Scavengers Undercover

We had to write a Mini Comic for my Illustration Class so I did mine based on The Frog and The Scorpion. Hopefully you all know the story! 

But if you don’t know the story… In the original the scorpion stings the frog in the middle of the river. When the frog asks “why” the scorpion says “it’s in my nature” and they both die. I like my ending more.

untitled comic!!

Written and sketched by Alex

Anyway, additional points since I decided to open the can of worms:

1) Something they keep wanting to bring up is the clinical side “you can’t give birth with a penis!!” Like well duh, nobody’s saying you can outside of some miracle magic? Testicles produce sperm and ovaries produce eggs? This is not disputed by anyone so far as I know?

2) If we’re past that point then the hang-up is this: when it comes to calling someone by a gender, which is more important: presentation or sex organs? You seem to accept a theoretical individual that CAN look like Thomas and yet are insistent he must be female, despite the fact the most significant piece of that anatomy–A PENIS–is present. In an essentialist view he HAS TO BE male and the only thing that’s causing an issue is the presentation, and yet you pooh-pooh the idea that presentation has anything to do with it because gender isn’t a social construct?

3) if you’re arguing, then, that someone is obligated to present based specifically on, and subsequently must identify with, which genitals they have, well you’ve completely misunderstood where *I’m* coming from with this. The “altersex” thing is specifically made to push the boundaries on the theory because as an artist I can mix and match *secondary sexual characteristics* however I want and those clearly affect presentation–if you can’t (as a group) decide which part is most important (sex organs or presentation, given you want to leave self-id out) then you’re gonna have a bad time trying to wedge them in your pre-made box when they clearly conflict, because I don’t feel particularly obligated to make one match the other.

4) if you, personally, consider that EITHER sex organs or presentation to be the be-all end-all of determining gender, the mere fact there are people who believe the opposite should immediately show that *you can create a world in which the opposite is the accepted standard* and it causes no conflict.

5) What I specifically am doing with these characters is fictional. Yes, personally I do hope it’s validating and/or gratifying for real people who identify as non-cis, but let’s just start with the fiction rung of the ladder: how is it you can suspend your disbelief for practically everything in the universe but can’t wrap your head around gender being flexible *fictionally*? Even a little? Even inventing a society where they have standardized rules, and another society where they have different rules? Why is it so important to you that someone’s fictional gender be fixed to some real-life standard when it doesn’t affect you, personally? Are you afraid people will become confused as to the biological function of the penis or vagina? If so please return to point 1 and repeat.

Everyone loves finding the perfect barber!

What do you think of Molly’s new haircut?

Deep murky water.

my parents were hippie feminists so my brother and i could play clapping games and sleep in puppy piles and give each other weird hairdos, but all the ‘normal’ boys just up and stopped knowing how to touch anyone without hitting sometime between kindergarten and first grade

and my little kid mind briefly saw the vastness of life stretching out in front of all of us, and all the hugs everyone would need and not get, and for a moment i was just like

So I grew up knowing full well that the whole Men Don’t Touch thing was puritanical bullshit.

What I was absolutely not prepared for, however, is the super intense effect it has on straight men’s romantic relationships.

Because when you are literally the only person it is okay for your boyfriend to touch, Jesus fucking Christ, that changes the game.

I strongly suspect that a lot of Str8 Dude feelings of entitlement to women’s bodies, particularly the bodies of their wives and girlfriends, is a direct result of those women being the only non-violent physical contact they’re allowed to have.

I know for certain that the framing of any and all platonic physical contact as un-manly has been directly responsible for a lot of sexual dysfunction (and then the attendant misery of trying to get that treated at the ripe old age of 22) with at least one of my exes. It’s a mess when you can’t get it up because you’re depressed and want to be held but you’ve been brainwashed into thinking what you actually want is sex because being held is for girls.

Omfg