Serious About Gender Exploration? There's a Doula for That.
Before Ash Woods got gender-affirming top surgery last January, they stapled together a zine-like booklet filled with all sorts of delicious smoothie recipes. On the front cover, Woods drew a T-Rex in a self-effacing nod to how the surgery was going to render their arms virtually useless for at least one week after they received a more masculine-looking chest. Before their surgery, they set the booklet down next to the blender in their kitchen so it was ready to go when they got home from the hospital.
Woods, who is trans and nonbinary, works as a birth doula in the Seattle area. As part of their job, Woods extensively plans for a client’s post-labor recovery, and they wanted a similar level of care after their surgery. Top surgery was going to be vulnerable and challenging, Woods knew, and rather than rely solely on a partner or friends, they decided to hire an expert: a gender doula.
Similar to birth doulas, gender doulas are non-clinical companions who provide advocacy, knowledge, and support. These days, you can count on two hands the number of people who have assumed the formal title of “gender doula,” but they have existed over the decades in other forms as “transgender transition coaches” or more informal word-of-mouth mentors. With exploration of gender-nonconforming identities becoming more common and gender-affirming surgeries on the rise, people are turning to gender doulas to navigate an often unwelcoming environment.
The gender doula could remind Woods to take their medication, supervise them on a walk in case they started feeling dizzy, or record how much fluid was draining into their post-surgical plastic bulbs to ensure they weren’t at risk of infection. The doula could also act as an advocate at doctors’ appointments and ensure Woods’ correct pronouns were being used, given that they are often misgendered at the hospitals where their clients are giving birth, though “they/them” pronouns are clearly written on their badge.
“When you’ve fought for so long, and have been silenced or not seen, and are finally stepping into your body, and then someone doesn’t see or acknowledge it … it’s just a dismissal of your existence,” Woods says. “And it’s crushing.”
