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Comics ‘n Things: Queer identities in comics

Ariel Schrag is the author of the graphic novels “Awkward,” “Definition,” “Potential,” and “Likewise.” She is currently a writer for the HBO series “How To Make It In America” and was a writer for the Showtime series “The L Word.”

I first became aware of Erika Moen ‘s DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary, a weekly webcomic she kept between 2003 and 2009, through the controversy surrounding it. Among other things, DAR recounts Moen coming out as gay and then falling in love with a man and getting married. A sensitive topic for lesbians. DAR also includes a comic titled Transmen Are Ridiculously Hot, which is where most of the controversy comes in.

The online “best of” DAR (named for a “d’oh”-like exclamation Moen makes) is an OK read. Not great, but if you like fart and penis jokes (which I do not) or are interested in sexuality identity issues (which I am) you should check it out. The comic evolves from a scratchy black-and-white to a slick illustration style with heavy computer gray tone. Moen rarely gets very deep, but her diary-esque honesty is appealing and the strips can be addictive, whether you like her personality or not.

There’s a Youtube video called “When did you choose to be straight?” in which an interviewer goes around asking people whether or not they think being gay is a choice (most people say yes) and then following up with the question: “And when did you choose to be straight?” It’s a great video, with the simple take-away message: “Gay people are born gay, just like straight people are born straight.” But it’s not always this simple, on either side. Moen’s DAR, which begins as a classic gay coming out story along the lines of “F–k you, Mom; I love to eat p—y, World!” soon turns into a sort of “coming out as straight” comic. Moen’s relationship with a man causes her to be plagued by self-consciousness and guilt.

While the early comics, like this one, express shame, the later ones turn indignant and self-righteous, with Moen as the victim:

Moen’s attraction to a man appears way more stressful than when she originally came out as gay. Coming out as gay just meant Mom was super annoying, but coming out as mmmm – actually maybe not totally gay? Traumatizing.

As portrayed in her comics, Moen and her boyfriend are pretty great together — Moen’s spastic neuroses complemented by his mild-mannered pragmatism. They’re a sweet couple, and easy to root for. So what’s going on here? Why all the emotional turmoil? Do what you want. Call yourself what you want. Does anyone else actually really care?

The lesbians care.

Why?

Well, several reasons. Here are a few of them:

One has to do with privilege. For instance, now that Moen is in a straight relationship she gets to marry her British boyfriend and move him into the States with her. Meanwhile, same-sex international couples continue to either just live separated, or spend countless amounts of time and money concocting grad school/work visa plans where, if they’re lucky, they might end up together in a remote city separated from their friends and families for maybe two years — and then back to square one.

Does Moen address that she used straight privilege to get what she wants and how this might conflict with the staunch “politically queer” identity she holds so dear? Nah.

And isn’t “queer, married” girl (how Moen officially identifies) kind of an oxymoron? “Queer” used to mean “radical, anti-establishment, sexual outlaw” — but lately, it’s morphed more into a ubiquitous euphemism for “girl who used to call herself gay but is now with a guy.”

I mean, what is the word “queer” even doing on this image?

Another issue is sh–y-ass parents. When Moen first came out as gay she drew this comic about her mom:

Now that Moen’s married to a man, we can all assume that her mom is just thrilled and feeling very vindicated. And I’m sorry, but f–k that mom! She doesn’t deserve to be happy. If she was OK with Moen being gay, sure, but this just isn’t right. All those other parents still hate that their children are gay. It’s not fair.

Another reason lesbians don’t like it when their ilk turn straight is the PTSD many have experienced from dating straight women. “Oh, Erika’s with a man now? She’s one of them. Bitch.”

And lastly, for some people, the problem is that tiny voice, buried deep in their brain saying, “Wait? Erika Moen’s with a man? Sometimes I … fantasize about men. Should I be with a man? Am I missing out? Fuck. I already told everyone I’m gay. I can’t deal with this. I’m just gonna hate her.” It’s the same little voice the homophobes have been hearing for centuries, just reversed.

From all this we can conclude that the problem isn’t that Erika Moen loves a man, it’s that same-sex marriage is federally illegal, parents are bossy and closed-minded, people break people’s hearts, and labels like “gay” “straight” “bisexual” and “queer” ultimately do more harm than good. What if instead of saying “I’m a Lesbian” you just said, “I have a girlfriend,” or “I’m looking for a girl to date”? Visibility should be about celebrating diverse behavior — not promoting constrictive and divisive identity labels.

Speaking of divisive identity labels, we come to Moen’s infamous Transmen are Ridiculously Hot comic:

The backlash to this comic can pretty much be summed up by this (edited) panel-by-panel analysis from blogger Nixwilliams:

Panel 1: White, able bodied, slim transmen in shirts and ties are ridiculously hot.

Panel 2: They might look like men, but really they’re just tricking everyone!

