Non-normative bodies, rationality, and legal personhood

This article questions how legal personhood is constructed by law. Elective amputation is used as a way of interrogating the institutional, material and discursive relations that combine in order to suspend legal personhood. Elective amputation is introduced in terms of medical and psychological explanations. Additionally, the perspective of self-identified elective amputees who choose to share their stories through online blogs is utilized to gain a narrative sense of how these individuals understand and engage with law. In particular, the areas of disability, sexuality and rationality are used to exemplify law’s continuing commitment to normative embodiment as grounds for ascribing legal personhood.