Before my hysterectomy, I did not feel I really had time to prepare myself. I received a call on March 19 for an operation scheduled on April 11. In between, there was not really any room to think it through or to back out easily.

I wanted to talk about my surgery, because some experiences deserve to be told without polishing them too much.

Hysterectomy, defined as the surgical removal of the uterus, is generally considered within a biomedical discourse focused on pathology, therapeutic indication, and clinical effectiveness. Yet such an approach tends to obscure the social and symbolic dimensions of this organ. In anthropology, the body is never purely biological: it is also the product of cultural constructions, social norms, and power relations.

The moment has come to tell you goodbye. Not in anger, nor in regret, but with a full, lucid gratitude, and a tenderness that will not fade away. You have been, for a long time, the silent center of my life. The first apartment, invisible but essential, where my three children started their story. Three times, you rendered possible what exceeds words. You carried, protected, sheltered. You were that intimate place where everything begins, where life takes shape even before ha

I was trained to view the body not as a mere biological reality, but as a deeply social and cultural object, shaped by norms, representations, and power dynamics.

After two years of waiting, the telephone finally rang on March 20th. A date was proposed: April 11th.