How Art Modeling Carried Me Through an Abusive Relationship

From the writer: Take care of yourself before, during, or after reading any way you need to.

There is this boy who I called The Last Boyfriend.

He helped me discontinue my awkward streak of exclusively kissing philosophy majors. The Last Boyfriend studied Theater, rocked a beanie, and looked happiest when eating omelets. His facial hair grew quickly and I never knew his friends. He introduced me to acting while I worked a job that required no speaking at all, art modeling for drawing classes.

The Last Boyfriend and I were in the same Theater-English cross-over course at Oberlin College. The professor assigned each of us a scene to memorize from a stack of pale blue and yellow paperbacks with the announcement, “And we will all give ...

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Lexie Bean

Lexie Bean (they/he) is a trans multimedia artist from the Midwest whose work revolves around themes of bodies, homes, cyclical violence, and queer identity. They are a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, member of the RAINN National Leadership Council, and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for their anthology Written on the Body. Lexie integrated their personal experiences into the acclaimed The Ship We Built, the first middle grade novel centering and written by a trans boy released by a major US publisher. Their work has been featured in Teen Vogue, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Feminist Wire, Ms. Magazine, Them, Bust Magazine, Autostraddle, as well as JKP's Surviving Transphobia. Currently they are working on new book projects, including Meet Me There, Another Time, film writing, and co-directing their first feature-length documentary, What Will I Become? www.lexiebean.com

Lexie has written 4 articles for us.