{"id":8419,"date":"2018-04-14T18:03:30","date_gmt":"2018-04-15T01:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8419"},"modified":"2018-04-27T18:08:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-28T01:08:16","slug":"tongue-splitting-bodily-harm-and-human-dignity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8419","title":{"rendered":"Tongue splitting, bodily harm, and human dignity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bioedge.org\/bioethics\/tongue-splitting-bodily-harm-and-human-dignity\/12649?\"><strong>BioEdge<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"author\">Xavier Symons<\/p>\n<p>Contemporary cosmetic surgery has become a tool for realising bizarre personal fantasies. Sometimes it also leads to significant bodily harm.\u00a0&#8220;Tongue-splitting&#8221; is an operation whereby a person\u2019s tongue is split from the tip to as far back as the underside base. The operation has become a common alteration for body-modification enthusiasts, who say it heightens their sense of taste and touch.<\/p>\n<p>Some jurisdictions, however, have enacted a ban on the procedure. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-england-london-41519892\">The operation<\/a> can be painful, and can temporarily impede one\u2019s capacity for speech.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent post on the blog <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk\/2018\/04\/tongue-splitting-nipple-excision-and-ear-removal-why-prosecute-the-operator-but-not-the-customer\/\"> Practical Ethics<\/a>, UK lawyer Charles Foster considers the legality and ethics of the procedure.<\/p>\n<p>Foster discusses the case of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bailii.org\/cgi-bin\/format.cgi?doc=\/ew\/cases\/EWCA\/Civ\/2018\/560.html&amp;query=(2018)+AND+(EWCA)+AND+(Crim)+AND+(560)\"> R v BM<\/a>, where a Wolverhampton tattooist was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a patient after splitting their tongue. Even though the customer consented, the court found that consent was not a defence against having inflicted grievous bodily harm.<\/p>\n<p>Foster argues that the ruling represents a defence of basic human dignity, which transcends the ambit of personal autonomy:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"blockquote\">[The ruling] is a salutary reminder that there are limits to the law\u2019s protection of personal autonomy. Factors other than autonomy are in play in the criminal law. I have argued elsewhere that the primary factor (and the foundational factor in the criminal law \u2013 in which all other factors, including autonomy, are rooted) is human dignity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Indeed, Foster argues that in harming another, one does violence to one\u2019s own human dignity:<\/p>\n<p class=\"blockquote\">One might say that X causing injury to Y is doubly culpable because in doing so X outrages not only Y\u2019s dignity but also his own (X\u2019s) dignity&#8230;dignity is \u2018Janus-faced\u2019.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-8343 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/consciencelaws.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/common.jpg\" alt=\"Tongue splitting, bodily harm, and human dignity\" width=\"110\" height=\"39\" \/>This article is published by Xavier Symons and BioEdge under a Creative Commons licence. You may republish it or translate it free of charge with attribution for non-commercial purposes following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bioedge.org\/index.php\/bioethics\/copyright_and_syndication\"> these guidelines<\/a>. If you teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation to BioEdge. Commercial media must <a href=\"mailto:michael@bioedge.org\"> contact BioEdge<\/a> for permission and fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BioEdge Xavier Symons Contemporary cosmetic surgery has become a tool for realising bizarre personal fantasies. Sometimes it also leads to significant bodily harm.\u00a0&#8220;Tongue-splitting&#8221; is an operation whereby a person\u2019s tongue is split from the tip to as far back as the underside base. The operation has become a common alteration for body-modification enthusiasts, who say &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8419\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Tongue splitting, bodily harm, and human dignity&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,336],"tags":[134,3425],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-surgery","tag-dignity","tag-tongue-splitting"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>Tongue splitting, bodily harm, and human dignity - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8419\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tongue splitting, bodily harm, and human dignity - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BioEdge Xavier Symons Contemporary cosmetic surgery has become a tool for realising bizarre personal fantasies. Sometimes it also leads to significant bodily harm.\u00a0&#8220;Tongue-splitting&#8221; is an operation whereby a person\u2019s tongue is split from the tip to as far back as the underside base. 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