What Sorts of Marriages?

In addition to the blog entry I put up on this site, whatsortsofpeople.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/california%e2%80%99s-same-sex-marriage-case, I’ve been doing some blogging on The Huffington Post about marriage for same-sex couples in the United States.  These posts can be found at www.huffingtonpost.com/edward-stein. 

Although my scholarship has not heretofore been focused exclusively or primarily on this topic, recent developments in California (where the state Supreme Court held that not allowing same-sex couples to marry violates the state constitution), New York (where the governor and a state appellate court said that the state will recognize valid marriages from other jurisdictions between people of the same sex, e.g., Massachusetts, Canada, The Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, etc.), Michigan (where the state Supreme Court said that state agencies, e.g., universities, could not extend domestic partner benefits to same-sex couples because of a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman), and other states led me to start blogging on this issue.  But for now, the U.S.A.’s bizarre patchwork of recognition and non-recognition for relationships between people of the same-sex helps keep me busy.  When things calm down regarding marriage and related issues, I hope to blog here and on The Huffington Post about other topics as well.

Body Worlds — Opens Friday in Edmonton

BODY WORLDS features authentic human specimens preserved through a revolutionary process called Plastination. This remarkable preservation technique replaces bodily fluids and fat with reactive plastics, thereby preserving human tissue in its natural state. Visitors who embark on this amazing journey below the skin’s surface will view an extensive collection including more than 200 authentic organs, systems and whole-body displays.

Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS exhibitions are the only anatomical exhibits that use donated bodies, willed by donors for the express purpose of serving BODY WORLDS mission to educate the public about health and anatomy. To date, more than 8,000 people have agreed to donate their bodies to BODY WORLDS for Plastination and use in the exhibits. [Source]

The organizers claim that the primary mission of all the BODY WORLDS exhibitions (there are now four, the one opening in Edmonton is the original, with some additions, and was first shown in Tokyo in 1995) is health education. By showing visitors what lies beneath the skin they hope that an understanding and respect for the intricate mechanics involved in the human body will be developed. Further to the goal of health education, the exhibitions juxtapose healthy and unhealthy bodies and organs side by side, most notably plasticized lungs from a smoker and body sections from a clinically obese person.

Additionally, the organizers want to make a comment about just how special every person is: