Glorifying double mastectomies - museum exhibition

[BristolW0man]

Artwork on prominent display that glorifies double mastectomies - part of 'Gender Stories' exhibition. This in Bristol's free of charge museum, popular with families and school trips. All funded with the public purse via National Lottery and Arts Council England.

I don't think this should be on display for all to see (different if it's a separate area, but this is in the main hall of the museum) and I certainly don't think public money should be paying for it. AIBU?

https://x.com/JamesEsses/status/1928346229181739240

Those things are illegal so of course they don't belong in an art gallery. No one is committing a crime here.

Stop being obtuse.

The exhibition is rated 14+.

Do you seriously believe a 14 year old shouldn't know what a mastectomy is!?

Do you say this from experience or opinion?
My loved one has never regretted their decision.

I bet they do not explore stories from a remotely gender critical point of view - of how “gender” has created so many very serious problems for women, children and LGB people. And for free speech for that matter.
Because it's the public arts sector AND it's Bristol.

Or because it's about transgender people and their life stories, who tend not to be GC or they wouldn't be bloody transgender would they 🙄

Not everything is a conspiracy.

children will know about this because sadly they have mothers who have cancer - the operation is essential in those cases to sustain life. It’s the lifestyle choice of this operation that is the problem

I've seen two particularly revealing comments by those who want to promote the cult:

1. The normalisation of unnecessary surgery to fix psychological disorder rather than mental health support: "...have hideously painful and hugely invasive surgery just to feel like their body is correct?"

And

2. The wanting to control the situation: "Stay in your lane".

Or because it's about transgender people and their life stories, who tend not to be GC or they wouldn't be bloody transgender would they 🙄
No, it's about Gender, which should allow for a GC pov.

Interestingly it goes the other way though, I know someone who was denied tubal ligation despite being mentally well, in her early thirties, finished with having children, because "you might change your mind later, and what if your children all die in a car accident, you might regret not being able to have a baby then". I kid you not. She said she had thought through all of that, was 100% sure, and was still declined. Incredibly patronizing and an example of gendered discrimination in healthcare (and saving money, of course). DH was given a vasectomy in similar circumstances, no questions asked.

That is so bloody patronising and reduces women to their childbearing potential. Women are a lot more than that.

This is Bristol's biggest museum. It is full of children in half term.
It has a very good dinosaur gallery.

Can you name one thing that makes someone specifically a woman and which isn't in some way related to her being a member of the childbearing sex?

My loved one regrets theirs every day.

Not conspiracy but context.

I agree with this.
Art is subjective as they say, and it's meant to provoke feeling and emotion.
It's not promoting, you don't go and think "you know what, I want to do that!"

Hmm, I doubt there's a viewpoint from detransitioners either. Who may have once felt that a mastectomy was an important part of their life story, but now think very differently.

We are not just walking wombs is what I meant.

I actually find this very upsetting. That they have ignored the vast majority of mastectomies which are for cancer.
Boring old cis women with their cancer just aren’t as rebellious and cool and arty. Not as worthy of a fancy exhibition as people mutualising themselves for their mental health.
Bore off mums with cancer, that’s the message I get.

No, I get that, but what makes someone specifically a woman, other than her female body?

Lots of things make me who I am, but only some of those things make me specifically a woman.

I think promoting is the wrong word, but it is normalising something that shouldn't be normalised.

One person's experience doesn't mean something so irreversible should be a treatment that young people are routinely offered for what is a mental health condition. A huge percentage of those women/girls undergoing bilateral mastectomies have mental health co-morbidities.

I agree with you, therapy and support should always be the priority. We moved away from the Tavistock after feeling it was pushing testosterone too easily, and went down the therapy route first before even discussing the operation. However, it was only the operation that finally became the cure. This was definitely not done without all the softer options first. Sorry if I don't sound as educated as some on here with quotes and big words, I don't have a degree BUT I know with 100% clarity that it was finally the only way for my loved one to move on with their already difficult life. They have never looked back. I do feel for those that have totally regretted it and caused more harm.

That's a very odd message to take from an exhibition about transgender peoples experiences.

The exhibition is not about mastectomies or cancer. It's about being transgender, of which mastectomy is a feature for some, but not others.

Literally no transgender person anywhere is saying bore off mums with cancer

I was astonished and horrified to discover that gender dysphoria is the only mental health condition in the DSM-5 where surgery on the otherwise healthy body is a treatment option.

As a woman (no, not a mum, lost that chance when I got diagnosed, for the foreseeable) with cancer who is about to undergo a mastectomy, I find your take patronising. We are capable of understanding that people have different medical needs than us. Someone else having a mastectomy for a different reason doesn't make my mastectomy any less special or important.

I don't suppose the people promoting this gave women who required surgery for cancer a second thought.
The next installment will be a bearded man with implants out as men can be topless wherever and it's fine to celebrate dysphoria.
Now recruiting children on half-term.