. Your answers must be in your own words

1. a. State a conditional that best captures and clarifies the author's general views about inappropriate standards of beauty. It should look something like, "If _______, then a standard of beauty is unjust." Your answer should give a general rule that the author would apply to any standard of beauty to say when it is unjust, and not just apply to the specific standards the author discusses in the paper. (2pts)
b. Do you agree that such beauty standards are somehow morally problematic? If so, in what way and why? You should articulate your ideas using the terms we've used in class (e.g. using "wrong" or "bad" or "rights")? If you don't think they are morally problematic, why not? (2pts)

2a. Is the author claiming that any individual act of surgery that is "complicitous" makes a big difference to the overall unjust practices in which the doctor is complicit? Why or why not? (1pt)
b. Give an example (not discussed by the author) where it is at least somewhat plausible that a person does something morally wrong by being "complicit" in an unjust practice, but does not make a big difference to the overall unjust practice in which they are complicit. (Don't repeat your answers from question 4) (1pt)

3. The author seems to think that the sorts of unjust practices that surgeons can be complicit in affect (for example) women's ability to consent. What aspect of the necessary components of consent do these practices affect (e.g. competence, being informed, being uncoerced)? How are they supposed to affect consent? Do you agree with the author on this? (2pt)

4. Explain one way in which the issue of complicity might manifest in :
a. the treatment of deaf children. (1pt)
b. gender reassignment therapies for adolescents. (1pt)