A Boy Named Rosa

I wonder what kind of woman I would have been — had doctor’s given me the right to chose.

How big would my breasts have been? How soft my lips?

I wonder — how drunk would my Tia have gotten at my Quinceañera? Or how pink was my dress?

I wonder if I would have been a good Catholic woman like my mother. Pray the rosary each time a man whispered “mami” or “hold still”.

I wonder if I would have been the daughter my father dreamed I would be.

I wonder if I would have been the daughter my father feared I would be.

- River Gallo

Published in Salty Magazine, in this photo series, River contemplates body autonomy and what life would be like if he was allowed to choose his gender as an intersex person, as opposed to the one assigned and created by doctors during his adolescence. “A Boy Named Rosa” will be on display at the London School of Economics from Feb 4-15th 2019.