Mothering Myself: Womb Pains

2016. Video. 

In this video, I consider the relationship between the gender dysphoria and cultural dysphoria I experience as a transgender, Indigenous person. I complete my weekly testosterone injection while I recall my first ever phone call with my mother's sister, my Auntie Shirley. Raised in foster care, I have not at this point in 2016 had contact with my maternal family. This is the first time I hear an older voice that resembles mine.

We discuss her connection to her sister, her mother/my grandmother, and the effects of intergenerational trauma. I consider my future hysterectomy which will render me infertile.