Last month I attended an online event run by Ovacome, the UK’s Ovarian Cancer support charity. It was a screening of the film Trans Dudes with Lady Cancer, followed by a Q&A with the film’s makers and subjects, Yee Won Chong and Brooks Nelson, live from their home in Portland, Oregon, as well as representatives from Ovacome and Live Through This, a UK-based support organisation for LGBTQ+ people affected by cancer.
The short documentary tells the story of these two transmasculine people who live together, along with Brooks’ partner Jeanie and her daughter, and their experiences navigating healthcare when they were diagnosed with breast cancer (Chong) and ovarian cancer (Nelson). As a cis woman who has experienced both of these cancers (albeit in a UK healthcare context) it was incredibly moving to have their experiences laid out in such a clear way, so much of it feeling familiar, and yet so much incredibly different.
Delayed diagnoses for both of these cancers occur in cis women, of course, but this is much more common for trans men, as they are left out of regular screening programmes and may have their symptoms misread for long enough to leave the cancer to advance, making a positive response to treatment less likely. Then once you’re ‘in the system’ and on the treatment treadmill, it’s remarkable how gendered these spaces are, how often Nelson and Chong were misgendered, or met with confused looks by healthcare providers. There are some brilliant healthcare professionals featured in the film, and I get the impression that Portland is one of the more progressive parts of the US, but cancer treatment is hard enough to go through without these extra microaggressions to deal with along the way. And Chong had the triple bind of structural racism, something they also touch on in the film.
I found it interesting to hear Chong talk about the differences he felt having top surgery, and then a double mastectomy following his diagnosis. This is a conversation I’ve had with trans friends before and I think there needs to be more understanding of the different responses these two surgeries elicit. It reminds me of the people who carelessly refer to reconstructive surgery after cancer as ‘a free boob job’. The way both men surrounded themselves with their ‘chosen family’ also resonated with me, as friends rallied round me during treatment, accompanying me to chemo and bringing me food for my freezer. These are the things which make such a shit situation all the more bearable.
Chong and Nelson were candid in the Q&A and created a safe space for people to ask all sorts of questions. They’re doing their best to hold screenings with organisations and healthcare professionals, as a kind of grassroots movement to improve cancer care for trans folks.
One of my goals with the PhD is to include a range of public engagement elements, so I’ve been interested to attend events such as this and reflect on how they engage the wider public in activism or research. There are many ways to bring your message to a wide range of people, changing hearts and minds, and as we all know, film is such a powerful medium. I’d love to watch the film again, so if anyone fancies organising a screening, please get in touch with Brooks and Yee Won!
You can watch the trailer for Trans Dudes with Lady Cancer here.