Mel Kolstad

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From the time we are born, we are defined by our gender. As women we learn from a very early age how our uteri will determine our role as child-bearers. Who can forget the movies shown in 5th grade about our impending menses? Who else had the awkward “talk” with a parent or guardian about how we must protect our ‘womanhood’ at all costs (in my time, anyway)?

My relationship with my uterus has been a rocky one – from fibroids and an ectopic pregnancy at 29, to a life of chosen childlessness, with all of its careful planning, to the monthly reminder that it exists — for my piece, I figured that I’d have some fun with it. So I decided that I’d “decorate” it (in red, of course, with tissue paper and machine stitching) with subtle reminders of the role our uteri play in determining the courses of our lives.