In Western industrialized societies, women have also become increasingly socialized into an acceptance of technical knives. We know about knives that can heal…. But we also know about other knives: the knife that cuts off our toes so that our feet will fit into elegant shoes, the knife that cuts out ribs to fit our bodies into corsets, the knife that slices through our labia in episiotomies and other forms of genital mutilation, the knife that cuts into our abdomens to remove our ovaries to cure our “deviant tendencies,” the knife that removes our breasts in prophylactic or unnecessary radical mastectomies, the knife that cuts out our “useless bag” (the womb) if we’re the wrong color and poor or if we’ve “outlived our fertility,” the knife that makes the “bikini cut” across our pregnant bellies to facilitate the cesarean section that will allow the obstetrician to go on holiday. We know these knives well.