I published these immediately after writing this:
Several months ago I drew some Mimi & Eunice cartoons about modern transactivism. As you might guess, these will be very offensive to some people. I have and have long had trans friends, but modern transactivism is no more representative of them, than Zionism is of Jews, the BJP is of Hindus, or the KKK is of Christians. Unfortunately, most liberal “allies” don’t know the difference between actual diverse trans people, and the misogynist activists that claim to speak for them. Most liberals don’t tolerate any critique these days, let alone cartoon critique, which is graphic and funny; nothing pisses off ideologues like humor, the ultimate “disrespect”.
These cartoons are the first and ONLY things I’ve ever created that I’ve been too scared to share. I feel really bad about my own fear here. My Muse is my “higher power” and being to afraid to publish this work is a sin. But I am that scared.
Really I’m scared for my poor little film Seder-Masochism. I didn’t want to be killed on my North American festival tour. A transactivist tried to get me shut down from Ottawa, and another called for a boycott of Animation Is Film in Los Angeles, and who knows what else they’re doing that I’m not even aware of. I was no-platformed in my own town for saying people with penises are male.
I occasionally see someone discover Seder-Masochism on Twitter, and they are immediately chastised by transctivists who tell them I’m a “bigot” who “hates trans people.” In the current climate, that effectively stops the sharing of my work. I’m a Free Culture advocate and my work depends on sharing; politically-motivated shutdowns of sharing render Free Culture (or any culture) ineffective.
Since all this is happening anyway, should I just publish those cartoons? I suppose it will be even worse for me and Seder-Masochism if I do, but this is no way to live. I’m censoring myself out of fear.
________
And in a subsequent discussion on fecebook, I wrote:
See, I don’t want to offend trans PEOPLE, who I like, but I don’t mind offending transACTIVISTS, the misogynist kind, who I hate. Many of whom are not trans.
Guess the chips are gonna fall where they may.
Anyway, here they are, all in one place and in order. The titles link to the individual entries.
I thank you for giving voice to my thoughts and misgivings. Seeing your cartoon illustrations brings me some peace in knowing I am not alone in these thoughts and reactions to the hatred and violence we women are faced with when we question transactivists about their intentions. Mimi and Eunice have helped me gain insight on other social issues before and I love them for that. I admire your bravery and determination to not be silenced. You lend bravery to me with your works.
These are brilliant, you covered the entire issue! I am as angry as any woman who understands the men’s rights misogyny behind the transactivists – or as I call them – the Trans Taliban. Thank you so much for your talent and courage in sharing it. I’m behind you all the way and am here giving my support when needed.
These are so fantastic! Thank you!!
These are f-ing great! I love it!
These are amazing. Thankfully now you have a place to post them!
I understand why publishing these cartoons made you nervous. Reading them made me nervous! That’s how crazy the world is these days. They are brave and funny. Thank you.
You rock…
I’m trans myself, and I feel completely misrepresented by trans activists, who I believe aren’t even trans most of the time. Taking over the “movement” as some kind of political agenda, when most of us realize we’re not the same as our biological counterparts of the sex we identify, and we’re literally just trying to treat our dysphoria. It’s nice to see people like you who don’t hate our minority on the actions of a few (at least, you claim to, and I definitely give you the benefit of the doubt since you do seem very genuine) but aren’t afraid to help us call out the shitbags making my identity (my treatment for my disorder specifically) into a political stance to disable any thought in the matter. It hurts to know you can’t change sex fully – but it’s reality, and most of us just get over it. I know I did.
TLDR; thank you for not being scared to voice opinions that actual trans people believe, but cannot voice. Of course there’s criticisms to be had in your work but you don’t wish any harm on us, and there’s some of us who support you.
Hopefully you make a comeback one day, even though you’ve been MIA for a while.
Why haven’t these bustoons gone viral yet? They’re so good and it’s been a couple of years now. What’s rong with the internewts?
more people need to read these
too accurate
everyone should see these
I am gonna send them to politicians in canada