New Book Challenges Perceptions of Anatomical Differences

"Why not change minds instead of bodies?"

That's the question Michigan State University's Alice D. Dreger poses in "One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal," a book that challenges the way so-called "normal" people perceive those with "abnormal" anatomies.

In "One of Us," Dreger, an associate professor of science and technology in MSU's Lyman Briggs School of Science and faculty associate in MSU's Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, looks at the history, ethics and cultural meanings of our attitude toward people whose bodies don't conform to what is generally considered normal.

She said one of her goals with the book is to get people to think more broadly about the way that science is challenging our traditional understanding of what a "normal" body means.

"One of Us" (Harvard University Press) focuses much of its attention on conjoined twins, or what used to be known as "Siamese twins." However, Dreger said she uses the examples of conjoined twins to relate to other types of anatomies not considered normal, including intersex, dwarfism and giantism.

"I use conjoinment as a lens to understand what our bodies mean to ourselves " and what they should mean in terms of our social rights and our medical care," she said. "Today, there's a lot of interest in conjoined twins. What I'd like to do is harness that interest to a serviceable end."

Starting with Chang and Eng Bunker, the conjoined-twin brothers from Siam who became celebrities in the 19th century, "One of Us" provides a look at the history and cultural meanings surrounding perceptions of "abnormal" anatomy. It also provides thought-provoking insight into the ethics of trying to change these anatomies to better conform to what is considered normal.

"Sometimes separating conjoined twins is the right choice and sometimes it's not," she said. "What makes it acceptable? There are a lot of questions that have to be asked before you separate, including what the children themselves might want, were they to grow up conjoined. In most cases, historically speaking, conjoined twins haven't chosen to be separated."

Today, one in 50,000 to 200,000 births are conjoined twins. Most of those, perhaps 75 percent, die shortly after birth. Increasingly, conjoined twins are aborted after being diagnosed during pregnancy.

In addition to offering historical and ethical perspectives on conjoined twins and other different anatomies, "One of Us" also peeks ahead to the 21st century. In the final chapter of the book, titled "The Future of Anatomy," Dreger quotes W.E.B. DuBois's assertion that the problem of the 20th century was the problem of the color line.

"I think the problem of the 21st century is the anatomy and identity line," she said. "What is it going to mean to take those old assumptions and throw our new knowledge at it? Given what we're learning from science and what anatomy does and doesn't know, how will we organize our social world?"

The title of the book comes from the 1932 cult film "Freaks," a story that tells of a normal-bodied woman who joins a circus sideshow troupe populated by a variety of unusual-anatomied people, including conjoined twins. By the end of the film, with the circus troupe chanting "one of us," the woman has become one of the sideshow exhibits.

Dreger, an MSU faculty member since 1996, also is the author of "Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex," also published by Harvard University Press.