Welcome to the first of two keynote addresses from the 2019 Graphic Medicine conference, the theme of which was, “Queerying Graphic Medicine: Paradigms, Power, and Practice.” Conference co-host Dr. Muna Al-Jawad created a comic which appeared in the program to say more about that theme: 
Meg-John Barker’s keynote address fits perfectly with this framing of our conference and our work in Graphic Medicine. Meg-John is the author of a number of popular books on sex, gender, and relationships, including Queer: A Graphic History, How to Understand your Gender, Life isn’t Binary, Enjoy Sex (How, When, and IF You Want To), Rewriting the Rules, The Psychology of Sex, and The Secrets of Enduring Love. They have also written a number of books for scholars and counsellors on these topics, drawing on their own research and therapeutic practice. You can learn more about Meg-John’s work at rewriting-the-rules.com – zines and books mentioned in the talk are available for download at that site.
This fantastic lecture first traces MJ’s career through academia and art, then dives deep into queer theory, contemplating what it means to resist binary thinking in all aspects of our lives, not limited to sexuality and gender. They also turn our thinking to contextualization of ideas in time, history, structures of power, and the plurality of self.
Thank you to MJ for sharing the comics for that correspond to the keynote so we can include some of them with you here. All rights to the images belong to their creator(s).
Nearly all of the remaining images from the talk can be found in books and zines on MJ’s website, www.rewriting-the-rules.com.
And finally, the Meg-John and Justin podcast can be found here: megjohnandjustin.com.
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