My Breasts Were a Scapegoat

Video Essay on Trans Mastectomy from a Trauma Survivor and Detrans Perspective

Here is a video essay I recorded in spring, 2022. It was just the usual night for me, hanging out nude in my hot little apartment as I processed over a decade of complex trauma, I once again found my mind turning to my body and the reality I live with of having my breasts surgically removed when I was 20 and suicidal, thinking it would help relieve “gender dysphoria”, which it did not.

This video essay describes the vulnerably and depressing reality our young women and girls face when they attempt to relieve mental health issues through gender-affirming surgery, as whatever body parts they happened to project onto, in my case, my breasts, acted as scapegoats, and as any trauma survivor knows, the body keeps the score.