Support Aanya's Gender-Affirming Surgery
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I am a Toronto-based DJ/producer, community health worker, and social movement builder working with LGBTQ2S+ people who are incarcerated and/or in the sex trades. I am one of very few Trans Women of Colour making moves in both community-centred organizing and the music industry, and everything I do is for my communities . Perks and updates to come, but for now, I am posting this for a bit of help!
I am raising $30,000(CAD) for facial feminisation surgery and in Canada, this type of life-saving surgery is not funded by the government. While breast augmentation and vaginaplasty are both covered by Ontario Health Insurance Program (OHIP), ‘facial feminisation surgery’ (FFS) isn’t because it’s seen as “cosmetic”. This surgery is not related to cosmetics for me - it is something that I deserve, want, and need to save my own life.
My face is the most dysphoric thing about my body. The reason that this surgery will be so expensive is that FFS is actually multiple different surgeries, and so different Trans people may get different things. For myself, I plan to get my brow bone shaved down, my face contoured, my jaw line rounded and ‘softened’, and my hairline brought down. Dysphoria is life-threatening, as is the violence I face on a daily basis as a Trans Woman of Colour.
You can help cure my dysphoria. Street harassment is a part of my daily life. Every day, before I began to medically transition, I was called slurs and endured harassment on a daily basis. Since I started transitioning a few years ago, I have been catcalled every time that I leave the house, and subject to unwanted attention from both men and women. I never know how I will be read by others when I am in the streets - and I am never certain whether people staring or calling after me are attracted to me, or want to kill me, or both. In the last two years, two Trans women in my community, Sumaya Dalmar and Alloura Wells, have been killed in Toronto alone. This surgery can be the difference between life or death for me.
I work countless hours both professionally and personally in support of my Trans, Two-Spirit, and Gender Non-Conforming communities. My work is dedicated to supporting people who experience the highest levels of violence. I work in the harm reduction/HIV sector, I am on the board at Maggie’s: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, and I have worked in transitional housing with queer and trans youth. My communities deserve more than we are afforded, and our labour, love, and sacrifices are far too often made invisible.
Support me in my goals - share this fundraiser and boost it on social media, donate to celebrate myself and Trans women by protecting my life.
I am raising $30,000(CAD) for facial feminisation surgery and in Canada, this type of life-saving surgery is not funded by the government. While breast augmentation and vaginaplasty are both covered by Ontario Health Insurance Program (OHIP), ‘facial feminisation surgery’ (FFS) isn’t because it’s seen as “cosmetic”. This surgery is not related to cosmetics for me - it is something that I deserve, want, and need to save my own life.
My face is the most dysphoric thing about my body. The reason that this surgery will be so expensive is that FFS is actually multiple different surgeries, and so different Trans people may get different things. For myself, I plan to get my brow bone shaved down, my face contoured, my jaw line rounded and ‘softened’, and my hairline brought down. Dysphoria is life-threatening, as is the violence I face on a daily basis as a Trans Woman of Colour.
You can help cure my dysphoria. Street harassment is a part of my daily life. Every day, before I began to medically transition, I was called slurs and endured harassment on a daily basis. Since I started transitioning a few years ago, I have been catcalled every time that I leave the house, and subject to unwanted attention from both men and women. I never know how I will be read by others when I am in the streets - and I am never certain whether people staring or calling after me are attracted to me, or want to kill me, or both. In the last two years, two Trans women in my community, Sumaya Dalmar and Alloura Wells, have been killed in Toronto alone. This surgery can be the difference between life or death for me.
I work countless hours both professionally and personally in support of my Trans, Two-Spirit, and Gender Non-Conforming communities. My work is dedicated to supporting people who experience the highest levels of violence. I work in the harm reduction/HIV sector, I am on the board at Maggie’s: Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, and I have worked in transitional housing with queer and trans youth. My communities deserve more than we are afforded, and our labour, love, and sacrifices are far too often made invisible.
Support me in my goals - share this fundraiser and boost it on social media, donate to celebrate myself and Trans women by protecting my life.
Organizer
Aanya Wood
Organizer
Toronto, ON
