After class on Thursday my mind was still caught up in our conversation about conjoined twins and why they challenge out conceptualization of what is normal. From the presentation we saw, it is obvious that these twins are very rare and therefore the norm is to observe a person as one entity and not physically connected to anyone else. The idea of two people actually being connected to one another confronts our fears of what is not normal. Considering twins that are conjoined, it is hard to think of them as separate beings and therefore so many questions come to mind when we think about the possibility of living as a conjoined twin. In class, the question was asked regarding what makes these individuals abnormal in our minds? I think the concept of abnormal is very complex and there are different degrees of abnormality, so it is hard to think about the abnormality of conjoined twins and not feel an overwhelming amount of confusion.
In reading the article about the McKoy sisters, I found it interesting that they these twins did not mind allowing themselves to be exhibited. However, they did request that no more invasive medical examinations would be performed on them by doctors and medical men. I feel that this is somewhat similar to today's society, in that people will go on TV shows and be represented in the media for "freakish" type behavior. But, you do not see them being brought into hospitals for medical poking and prodding at their freak-like characteristics. Rather, people would just like to see them as a form of entertainment. So between then and now there still hasn't been much change to the entertainment aspect of freaks, but there have been changes to a person's rights over their body. However, I'm not saying that authority is not still imposed over individual's bodies, just that there has been progress in the degree to which authority can be presumed.
-Meghan Ras
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