TRANSlating Last Week Tonight: Justice For Aden
A teen trans boy went for a standard medical exam; instead, he survived a sexual assault, leading to his fight against a system resistant to consequences for sexually violent health professionals
Good morning, and welcome to TRANSlating Everything with another occasional news update. This recording comes to you on Sunday, April 30, 2023, and I’m Stephenie Magister.
This article is also available as a podcast or video.
Justice For Aden Polydoros
When medical needs force us to disclose our trans backgrounds, can we rely on doctors to act as allies?
When those doctors betray us, can we rely on the health industry itself to react with compassion for victims and consequence for perpetrators?
When that system instead empowers those doctors and silences their victims, can we at least turn to the public for help building a better way forward?
In today’s main story, a sexual assault survivor’s testimony alleges that the Michigan Medical Board’s lack of action continues to empower future sexual assaults by the same doctor treating patients with trans medical backgrounds.
What you permit, you promote. What you promote, you empower.
We need the resources to fight back.
And of course there’s often no better fire for championing trans rights than those privileged British dudes who speak in our favor. That’s why before we get to our main story, we need to talk about John Oliver’s coverage of trans people with his ongoing show Last Week Tonight.
Last Week Tonight: “Transgender Rights I and II”
Believe it or not, the headline is not just an homage — or a ripoff if we do it badly. John Oliver has done trans people the honor of dedicating several episodes to us, and so before we get to our main story, we will honor John Oliver and his contributions as an ally.
In June 2015 and October 2022, John Oliver and Last Week Tonight went further than their regular coverage in briefer stories about the LGBTQ2S+ community.
Titled “Transgender Rights” and “Transgender Rights II,” Last Week Tonight dedicated entire episodes to Top Ten Trans Topics such as:
Transgender service members
The tourism slogan for Afghanistan (uhoh)
Bathroom bills of 2015 (these things just won’t stop)
Michael Hughes and Henry Bruce, two men misidentified as women and forced to use the women’s restroom (WTF?!)
Conservative pronouns include “Patriot,” “ass kicker,” and “USA”
The Homosexuals: a Special Episode with Mike Wallace (Good Night and Good Luck with this one wtf)
Anti-trans bills
Rapid onset gender dysphoria
Hormone therapy
Does God make mistakes?
BONUS! Remember that Jon Stewart is an ally, too
On his smash Apple+ TV show, Jon Stewart gave his old Daily Show buddy the assist by dedicating an episode to debunking common myths about trans people.
Jon Stewart says:
The problem with gender and sex. It turns out none of this is simple. We didn’t just ask a geneticist. We asked endocrinologists and a few psychiatrists and gynecologists. And they all said the same thing. Intersex, trans, nonbinary and all the other gradations of normal human variation. And whatever discomfort we may feel in the changing norms of reality, myself included, it is no match for the discomfort and fear felt by those seeking acceptance.
Honoring John Oliver and Jon Stewart
And so we want to honor you, John Oliver and Jon Stewart, for your work as allies.
Indeed, John Oliver was honored not just by us but by Jay Brown, the Human Rights Campaign Senior Vice President for Programs, Research, and Training.
In an October 2022 press release, Jay Brown said:
This powerful segment from John Oliver, is another excellent example of a comedian doing high-quality, thorough reporting on transgender rights while refuting rampant lies and disinformation. With the rights of transgender individuals under attack by state legislators around the country, it is of utmost urgency that these issues are elevated in our national discourse. We are grateful that prominent figures are talking about these important issues and debunking virulent anti-trans propaganda.
Moving on to our main story.
When It Comes To Sexual Violence, Believe All Women — And All Men (And Non-Binary People!)
When medical needs force us to disclose our trans backgrounds, can we rely on doctors to act as allies?
When those doctors betray us, can we rely on the health industry itself to react with compassion for victims and consequence for perpetrators?
When that system instead empowers those doctors and silences their victims, can we at least turn to the public for help building a better way forward?
Here’s the problem
The problem is that for women, being sexually assaulted is nothing new.
