Trans-identifying Western Oregon University prof pens crazy poem about her surgery in medical journal: 'My hysterectomy was the jackpot'
‘This poem is me living a vibrant, queer life in academia and at my family’s kitchen table, resisting moral panic one stanza at a time,’ the author stated.
‘My hysterectomy was the jackpot after years playing fruity fertility slots again and again and again eight years until three crimson cherries let me begin the real conversation,’ the poem starts.
A professor at Western Oregon University published a poem for a medical journal discussing her transgender surgery.
The professor, Lauren Bouchard, teaches gerontology at Western Oregon University. She goes by “they/them/theirs” pronouns and her work focuses on “resilience narratives, social connectedness, LGBT aging, and physician experiences of caregiving.”
Bouchard published her poem, “They Was Patient,” in the “Health Promotion Practice” medical journal, on Jan. 1.
The preface to the poem starts by claiming that so-called “gender-affirming care” is “highly politicized topic in the United States,” and that “Trans+ people are othered, marginalized, and abused by medical systems.” She adds that she “accessed life-changing, gender-affirming care partly due to educational, racial, and geographic privilege,” and goes on to attack state laws that protect children from life-altering, irreversible transgender surgeries.
She also alleges that “[a]llies who have not unpacked their transphobia may cause harm, even in seemingly innocuous interactions.”
Finally, Bouchard concludes her preface, stating: “This poem is me living a vibrant, queer life in academia and at my family’s kitchen table, resisting moral panic one stanza at a time.”
The full poem, which was posted on X by Colin Wright, begins: “My hysterectomy was the jackpot after years playing fruity fertility slots again and again and again eight years until three crimson cherries let me begin the real conversation.”
“Before then, birth control, P-M-mess, lose some weight, assumed regrets, imaginary husband, hypothetical baby, nothing we can do, you’re a little bit crazy,” it continues.
“We showed our care to They Them Theirs and it wasn’t even June yet We was pros at nouns, and our notes were EPIC It could have been the Oxy, but I laughed at the syntax because I was just a body of water without a pool of blood Leave a MyChart message-they aren’t here right now to correct, educate, or advocate They was elated their body elucidated Tomorrow, the body of work would start again,” it concludes.
Health Promotion Practice is a “bi-monthly, peer-reviewed journal that publishes authoritative research, commentary, practical tools, and promising practices that strategically advance the art and science of health promotion and disease prevention.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Prof. Lauren Bouchard, Western Oregon University, and Health Promotion Practice. This article will be updated accordingly.
