Women should be allowed to make decisions about surgically altering their bodies in ways that don’t fit the conventionally attractive mold.
Want to have a mastectomy?
“What would your future husband think?!”
“But how are you going to nurse when you’re a mother?!”
“Let me talk to you about reconstructive options so you still look pretty!”
No. No, no, no. Fuck that noise.
My Nana had to get a mastectomy for breast cancer, and was pressured into reconstructive surgery. Now her cancer is back, and it never would have returned if she’d had a total mastectomy with no reconstruction.
My future husband has already agreed to help me through recovery for my own mastectomy. And I never, ever want to be a mother. Which brings me to my second point:
Hysterectomies are a hugely life-altering operation, but the vast majority of people who get them know what they want.
“But how are you going to have babies in the future?”
“What will your future husband think?!”
Honey, on the very, very, very slim chance I ever want to have kids, I still don’t want to go through pregnancy and childbirth. I’ll adopt. God knows there are plenty of kids out there who need a good home.
And seriously… when does a man get any say in what I want to do with my body?