The problem is that for men, being sexually assaulted is nothing new either.
The problem is that for trans, non-binary, and intersex people, the very nature of people perceiving us as gender non-conforming means we’ve almost certainly encountered a doctor who violated our body to prove what gender we were supposed to be.
The problem is that for doctors, violating the bodily autonomy of their patients and getting away with it is also not new.
Doctors are among the most powerful people in almost any society or culture. So no, it is not new that those with power continue to abuse those without.
Our main story: “I never, ever want to feel the way I felt again”
As of April 29, 2023, this main story is ongoing, but of course it does not begin in 2023.
Today, Aden Polydoros is an award-winning author. His YA gothic fantasy novel, The City Beautiful, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award and was a finalist for the Lambda Award, the National Jewish Book Award, the Cybils Award, the South Carolina Book Award, and the 2022 World Fantasy Award. The novel was also selected for the 2021 Bram Stoker Award Preliminary Ballot, and was declared a Best YA Book of 2021 by New York Public Library, BookPage, Buzzfeed, and Tor.com.
Aden’s forthcoming novel, Wrath Becomes Her, will be his 6th published novel.
He is also a 27-year-old survivor of sexual assault by his doctor. The assault occurred approximately thirteen years ago in 2010.
While working on his short story “It Stays With You,” included in the indie-bestselling The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror, and later writing the screenplay inspired by that short story, the 27-year-old author and screenwriter was forced to face the devastating impact of his own sexual assault as a young trans teen of approximately 14 years of age — committed by a family doctor he had been seeing since he was 8 years old.
Aden’s story
Note: this interview was reconstructed from a thread of Aden’s tweets; it has been edited in collaboration with Aden for concision and clarity
Tweet #0, Tweet #1, Tweet #2, TikTok
Does anyone know of a lawyer who can practice in AZ and has experience in cases involving medical malpractice and/or sexual assault committed by doctors? This occurred when I was a young teen, but based on what the doctor did and said, I believe it was a transphobic hate crime too.
I don’t even know if it’d legally be considered assault, but if you’re literally sobbing in pain and begging a doctor to stop a pelvic exam and (medically unnecessary and unexplained) pap smear, and they don’t stop, and that exam is more excruciating and prolonged than any other internal exam you have in the future, what do you call that?
Because the medical board apparently thinks that’s normal business. So incredibly disappointed. This incident kept me from seeing a family doctor for more than 10 years. It’s had life-long impacts.
I’m going to be honest — this incident was the main reason I decided to go stealth the moment I was able to pass as male. I didn’t tell anyone I was trans for ten years — I avoided all personal and romantic relationships, and I kept myself at a distance, because I was utterly terrified of how I felt in those long, excruciating moments lying on that cold examination table, sobbing in pain.
This incident was the reason I ultimately decided to have a complete hysterectomy. Because I never, ever want to feel the way I felt again.
The reason I am explaining this is because, with the current political environment, I want to be very concise and clear about my own experience growing up as a trans teen. Of what bills mandating forced genital examinations might lead to.
What do you call it when someone penetrates you and refuses to stop when you tell them no?
When I was around 14–15, my family doctor performed the most physically excruciating pelvic exam and pap smear I’ve ever experienced, continuing even as I began sobbing uncontrollably in pain. When it was over, she asked me, “Do you still feel like a boy now?”
The Michigan Board of Medicine has declined to investigate my allegation.
This exam has haunted me for the last twelve years. It has haunted me for nearly half my life. I have panic attacks when I go to the doctor or even the dentist. I was terrified for so long of undressing in front of others, even romantic partners. I’m not letting this go.
He didn’t speak about this because
I didn’t speak about this for years because I was so ashamed. It hurt so much. The memory hurts so much. Last year, I realized that I’d been writing the same story over and over again since it happened, that this experience has seared itself into both my writing and my soul.
It took Aden over a year to file the report
It took me over a year of deliberations before I decided to file the report, because I knew I might be outed as trans in such a hostile environment for us. The Michigan medical board didn’t even talk to me. They’re just burying this.
