Hedwig & the Angry Inch, In a Year with 13 Moons, and the Mutilation of Love

"How much of our bodies and souls do we give up to be loved?" For Hedwig and Elvira, the heroines of John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's In a Year with 13 Moons, to be with the men they love means reluctantly undergoing gender reassignment surgery. While we may now think this premise problematic and deeply uncomfortable to consider, the tragedies and farces that follow Hedwig and Elvira's "mutilations" are very real, and very relevant to the cruel persecution of trans people today. So, how do we physically, emotionally, and psychologically "mutilate" ourselves to feel complete in a society that teaches us we are incomplete if we are not loved in certain socially sanctioned ways?