Yellowjackets’ Liv Hewson Talks Top Surgery

The nonbinary actor, who has been using they/them pronouns since 2012, was asked by Teen Vogue about conservative and TERF uproar around top surgery. “It’s really misogynistic: ‘These girls couldn’t possibly make this decision correctly and will need to be stopped from doing terrible things to their bodies,'” Liv replied.

“Is that how you think about people who’ve had surgery for other things? It’s a disgust reaction, and I do not take disgust into account as a legitimate point of discourse. I don’t have to entertain it and I’m not going to. It’s a waste of everybody’s time, it’s knee-jerk, it’s not grounded in reality, and it’s not useful,” they continued, noting that people’s “squeamishness” over surgery ultimately “doesn’t matter” when making legislative decisions.

“One time somebody left a comment under a picture of me where you could see the edges of my top surgery scars, saying something along the lines of, ‘This is like women cutting their fingers off.’ At first that really disturbed me. I was like, ‘Man, that is just a horrible thing to say.’ And then it suddenly struck me as a little bit funny,” Liv added, later citing the extremely low regret rates for gender-affirming surgery.

“I am not going to entertain anybody’s disgust over my body. It’s my body, it’s healthy and strong and beautiful, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Point blank.”

As for how the 27-year-old has felt since getting the surgery after having the clinic’s website “open on [their] laptop for five years,” Liv said, “I cannot tell you the complete, fundamental shift that I have felt in the year since having surgery. I knew that I wanted top surgery for a decade; it’s the longest I’ve ever thought about doing anything.”

“I stand differently, I walk differently, I carry myself differently. It feels different in my body than it ever has. I have just never been happier. I’ve never been more centered. I’ve never felt more stable and present and alive. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. It’s taught me a lot. The recovery process taught me about rest, accepting help, and caring for my body as something connected to me rather than separate from me, that I’m in opposition to: This is mine and I want to take care of it. I feel good in it and good about it.”

You can read Liv’s full interview with Teen Vogue here.

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