Panel 3: REAL white, slim, able-bodied men in shirts and ties (borrring) have proper facial hair… They also have flesh penises that they’ve had since they were babies. I think that they are icky and boring. I’m pretty much a lesbian.

Panel 4: BUT THIN, WHITE, ALL-LIMBS-ATTACHED TRANSMEN ARE REALLY SEXY! LOOK AT THEIR BOOBIES!!! LOOK HOW THEY MAKE EVERYONE THINK THAT THEY’RE REALLY GUYS! IT’S SO CLEVER! AND SEXY! I THINK I AM GOING TO GO INTO A RELIGIOUS RAPTURE!

Panel 5: Uh, stop objectifying me. We’re men, not some in between for you to fetishize.

Panel 6: HAHAHA OH, YOU! YOU’RE SO CUTE WHEN YOU’RE ANGRY! STOP WORRYING YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD ABOUT IT!

A bombardment of Internet comments, reposts, and general anti-Erika Moen sentiment went on for months, including alleged death threats. One Internet poster, a friend of Moen’s writes:

Until this fight erupted, I really never gave transfolk a second thought one way or the other, but now when I bump into one on the street a tiny part of me is gonna wonder if they’re one of the crazy people who weren’t content to just voice their justified frustration/disappointment with a friend’s comic, but who then barraged said friend with enough threatening messages and emails to leave her dry-heaving from a week-long panic attack.

Politics aside, the problem is that the comic is superficial and just not very interesting. If anything, the comic should have explored WHY Moen finds trans guys (or at least this Zac Efron version of a trans guy) hot — rather than just stating it as a sort of provocative brag (look at me! I think what other people think is weird is sexy! I’m cool!). What is it about a female-to-male transitioning body that Moen finds so appealing? And is it really all trans guys? Or is this whole thing based on a certain special someone? A more involved comic would probably still offend people, but at least we’d have some worthwhile insight into Moen’s psychology. The comic as is just comes off as ignorant and patronizing.

The thing is, there’s anti-trans stuff everywhere. Good Lord it’s hard not to come across some flippant, “hilarious” joke about a man in a dress at least once a day. Most of it goes untouched. So why was there such an uproar over this flawed, but intentionally well meaning comic by a not-very-well-known cartoonist? I mean, death threats? Part of it is that Moen was intentionally well meaning. It’s easier (and, let’s admit it, sometimes more fun) to call out someone you know wants to be on your side, than it is to challenge a formidable enemy. But it’s more than that. The main reason “Transmen Are Ridiculously Hot” elicits such an intense reaction?

It’s a comic.

Remember Molly Noriss, the cartoonist behind the Everybody Draw Mohammad Day comic featuring cartoon inanimate objects claiming to be “Mohammad”? Norris received such serious death threats that she has now, under the advice of the FBI, changed her name and is living in hiding.

Graphic novels and comics with sexual content are far more likely to be banned than their equally racy prose peers. Because they are visual, comics have an immediate, visceral effect. There’s something about an image that feels especially intrusive and offensive. If you don’t like a sentence, you can always stop reading. But you come across an image and there it is — bored into your brain, imprinted on your mind, whether you like it or not. Moen’s stark, sexualized drawings of a naked trans man binding his chest and wearing a strap-on penis — which not all trans men do, but for some is a very private act — is understandably upsetting.

Comics are also, by nature, about simplification. Art Spiegelman writes: “All comic-strip drawings must function as diagrams, simplified picture-words that indicate more than they show.” This process of simplification — designing your symbolic “picture-words” is tricky. Much of what people reacted against in “Transmen Are Ridiculously Hot” was Moen’s depiction of the “slim, white, able-bodied trans man.” If written in prose the question of what a “trans man” looks like can be left ambiguous. But a comic is crafted out of icons, and Moen’s Zac Efron-icon as the symbol for all trans men gets her in trouble.

Despite the recent boom in adult-themed “graphic novels,” comics still have a reputation for being lightweight and trivial. Transmen Are Ridiculously Hot with its goofy smiles and ba-dum bum punchline is especially vulnerable to this. The intense reaction to Moen’s comic is not just about the content, but a reaction to the very idea that someone would write a silly “cartoon” about something as socially and emotionally complex as trans men’s bodies. Of course, when done well, the fact that comics use a preconceived “trivial” form to express something deep is what makes them so fascinating. Moen just missed out on the deep part here.

Comics are deceptively powerful. The nature of comics is also why Moen’s lesbian fans felt so betrayed when their favorite lesbian cartoon character turned straight and married a man. When you read a comic the cartoon hero is not a representation of its elusive, flesh-and-bone creator. It’s a circle face with expressive lines for eyes and a mouth, bursting with universal emotion. Simplicity makes the cartoon hero the easiest thing in the world to project oneself on to. It’s you.

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