{"id":26831,"date":"2022-07-31T12:19:12","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T19:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=26831"},"modified":"2022-07-31T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T19:19:12","slug":"cartoon-regarding-those-largely-imaginary-cis-men-pretending-to-be-trans-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=26831","title":{"rendered":"Cartoon: Regarding Those Largely Imaginary Cis Men Pretending To Be Trans Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you enjoy these cartoons, then you’d be interested to know that many of history’s most famous people are also huge fans of my work, including Abraham Lincoln, Ada Lovelace, Margaret Thatcher (who wrote me only last week to let me know that I am objectively the greatest artist in all of history), and Ulysses. And all of them support my Patreon<\/a>. So be like them!<\/p>\n

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This isn\u2019t the most important or the most prominent anti-trans argument. But it\u2019s one I\u2019ve heard a whole bunch of times over the years, and it always bugs me that even taken on its own terms, it makes no sense<\/em>. Nothing about restricting what bathrooms trans people use can stop predatory men from being predatory, or cis men from lying.<\/p>\n

The entire argument is a pretext (even if not everyone making the argument is consciously aware that it\u2019s a pretext). For the proponents of these laws, the mere existence of trans people is threatening, and so any law that strikes at and ostracizes<\/a> trans people – even if the arguments are gibberish – is supported.<\/p>\n

And that, in the end (literally in the fourth panel) is what this cartoon is really about – not a single nonsensical argument, but the way that this and other arguments, boiled down to their essence, are rationalizations for othering and harming trans people.<\/p>\n

They also like fear mongering with that image of predatory men wearing dresses while attacking women – an image that goes back in pop culture at least as far back as Hitchcock\u2019s Psycho<\/em>, and probably much further.<\/p>\n

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I asked Frank Young (my frequent collaborator who does colors) to give the right-hand character colored streaks in her hair, and I really love what he did with that.<\/p>\n

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON<\/strong><\/p>\n

This cartoon has four panels, all featuring the same two characters, who are chatting on a suburban looking sidewalk. \u00a0The character on the left is a blonde woman with neat, shoulder-length hair, a white shirt with a black collar, and a purple skirt. \u00a0The character on the right is a woman with straight hair on top, dyed in streaks of orange and greenish-yellow, while the hair on the sides is orange and buzz-cut. \u00a0She\u2019s wearing below-the-knee shorts and a tank top, and one of her arms is covered with tattoos.<\/p>\n

For the purpose of this transcript, I\u2019ll call these characters SKIRT and TATTOO.<\/p>\n

PANEL 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Skirt is talking animatedly to Tattoo, smiling and stretching her arms it to make her point. Tattoo listens with her arms crossed and a neutral expression.<\/p>\n

SKIRT: Bathroom bans aren\u2019t about screwing over trans people. They\u2019re about protecting women from cis men. Otherwise, cis men would pretend to be trans to get into women\u2019s bathrooms.<\/p>\n

PANEL 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

A slightly different angle, so we\u2019re now seeing Tattoo from the back. Skirt continues to smile as she explains; we can\u2019t see Tattoo\u2019s face, but from her body language she\u2019s disturbed by what she\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

SKIRT: That\u2019s why we need a law saying people can only used bathrooms that match their sex at birth. And if it just happens to harm trans people\u2026 that\u2019s only an unfortunate side effect.<\/p>\n

PANEL 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

A close up of Tattoo shows her frowning as she thinks, one hand rubbing her forehead.<\/p>\n

TATTOO: Even if that were a real problem, with your law couldn\u2019t cis men just say they\u2019re trans men to get into women\u2019s bathrooms? Wouldn\u2019t it make it easier for them, since they wouldn\u2019t need dresses or makeup?<\/p>\n

PANEL 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

Skirt takes a step back, looking a little irritated and holding up a hand in a negating gesture. Tattoo, looking angry, is holding up her hands and yelling.<\/p>\n

SKIRT: But if we look at it that way, there\u2019s no reason to screw over trans people.<\/p>\n

TATTOO: WHY IS THAT A PROBLEM FOR YOU?<\/p>\n

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This cartoon on Patreon<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you enjoy these cartoons, then you’d be interested to know that many of history’s most famous people are also huge fans of my work, including Abraham Lincoln, Ada Lovelace, Margaret Thatcher (who wrote me only last week to let … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-comics","category-transsexual-and-transgender-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26831"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26833,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26831\/revisions\/26833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}