Liv Hewson doesn’t have time for people’s “knee-jerk” reactions to the actor’s desire to live authentically.
The “Yellowjackets” star, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, recently showed off their top surgery for a profile in Teen Vogue, baring their nipple and surgical scars for the magazine’s photo shoot.
That kind of badass decision is emblematic of the 27-year-old performer’s overall attitude toward people who oppose gender-affirming surgery.
“When people talk about gender-affirming surgery using words like ‘mutilation,’ that’s not very nice,” Hewson told Teen Vogue. “Is that how you think about people who’ve had surgery for other things? It’s a disgust reaction, and I do not take disgust into account as a legitimate point of discourse.”
“I don’t have to entertain it and I’m not going to,” the Australian actor said. “It’s a waste of everybody’s time, it’s knee-jerk, it’s not grounded in reality, and it’s not useful.”
Hewson also recalled a time when someone left a shocking comment on a photo where “you could see the edges of my top surgery scars.”
Hewson said the commenter wrote “something along the lines of, ‘This is like women cutting their fingers off.’ At first that really disturbed me. I was like, ‘Man, that is just a horrible thing to say.’ And then it suddenly struck me as a little bit funny.”
“I am not going to entertain anybody’s disgust over my body,” Hewson said. “It’s my body, it’s healthy and strong and beautiful, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Point blank.”
Hewson has only recently risen to fame thanks to their stellar performance as a younger version of the character Van (played as an adult by Lauren Ambrose) in the mystery-driven Showtime drama. But they’re already using their name recognition to advocate on behalf of people who are gender-nonconforming.
In April, Hewson made headlines when they told Variety they’d opted out of this year’s Emmys race because there’s no category where they truly fit in.
Showtime said earlier this year that the network wanted to submit Hewson for an Outstanding Supporting Actress award.
“There’s not a place for me in the acting categories,” Hewson told Variety. “It would be inaccurate for me to submit myself as an actress. It neither makes sense for me to be lumped in with the boys. It’s quite straightforward and not that loaded. I can’t submit myself for this because there’s no space for me.”
To read Hewson’s profile in full, head over to Teen Vogue.