I usually have a blurb that I write in my head as I draw comics – to go alongside the strip to elaborate on what I’m trying to say. Usually, by the time I’m done with the strip, however, I’ve said it to myself so many times that I feel less motivated to write it down. Oh well.
I really like this video, I watched it about a month or so ago, and it has felt like it stuck in my mind, and I keep coming back to it.
Clicky for Ivan E. Coyote’s website
TRANSCRIPT:
Panel 1:
Sam: (A person wearing a blue t-shirt with ‘Mr T’ written on it in red, who is both facing, and looking directly at the viewer. Eyebrows are neutral, mouth is open, with very upturned edges, and Sam has a moustache. Both arms are raised at the shoulders, and bent back towards Sam, with their hands in fists, displaying Sam’s biceps.) I’m looking forward to being on T & passing more often. For my masculinity to be more rooted on the male end of the spectrum…
(There’s an arrow pointing to Sam, with words which read:) I’ll never be this muscly.
Panel 2:
Sam: (A person who is facing the viewer, but looking to the side, at a thought bubble. Eyebrows are pushed slightly together, and mouth is open, with very slightly downturned edges. One arm is bent up at the elbow, hand horizontally bent back at the wrist, indicating towards the thought bubble.) So I don’t have to wear other people’s discomfort so much when they feel thwarted by me.
Person B: (A person who is wearing a red undershirt and a grey blazer and is in Sam’s thought bubble, facing the viewer, surrounded by droplets of sweat. Eyebrows are raised, and pushed together slightly, mouth is open with slightly upturned edges.) Excuse me Sir, urrrr, ma’am, um I mean, err Ummm!
Panel 3
Sam: (A person who is looking directly at the viewer, eyebrows are raised, and mouth is open, with downturned edges. Sam is hunched forward slightly, one hand is pocketed, and the other is pointing at Sam’s speech bubble.) My closet feels too transparent at the moment. It feels hard to wear the stereotypes of other people. I don’t want people to automatically assume that I’m gay all the time.
Panel 4:
Joe: (A person wearing a purple, collared shirt, who is facing the viewer but looking at Sam. One eyebrow is raised, the other lowered, and mouth is open, with slightly downturned edges. Joe’s palms are flat against each other in front of Joe’s chest, there are a couple of sets of parallel lines which indicate that they’ve been clapped together.) Uhh, dear, you’re pretty gay…
Sam: (A person who is facing the viewer, but looking at Joe. One eyebrow is raised, the other lowered, and mouth is open, with upturned edges. One hand is pointing at Sam’s moustache.) Yea, I know. It’s mostly that I want facial hair!
This reminds me of the episode of “Gay Pimpin’ with Jonny McGovern” where the homeless man says to Linda James, “Excuse me, miss, can I borrow some money, sir?”
Hang in there, Mr. T!
Beautiful post Sam! I think gay, straight, bi, trans whatever we all somewhat feel like that, just some more than others and some more often than others.
BTW I think if I was gonna be a guy it’d be the ability to remove lids from jars without tapping them on the bench that I would find very satisfying.
Haha yes Alex – it quite often starts with one set of gendered titles, then moves to another, and then the absolute avoidance of them. I really like the avoidance one.
Reatha, thanks! Yes, feeling misunderstood is pretty universal, and I try to keep that in my mind a lot of the time. And Yes! Jar lids! I usually go purple in the face trying to remove them, so I don’t have to get someone else to do it for me.
I can totally relate to this Sam. People are always like “is that a man …?” with that question in their voices.Or they guess my gender and guess it wrong. I can’t wait for the testesterone as well. Facial hair for the win!
Adam
Haha hell yeah! I have soo many fantasies of the awesome moustaches and beards I will grow! I’m a little bit scared when I get on T I won’t actually grow any new hair at all, but it’s still fun to think about 🙂 Especially since facial hair is such a straight-forward marker for people to see you as a guy.
Yeah. 🙂 Facial hair. I’d like to see what I look like when I had my first shot.
And one thing I find about trans is most people assume I must be a gay transman when I’m not lol. I could easily fit the stereotype though!
Adam
Thank you so much for this post!
wow, how have I gone my whole life not knowing Ivan existed? thanks for introducing me to my new favorite author 🙂
Haha, yay, always glad to be of service! Ivan’s sooo amazing.