Kate Gies

Sometimes fixing the problem is the problem.

It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished is a memoir of a young girl with a missing ear and asymmetrical face, and a medical system bent on saving her from herself. It is the story of erasure, of power, of estrangement from one’s own body. It is the story of well-intentioned violence, of a body renounced. But also, a body reclaimed. Born without a right ear, Kate underwent fourteen reconstructive surgeries, involving multiple skin and bone grafts, to achieve the aesthetic appearance of an outer ear. This memoir recounts the mental and physical toll of these procedures, including the psychological and physiological aftershocks still present twenty years later. It takes a hard look at the medical system’s role in body oppression and trauma, and questions the validity of defining cultural standards of appearance as a medical necessity.

To what lengths will our society go to discipline and normalize a body? How does a woman with perceived deformities negotiate a definition of her body and her autonomy in a culture where female bodies are already scrutinized?

It Must Be Beautiful to Be Finished explores the fragility of human bodies, the impossible decisions parents have to make for their children, the myriad of violences enacted on female-identifying bodies, and the power dynamics of bodies marginalized by gender, appearance, and disability. At its heart, the memoir is about the intrinsic human desire to belong, to be loved, and to truly own the bodies we inhabit.