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lb_leeThis was the comics winner for this month's poll! Before I share it, let me tell you how it got made.
Recently, my local senator had a Town Hall meeting, and I was determined to go. I ran the gauntlet of Trumper protesters ranting about trans athletes (I recognized them from the library bomb threat back in October and waved to them), suffered through two plus hours of technological difficulties and clustering around smartphones in an overflow room, and then had to deal with one of my fellow citizens ranting about how she didn't want trans people around her children, we were just going to kill ourselves anyway.
The feelings that meeting gave me, I could not express. So I went home and drew all the genderful people who came before and alongside me, and I wrote their words instead--their joy, their survival, their power. And I converted that rage into fierce joy and shoved the local free libraries with them, and sent them to Florida, and disappeared into the night.
"I was born in 1953. The nurse who picked me up said, 'oh my god, it's a hermaphrodite.' When I was eight, I traveled in secret with my mum and dad to Auckland Hospital where genital surgery was performed. It was a terrifying, lonely, painful, and deeply traumatic experience.
"I now stand on the planet inside my own body in a way that feels like I own it; I understand it, I celebrate and love its ambiguity.
"I met a number of parents of intersex children last year. I can only describe [their reactions] as a primal reaction to difference. One woman vomited whenever she picked up her intersex child. What is this fear about?"
--Mani Bruce Mitchel, 1998 (see Swan)
"It is hard for people with dark skins to make a living. I was a trained nurse; people don't like colored nurses. So I conceived of bettering myself by donning male attire. I did so and have not been in want since."
--Ralph Kerwinieo/Cora Anderson, 1914 (see Faderman and Lezotte)
"Traditionally, some Native American tribes had up to eight genders. There would be several interpretations of male and female genders, as well as genderless identities.
"Being ourselves was not an uphill battle, but a gift from the guardian spirits."
--Enx Eeden, 2023
"I am a Samoan first, fa'afafine second, and then fabulous. Fa'afafine is a Samoan who is physically male with the spirit of a woman.
"I became a Matai (Samoan chief) in the mid 1990s. It is okay to be different, to be YOU."
--Karl, 1999 (see Swan)
"I went to Sydney in 1959... that's when I became a drag queen, a female impersonator, and a transsexual. In that period, there were 13 or 14 drag queen prostitutes, and I'm the only one still alive."
--Carmen, 1999 (see Swan)
(Note: Carmen has since passed on.)
"I'm a Female to Male Transsexual who at age 35 came to the conclusion that if I continued to 'try' to be female, I would die. I now smile and laugh so much more.
"Be true to yourself and do no harm to others."
--Jerry Kellan McCracken, 2004 (see Edison)
"This is the issue that we need to deal with in this century: what are we going to do with difference on this planet? How are we going to create a space where people can actually be different with all these uniquenesses and it's okay?"
--Mani Bruce Mitchel, 1998 (see Swan).
Credits
Edison, Laurie Toby. (2004). Familiar Men: A Book of Nudes. San Francisco: Shifting Focus Press.
Eeden, Enx. (2023). Two Spirit Traditions: Gender Animism + Turtle Island's Untold Intertribal Arts. Buyable at https://sacredcanvas.org/ols/products/xn-two-spirit-traditions-book-gender-animism-turtle-islands-untold-intertribal-arts-ol57c, ebook sample at https://www.patreon.com/posts/free-sample-of-92890736
Faderman, Lillian. (1991). Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Penguin.
Lezotte, Desirae. (2012). "Girl-Man: Cora Anderson and the Wisconsin Eugenic Marriage Law." Retrieved from https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/61666/Lezotte_Desirae.pdf
Swan, Rebecca. (2008, 2010). Assume Nothing. Auckland, NZ: Boy Tiger Press; Berkeley, CA: Soft Skull Press. Some photos available at https://www.rebeccaswan.com/art/assume-nothing/
Recently, my local senator had a Town Hall meeting, and I was determined to go. I ran the gauntlet of Trumper protesters ranting about trans athletes (I recognized them from the library bomb threat back in October and waved to them), suffered through two plus hours of technological difficulties and clustering around smartphones in an overflow room, and then had to deal with one of my fellow citizens ranting about how she didn't want trans people around her children, we were just going to kill ourselves anyway.
The feelings that meeting gave me, I could not express. So I went home and drew all the genderful people who came before and alongside me, and I wrote their words instead--their joy, their survival, their power. And I converted that rage into fierce joy and shoved the local free libraries with them, and sent them to Florida, and disappeared into the night.
"I was born in 1953. The nurse who picked me up said, 'oh my god, it's a hermaphrodite.' When I was eight, I traveled in secret with my mum and dad to Auckland Hospital where genital surgery was performed. It was a terrifying, lonely, painful, and deeply traumatic experience.
"I now stand on the planet inside my own body in a way that feels like I own it; I understand it, I celebrate and love its ambiguity.
"I met a number of parents of intersex children last year. I can only describe [their reactions] as a primal reaction to difference. One woman vomited whenever she picked up her intersex child. What is this fear about?"
--Mani Bruce Mitchel, 1998 (see Swan)
"It is hard for people with dark skins to make a living. I was a trained nurse; people don't like colored nurses. So I conceived of bettering myself by donning male attire. I did so and have not been in want since."
--Ralph Kerwinieo/Cora Anderson, 1914 (see Faderman and Lezotte)
"Traditionally, some Native American tribes had up to eight genders. There would be several interpretations of male and female genders, as well as genderless identities.
"Being ourselves was not an uphill battle, but a gift from the guardian spirits."
--Enx Eeden, 2023
"I am a Samoan first, fa'afafine second, and then fabulous. Fa'afafine is a Samoan who is physically male with the spirit of a woman.
"I became a Matai (Samoan chief) in the mid 1990s. It is okay to be different, to be YOU."
--Karl, 1999 (see Swan)
"I went to Sydney in 1959... that's when I became a drag queen, a female impersonator, and a transsexual. In that period, there were 13 or 14 drag queen prostitutes, and I'm the only one still alive."
--Carmen, 1999 (see Swan)
(Note: Carmen has since passed on.)
"I'm a Female to Male Transsexual who at age 35 came to the conclusion that if I continued to 'try' to be female, I would die. I now smile and laugh so much more.
"Be true to yourself and do no harm to others."
--Jerry Kellan McCracken, 2004 (see Edison)
"This is the issue that we need to deal with in this century: what are we going to do with difference on this planet? How are we going to create a space where people can actually be different with all these uniquenesses and it's okay?"
--Mani Bruce Mitchel, 1998 (see Swan).
Credits
Edison, Laurie Toby. (2004). Familiar Men: A Book of Nudes. San Francisco: Shifting Focus Press.
Eeden, Enx. (2023). Two Spirit Traditions: Gender Animism + Turtle Island's Untold Intertribal Arts. Buyable at https://sacredcanvas.org/ols/products/xn-two-spirit-traditions-book-gender-animism-turtle-islands-untold-intertribal-arts-ol57c, ebook sample at https://www.patreon.com/posts/free-sample-of-92890736
Faderman, Lillian. (1991). Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Penguin.
Lezotte, Desirae. (2012). "Girl-Man: Cora Anderson and the Wisconsin Eugenic Marriage Law." Retrieved from https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/61666/Lezotte_Desirae.pdf
Swan, Rebecca. (2008, 2010). Assume Nothing. Auckland, NZ: Boy Tiger Press; Berkeley, CA: Soft Skull Press. Some photos available at https://www.rebeccaswan.com/art/assume-nothing/
