SEXTANT: masculinities, sexualities & decolonialities

ABSTRACT

This piece consists of parallel lines drawn with a ballpoint pen on a folded piece of paper. It is a reflection on motherhood, birth, and pregnancy, and specifically refers to my own traumatic birth and my relationship with my mother. As a queer, trans, Hispanic person, I consider the caesarian section to be a metaphor for a glorious non-“natural” birth, one that historically was used when the foetus was in danger of prenatal or neonatal death. Having survived a neonatal crisis and later mental health issues, I consider my own caesarian birth to be the original trauma, the Lacanian separation-from-the-mother leading to lack. That such a risky procedure is named after the Rubicon-crossing Caesar, whose Latinism has been whitewashed by white supremacists, is emblematic of the risks Hispanics and especially Hispanic mothers and birthing persons take in the hopes that their gambles will pay off.

KEY WOrDS

pregnancy, motherhood, mother-son, mother-daughter, birth

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.