getting teary eyed thinking about gerda gottlieb’s paintings of her wife after she transitioned
thing is, for a lot of these paintings it wasn’t “after” lily elbe’s transition. there was no after to it. the one op posted was painted in 1928. this was 2 years before lily legally changed her name and began undergoing revolutionary gender affirming procedures. unfortunately she died due to complications of an experimental uterine transplant in 1931.
up until that point, during the day lily continued to dress in masculine clothing and even attended galleries showing gottlieb’s paintings of her. which was kind of iconic. she got to stand in a room full of people who were marveling her beauty, not knowing she was right next to them. it must have been such a cute little secret for them as a couple.
here’s gerda and lilly together
not to mention that for most people there is no real “after” to a transition. especially for these trans historical figures who had to balance identity and safety at all times.
i think having a wife paint these portraits must have felt really amazing for lily. to be able to see herself through the eyes of someone who loved her. i’m very much seconding op on the getting teary eyed.
here are some of my favorite gottleib lily paintings
Please note that it wasn’t “quickly”, we’ve been protesting for reproductive rights since decades ago. It took us a lot of work, sweat blood and tears to be where we are today.
A year and a half ago you would be persecuted if you got an abortion outside the few states that had decriminalized it. The cheapest, most available alternatives are: té de ruda (a plant that causes irritation to the gastric membrane and to the kidneys and a risky drug that can cause hemorrhages.
The protest shown here (8 de Marzo 2021) wasn’t just to fight for our reproductive rights, but to protest the femicide epidemic here (11 women a day on average) and the sexist society this country has mantained for centuries.
man i don’t wanna hear about harm reduction anymore. we cast our ballots and we voted our harm reduction candidates in and the harm increasing party is still getting their way. like i cannot stress enough this is all happening under the harm reduction guy. harm reduction was basically his main campaign promise but the harm is still very much going strong and not being reduced
Ok, but what is the other option? Vote for the people who are actively doing the harm?
do you think voting is the only means by which you can affect the world around you
Love it when people act like proving “rape or incest” exceptions for abortion are even possible, lmao
Quick, prove you were raped so you can access an abortion! How? I don’t know! Maybe you’ll have to get a rape test done at the hospital and prove you have sufficient bruising? Maybe it’ll require filing charges? Maybe it’ll require a full ass criminal trial which is gonna take longer than 9 months, lol.
Prove you were a victim of incest! How? I don’t know, because if you’re a victim of incest you might very well be a young child who doesn’t have the emotional strength and knowledge to even describe the abuse that’s happening to you, let alone advocate for your rights. And even if you are an adult, I dare you to go in front of a judge and detail the sexual abuse from you brother/father/uncle and come out of that untraumatised, all to get permission to have access to abortion. Make sure you get the courage up in just a few weeks!
What about threats to life of the mother exceptions? Quick! What’s the line you draw there? If a mother has extremely high blood pressure and diabetes and is at risk of death early enough in the pregnancy, is that enough for a termination? What about if the mother has an ectopic pregnancy? Or do we have to wait until the mother is suffering from sepsis and shock, blood poisoning maybe? Do mental health issues ever factor in?
It is literally impossible to place such restrictions on abortion that actually work, that are feasible and acceptable to those that would otherwise ban abortions outright.
Abortion on demand is the only answer.
Like, we don’t believe women who are raped when nothing is on the line. Why would we believe women when they’re trying to access a restricted medical procedure?!
charlotte | 23 | nb lesbian | they/them | misandrist
