Category Archives: Assignment 3

The concept of having Body Integrity Disorder (BIID) is rather fascinating and somewhat scary. A person with BIID is not satisfied with their god given body and has the desire to become an amputee. For them having say, a right hand, just never felt right and caused intense anxiety. For this person, not having their right hand makes their body the way “it should have been”. This article is a very fascinating interview with “Jason”, a middle aged man who underwent a self amputation in order to rid himself of his right hand. Jason had to stage an accident involving massive power tools in order for his wife, insurance, and everyone in his life to believe that  losing his hand was not intentional (and also done in a way that was non-repairable). To this day, nobody knows the truth about Jason’s “accident” and people have even gone as far as raising money for him, which causes him immense guilt. This whole idea and BIID plays into the idea of stigma as a desire and choice. Generally, most people do not want to be stigmatized, especially the way people with missing limbs are. However, this man has taken his desire for what he deems normalcy (missing a hand) to a whole new level that is hard for me to comprehend. While I understand there is some type of mental disorder behind this action, I still think the entire idea of wanting to be stigmatized and wanting to be part of a sub-group in society bizarre. I almost feel bad for “Jason” who must live a double life, but then I realize this was his doing, and that this is what he wanted overall.