Judy Blume, is there any way you can retweet the post below? I’m a trans Jewish YA author trying to find justice against the doctor who sexually assaulted me as a young teen.
@StephenKing, your novel GERALD’S GAME helped see me through the aftermath of this sexual assault that I’m now trying to get justice for. The book helped show me that what had happened to me was wrong, and that it counted. Can you please signal boost my tweet…?
Calling state officials for help
@GovWhitmer, @WhitmerWrites, certainly you don’t want this doctor practicing in your state. Shouldn’t there at least be an investigation so that another trans child will not be subjected to a similar horrific assault?
The Michigan Medical Board can be contacted at 800–882–6006 or BCHS-Complaints@michigan.gov for those equally appalled by their refusal to even hear my case.
If anyone knows of a good lawyer who might be interested in helping me get justice, this incident happened in Arizona. Please tag or send this to any attorneys you know who’ve dealt with cases like this or who might be able to recommend someone who has.
This isn’t an isolated incident
Nicole Eloise tweeted:
I can’t believe there are others this has happened too. Mine was different in that it wasn’t discriminatory- my doctors didn’t know I wasn’t cis. The nurse did it bc she was angry that I was in pain and needed an appointment.
I told other staff at the surgery over and over, I told the nurse who took my blood immediately after through my tears and anxiety attack and none of them did anything. I even have a paper trail proving I told them.
I’m so fucking sad that things like what I went through and worse happen all over the world. It’s so horrific. I can’t even go for a smear until I change doctors because I’m so terrified and don’t trust them, I was already a traumatised CSA victim at that point.
Like these people should not be in the medical profession.
Alex/@acenter102 tweeted:
This essentially happened to me when I was 14 minus the transphobia, I haven’t reported it because I knew this is the response I’d get. I’ve been unable to even consider having sex because of the pain and fear I experienced but no one takes it seriously because it was an “exam”
I hope this guy gets someone to take it seriously for both his sake and mine, it would give me hope that one day my assaulter could face justice. It hurts knowing others have been through this exact pain
Ezra Rose tweeted:
i’m boosting this because Aden deserves justice & healing, and because i know firsthand how medical abuse/assault is made invisible, how patients with marginalized bodies are targeted & dehumanized & disbelieved
Final words from Aden
Aden says:
Once she had finished the exam, as I lay sobbing in pain, she asked me, “Do you still feel like a boy now?”
The Michigan Medical Board refuses to even look into my case. They closed it and didn’t even inform me; I found out when I checked the website for an update and saw the status changed. I had to call the office to find out and asked to appeal their decision, but they refused to even let me do that.
Aden Polydoros Today
Aden provides this update:
I used to be embarrassed by my top surgery scars. But they’re proof I survived to adulthood and beyond. This is the first photo I’ve posted of them. I’m not mutilated. I’m not broken. I’m not going to hide who I am anymore.
Aden’s forthcoming novel, Wrath Becomes Her, will be his 6th published novel.
In closing
In his last episode dedicated to trans rights, John Oliver remarked on something, well, remarkable. He said we too often focus on trans tragedy. He said we need to recognize as much as cultivate Trans Joy.
So let me close you out with some of the most moving quotes from Jon Stewart’s interviews with parents of trans kids.
Our quotes comes from two PTEC parents, Debi Jackson and Keisha Michaels.
Debi Jackson says:
We have a whole year, between three and four, where we don’t have a photo of Avery smiling. And that changed just through social affirmation. So when people call us child abusers and say it’s horrible to do this, they don’t understand the realities.
Keisha Michaels says:
I kind of wish we were more woke. I wish we had been able to hear her sooner. Took us a few years to really listen and appreciate that she was telling us who she was. And when we did, she was — she was like a new child. She just literally lit up, woke up. She woke up when we supported her.
That’s beautiful to hear. Beautiful to see.
If you are a parent or you simply want to support a child, please support the gender affirming care that will empower those children to wake up.
Until next time
That’s our show for tonight. Check back with us again soon — and please send your support to Aden.
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