Girl Comet May 2013 - September 2021
Girl Comet was born in the heart of Artist and Fashion Designer Dalea in 2013, driven by her personal experiences being born with health complications related to androgen insensitivity and growing up in a challenging environment.
Girl Comet was a project akin to an 'I understand, here is my shoulder' for people born with differences of sex development and their families. It had a special focus on the sensitivities of the Latin community, as Dalea is Hispanic.
Why Do Differences Of Sex Development Occur?
No one really knows for sure why DSDs in births occur (DSD = Differences of sex development) or why it seems to run in families. In her specific case, in the past there was speculation to link it to the medication Dyethilstilbestrol, which her mother was exposed to due to three previous miscarriages. This drug was discontinued once it was found to have negative side effects in babies and mothers. Dalea's mom passed away from cancer of the stomach, some doctors attribute it to her intake of the medication as exposure tend to stay in the body.
In 2018, Dalea's 74 year old aunt shared with her that she was born with a DSD. It was surprising that she waited so long to speak out regarding this; it would have been so helpful back when Dalea was a teen.
Through Dalea's work with GC she also met families with siblings or extended family members born with various forms of DSDs, so without being a medical doctor, it is more than logical to deduce that it is something that can run in families.
Girl Comet and Dalea are not MD's or Geneticists, if you want to learn more about this topic, it's mechanisms or which gene mutation(s) are involved in the various cases of DSDs that exist, consult a specialist. Dalea once quoted a doctor’s gene explanation for her condition without confirming, and it turned out to be the wrong gene. Do not assume a general doctor has fail proof knowledge in this area, go to doctors who posses a medical specialty.
Aspiring to use her struggle to offer moral support to women with DSDs while also striving to keep some semblance of privacy from the general public was not easy. In the beginning, before Girl Comet (14+ years ago) she was young and naive, she begun speaking about her life openly. Back then she even attempted to self-publish a book, one that she took out of the market as it came out because it did not turn out the way she intended. Her complete inexperience as writer combined with low end editors and subsequent edits and twists turned it -and her- in to a circus meant to generate book sales, rather than reflect her. She felt it was garbage, so to the garbage it went immediately.
Over time she experienced various interviews plagued with intrusive tactless questions which she was not mentally developed to deflect, Dalea began to shift focus on uplifting people rather than on detailing specifics about her body. She also stopped sharing harsh portions of her childhood, including her mother's emotional health, which was a critical part of Dalea's struggles. There was (and still is) much trauma to digest. For Dalea and common in Latin cultures, respect for parents is very important, children do not speak ill of their parents.
What can be said, is that her mother suffered from emotional health issues that were triggered by stress. The stress of having the father of her child leave, being too young to be a mom and having a child perceived broken by doctors due to being born with a DSD was too much. Archaic, provincial medical information, terms and advise did not help, it only snowballed her mom's negative emotions towards her daughter. It all led to neglect and periods of abandonment of her child. Misinformation led her to want to decide what gender she felt Leah should exist as. There were challenging periods of Dalea's childhood when she had to live in drag as the opposite sex, when under her mom's care or entrusted to the care of others who had no say or power in the matter.
Dalea is grateful to her grandmother, as she was always allowed to live normally when taken in to her care and housing. Her grandmother was a seamstress designer of humble beginnings, she lacked many resources, but she loved and cared Dalea deeply. It was her grandmother who taught her to have Faith, to believe in a merciful God and in the good energy of life.
It is easy to judge and even hate those who are different, but not so easy to place yourself in their shoes. The psychological shock-waves of living through and surviving things like this can't be quantified. Yet, not understanding does not grant permission nor excuse cruelty, hate or mistreatment. Unfortunately, this is what happens much too often, this is what Dalea and others like her must learn to raise above.
Dalea lived at various family members homes growing up, interchangeably. With health challenges, non present parents, medical ignorance and lack of dignity, it's unsurprising that her self esteem growing up was non-existent.
Some terrible things happened to her, as they often do to the young and weak when predators so easily identify them. She endured in silence and almost ended her own life at 14.
Some unnecessary health issues also occurred due to neglect. With a mother who was a nurse, there was no excuse -other than carelessness- for Dalea to contract Rheumatic Fever at 12, only because she did not have a permanent guardian or supervision to notice she had been coughing, with recurring fever and weak for more than a year. She was only was taken to the hospital, once she became delirious with fever and her grandmother could not no longer control it with her home remedies. She spent weeks in convalescence with daily Penicillin injections. Dalea survived, but has sequels from having RF. It could have been easily prevented with simple medical care.
As a teen, when she was hospitalized to have corrective surgery, before intervention there was a conversation between her biological father and her doctors -all male-, discussing that her (normal ) 34B breasts were too small -for their standards of beauty- and "since she would be already under anesthesia" why not put implants in? She listened to them discuss her as if she were not in the room, as if they were discussing a broken car. And so they did it, adding a new layer of trauma to her life. It took years for Dalea to finally find a doctor who assured her that it was possible to remove the implants without having to take apart and reconstruct her breasts. Dalea experienced a little miracle that Christmas. Over a few months post surgery she saw her body revert to what it was before, this is very uncommon. She thanks God and Dr Chong for this.
There is PTSD and sadness which Dalea chooses not to spend her life focusing on publicly, never mind go out and actively re-live her past experiences again and again by sharing everything with the world. Her struggles are no one's business but Dalea and her family's.
One thing is peculiar, why does it seem to be those who have been deeply hurt the ones who display the most compassion and empathy for those hurting? The ones who feel the need to help others heal?
