The I Hear You web series is a non-conforming, feminist medical drama that follows the lives of a group of gender oppressed folks including women & non-binary people, young, old, able-bodied, disabled – who each struggle with sexual health issues. From postpartum depression to chronic pelvic pain and painful sex, to seniors with STDs, we are cracking open the taboo around women’s sexual health and the medical crises that women are silently facing on the front-lines of primary care. Watch this free web series right here or on Youtube!
I Hear You follows the life of Dr. Alyssa Hartt, a newly-graduated family medicine doctor who is eager to be starting her own integrative practice. Her dream has always been to combine her beliefs in the holistic view of Eastern health and practical necessity of Western medical training to support women’s sexual health. But the burnout from six years of medical school and residency has left its mark on Alyssa, and she struggles to find her own balance and wavering beliefs as she juggles the complexity of managing a full-time practice. With each prescription she writes, complex patient she is unable to diagnose, and increasing push back from her colleagues about her methods she is forced to question her ability to truly support the women who come, desperate for someone to hear them, and help them.
Content Warning: This show contains topics of sexual health and depicts nudity and implied sexual acts.
Trigger Warning: This show contains references and content around the following topics: sexual assault, postpartum depression, body shaming, post-traumatic stress disorder and abortion.
Land Acknowledgement: The I Hear You series was filmed in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet), and Passamaquoddy Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726. The treaties did not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognized Mi’kmaq and Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations.
Episode one - Never too Old
Opal is a 73 year old queer widow who has just gotten back into the dating game, unfortunately her new lover has given her Chlamydia and she’s not sure what to do it about, or the excessively embarrassed young doctor who can’t seem to get past the fact that someone her age should not be having sex (with no plans of slowing down!)
Episode Two - Seen but not heard
Nadia is 15 and just started menstruation. She is having major trouble with her skin and experiencing severe bullying at school. Meanwhile, her mother is pressuring her to go on birth control but largely because she thinks her daughter is sexually active. With no one listening to Nadia it’s no wonder this young women doesn’t feel comfortable in her body.
Episode three - when self love sucks
Kailin, a woman in her mid-40s living in a larger body, who has an increasing disconnection from her libido and is struggling to find a solution or a doctor that will take her seriously when she says it is not her weight.
Episode four - It's Not Supposed to Hurt?
Julia is driven, married, runs a business and has had chronic vaginal pain during intercourse for the last 5 years. She can’t seem to get a doctor to take her seriously and her husband thinks they just aren’t trying hard enough to fix this ‘problem of hers’.
Episode five - My Hands Are Tied
Riley, is a 32 year old non-binary person who has tried for almost a decade to get tubal ligation. They are repeatedly told that they are too young, that they just haven’t met the right man, or that they need psychiatric counselling to be certain they will not regret this decision down the road. But they are not giving up what they feel is their right to decide what to do with their body.
Episode Six - Nothing to Sterilize Here
Summer, is a young woman living in a differently abled body who is excited to start family planning with her partner Simon. Except they can’t find a doctor that can see past Summer’s wheelchair and who will support them in their hope to have a baby. Alyssa and Grayson reconnect based on their shared values.
Episode Seven - Pelvic Party
Despite her best efforts to prepare herself, Madison, 23 experiences a panic attack when she is faced with a routine pelvic exam by another doctor at the clinic.
Episode Eight - All the Single Ladies
Martha is a 43 year old single mom by choice. After multiple attempts and miscarriages she finally has a baby boy through IVF. But now the thing she wanted the most, to be a mom, is turning out to be not what she expected as she struggles with postpartum depression.
Episode Nine - Vajim-Jam
Samantha, a 40-year-old trans woman, is experiencing her first UTI after having gender reassignment surgery. Having received very little information on vaginal care post surgery she is worried something has gone wrong with the procedure.
Episode Ten - Three's a Crowd
36-year-old Claire and her husband are headed on a 12 month trekk, until they find out Claire is pregnant. Not interested in having a baby, and having taken step to actively prevent pregnancy with an IUD they come to the clinic seeking a medical abortion.