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Trans History—From Ancient Times to the Present Day

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By Martha Cornog   Content advisory: This book/review discusses suicide and sexual violence. The crisis Lifeline number in the U.S. and Canada is 988, in the U.K. it’s 999; and for elsewhere go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines.   Trans History aims to explain the nature of “trans” (also referred to as “transsexual” or “transgender”) by telling the stories of notable likely-trans individuals throughout history, following a sequence from earliest documented times to the present. These brief biographies are intercut with anecdotes about laws and customs that have been applied to such people over the centuries, and commentary about how these individuals fit—or… Read More

Gender Queer: A Memoir

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by Victoria James Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir offers readers a look into self-discovery and what it means to grow up without the language to describe gender. The memoir unfolds through moments of friction and curiosity. It probes the kinds of questions that surface long before anyone is introduced to terms like nonbinary or genderqueer. “Why are girls supposed to shave their legs but boys don’t have to?” (p. 42). Questions like this appear throughout the memoir, capturing the subtle but persistent ways that gendered expectations shape a child’s understanding of what is “normal.” Kobabe describes these pressures as… Read More

Surviving the City Series

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by Angélique Roy   Surviving the City is a three-volume young adult graphic novel series set in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is written by Tasha Spillett, an Afro-Indigenous educator, public speaker, and scholar of Cree and Trinidadian descent, whose passion is to advocate for Indigenous women and women of colour and to create supportive, joyful worlds for children within her work. All three volumes are illustrated by Natasha Donovan, a Métis and white illustrator from Vancouver known for her work in children’s literature and graphic novels. The series follows two teenage best friends, Miikwan, who is Anishinaabe, and Dez, who is… Read More

Us

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by Soph Myers-Kelley Us is an educational memoir about a couple navigating their gender and sexual identities together. Originally starting out (and appearing to others) as a straight couple, Sara is knocked off her feet when her partner confesses that she may be a trans woman. Sara traverses the discovery journey of sexual identity- if she still loves her partner as she transitions socially and physically, what does this mean about her own sexual orientation? While Sara considers where and if she falls on the LGBTQIAP+ spectrum, her partner Diana traverses whether being a trans woman is the best fitting… Read More

Der Sommer ihres Lebens (eng: The Summer of her Life)

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Contemporary German writers and comic artists are tackling some of the most challenging issues humanity faces today. Many of these problems are not to be found on the front pages of the newspapers, but nonetheless play direct and crucial roles in the lives of us and our loved ones. In Barbara Yelin’s 2017 graphic novel Der Sommer ihres Lebens (eng: The Summer of her Life) the illustrator, along with writer Thomas von Steinaecker, takes on themes of ageing and care for the elderly, as well as the consequences of outdated gender roles in daily life and work. At the beginning… Read More

Pregnant Butch: Nine Long Months Spent in Drag

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Guest review by Katie Laing A.K Summers in Pregnant Butch provides a realistic, relatable and humorous narrative into her experience of pregnancy as a butch, lesbian woman.  The non-fictional graphic novel is the first by A.K Summers, “written in 2005 after the birth of her son” [1]. Written in first person, she challenges themes of societal norms, masculinity and gender roles whilst living in New York in the 1980s. Teek Summers uses comic form to accentuate and visualise the journey and struggles of the common yet underexpressed phenomenon that is queer pregnancy. Teek and her girlfriend Vee experience social pressure, as a result… Read More

Brighton keynote speaker announcement: Dr. Meg-John Barker

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We are very excited to announce our first keynote speaker for the Graphic Medicine conference: Meg-John Barker is the author of a number of popular books on sex, gender, and relationships, including Queer: A Graphic History (with Julia Scheele), How To Understand Your Gender (with Alex Iantaffi), Enjoy Sex (How, When, and IF You Want To) (with Justin Hancock), Rewriting the Rules, The Psychology of Sex, and The Secrets of Enduring Love (with Jacqui Gabb). They have also written numerous books, articles, chapters, and reports for scholars and counsellors, drawing on their own research and therapeutic practice. In particular they have focused their academic-activist… Read More