Uncivil Liberties
on the Hostility of Expressive Individualism
Have you heard of Body Integrity Dysphoria? This condition only recently got its new name. Formerly, it was known as Body Integrity Identity Disorder. It is the condition in which an individual comes to feel that he is “differently abled” from those with four normal and healthy limbs, despite the fact that he in fact has four normal and healthy limbs. The person affected adopts an identity in which one or more of his limbs is excluded. Frequently, such individuals pursue options for putting their bodies into the order conceived in their minds, and not a few have successfully had limbs amputated by surgeons to this end.
The name change is indicative of something central. Our understanding of such conditions—or at least the understanding of those who direct the culture from its heights—is evolving. “Disorder,” of course, implies an existing order that can potentially be disrupted by anomaly. “Dysphoria” just means distress. There is no implication of an existing order.
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Alexander T. Riley is a senior fellow at the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization and a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Scholars.
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