Conjoined Twins

In the Clark essay, he address the pressure for conjoined twins to assimilate to "normalcy". In other words, conjoined twins are pressured into being a single identity, like all of their peers. In the essay it discusses the documentary of Dao and Duan, who were separated at the age of three. The documentary implies that separating the twins was the "best" choice for the girls. But how are we to decide what is best for these twins? What medical examiners, and society think is best is to be the most normal. But in the case of Chang and Eng, the two brothers bounced back and forth between the decision of seperating. The document even states that the girls were suffering from some anxiety after their surgery. The fact the social norms have such a huge impact on conjoined twins to be a "normal" person shows just how deviant society views these individuals. It also brings up the question of whether both twins get to live if they are separated. In the case of Duan and Dao, only one of the girls had a high chance of surviving. In cases of a high risks of mortality, who makes the decision to ultimately end one of the twins lives? This essay reminded me of a movie, "Stuck On You". It is about conjoined twins who decide to separate, and it is not until after their surgery do they realize that they never wanted to be separated in the first place. It's a horrible movie. However, it does bring to light the very taboo topic of conjoined twins. It also raises the question of weather or not seperating the twins is ultimately the right choice for both of these individuals, or if it is just perpetuating social "norms"