Happy August! This was double my usual monster length so it took 2 days of drawing, sorry about the delay.
I find trans comics can be very divisive- people either read it and identify with it completely or hate it and feel like it’s not representing them. I hope it’s obvious here that this is about Pam finding what’s right for her and that all trans people have the right to medical/magical transition if that’s what feels right to them. So much trans stuff is focused on bodies so I just wanted to write something about a badass career woman who’s trans but also commands complete and utter respect for herself and her gender. It’s also very relevant to the current political climate!
The gorgeous pun ‘Bi-ness’ was sent in by a reader- next month I’m hoping to do a comic about Princess Pan-elope and the polysexual principalities.
This is my favorite one so far! I would love to marry or be the lover of President Pam Pacifist.
Unfortunately she’s already (sorta) taken- but that’s a future conic :D
COMIC
future conic
…right, it cuts out things in < signs
*rolls comic into a party hat shape*
An honest question and not trolling – what’s the point of being a woman if not body? Wearing dresses? A man should be able to do it. Heels and makeup? A man should also be allowed to do it as he wishes.
Personally I am very much against the concept of gender – we have genitals that should be treated accordingly [doctors, sex etc] and personalities/hobbies/jobs/clothes, that should not be influenced by our bodies more than in the pure physical aspect.
I would label clothes breasts/no breasts, hips/no hips, etc to show for what body parts they are cut, but that’s all.
Cherishing the concept of gender looks [to me] as trying to put me in “my role”.
I would be most happy if we got rid of all the pronouns except for “they”. No “she”, no “he”, no genital labeling, no clothes labeling, just people. If you don’t cure me or have sex with me you don’t even need to know what genitals I have.
The more I write about gender the less it makes any consistent sense – all I know is that some people care about it and some people don’t. Gender is an innate part of you so yours says ‘I don’t care’ and hers says ‘mine is female’. She wears makeup and heels because she likes how they look on her.
Vaira, there is a big difference between gender, gender expression/gender roles, and sex. It’s fine to be against the concept of gender roles, but being against gender is like being against handedness or hair texture. It does vary, and it does make a difference.
Sure, society dictates gender roles, but think about how the messages get internalized. People who identify as female are much more likely to internalize the feminine-specific messages and people who identify as male are much more likely to internalize the masculine-specific messages.
Gender is a fundamental part of one’s identity, and everyone’s gender identity is different. Some people feel strongly one way or another, some people don’t. Some people feel like neither, some people feel somewhere in between, and some people are gender fluid and their sense of gender changes.
Maybe it’s that some people just prefer not to make alterations to their body, even though they feel strongly that they match a certain gender with their personality? I could imagine someone already identifying as a certain gender, because gender is between your ears not your legs, and being very uncomfortable with the idea of surgery or hormones. So for them transitioning is simply dressing how they want and using their preferred pronouns.
And I also wonder about cis women who are born with some masculine features. If a cis woman can remove her facial hair with electrolysis, is she obligated to do so just because she identifies as a woman? Most women probably would given the chance, but is someone doesn’t want to I don’t think that invalidates her femininity.
As a cis woman who has been frequently considered to be a man/boy trying to be a woman/girl for the majority of her life: society does consider a woman obligated to remove her facial hair (and any dark or substantial body hair) just because she identifies as a woman.
As just one of hundreds of examples from my life: My grandmother started bleaching the hair on my arms when I was 11 because even as a blonde 60+ year old grandmother, she still got comments of “Wow, I’ve never seen a *woman* with that much hair on her arms!” From adults. (High testosterone runs in the women of my family, I’m no exception and happened to be unlucky and get dark hair from my dad to make it worse.)
I would never deny a woman’s femininity for those reasons, or any others, (if she says she’s a woman and/or to use female pronouns, she is a woman/lady/”she”. End of story.) but I know from experience that society does, even for something as absurd as arm hair which everyone has. And I personally have neither the energy/money to keep up with society’s gender norms nor the energy to fight them, so I end up covering up as much as I can stand just to not deal with it (which means I haven’t worn anything shorter than pants in nearly a decade, and no sandals in years; I live in Florida).
I envy the drive MtF trans people have to *be* feminine but I just don’t have that drive. (Even Ms.President here is wearing high heels & has all her accessories on and matching. I can’t even convince myself to wear more than earrings and rings, at most, as accessories. And the rings are class rings, so it’s just to show achievements. I also don’t wear skirts, dresses, or makeup.) And I refuse to accept that not having that drive (and/or my history of masculine interests & authoritative/masculine personality; basically everything between my ears) means I should be FtM because that means the bullies would be right and I’m not actually a woman.
Could you please do a FtM transperson? I’m FtM, and it seems like the only ones who get any attention are MtF. As a transperson, I feel kind of invisible, as if I and other FtM trans don’t exist or aren’t really a part of the whole Trans thing.
Not to say I don’t like this comic. I do. I really like the trans character. It’s just that MtF seems to be the only kind of Trans anybody cares about.
Oh, never mind. It’s been so long since you did it, I forgot you HAD already done FtM trans.
I’m usually more observant than this, I swear. LOL
Haha yeah welcome to minority monster land where we’ve already got you covered yo
Also if you don’t mind it being some of Tab’s older work you can check out Tom for some FtM attention as well. If you haven’t already done so. Toms prolly my fav story u….u
YESSS Tom/Alex are my fave! Anyone who’s reading Minority Monsters but hasn’t read Tab’s older work, I highly suggest that you do!
Check out too kaos komix particular Tom’s story. I loved tabs work on it even before I realised i was a FtM myself.
Ms. President isn’t the sort of troll I would have expected if she’s made of stone but still alive and mobile. Would you mind saying which mythos/folklore you used for her?
Rock trolls, is my guess. You know, like the cute guys from Frozen. Rock trolls have gray skin with the hard texture of granite, as opposed to woodland trolls which are smaller with hooked noses, and mountain trolls which are more fleshy, wrinkly, with big ears and noses.
Also this is how Terry Pratchett’s Diskworld series’s trolls work; they are a silicon-based life form and not bothered by sunlight.
Also the entire series is amazing and everyone should read it.
“Her Royal Bi-ness” was probably the most hilarious thing I’ll read today. Thanks!
I can’t wait for more!!
I’d vote for her.
BTW, can I suggest future entries include some more obscure monsters? A Homosexual Huli-Jing or Huldra could be great fun.
No offense but she looks more like a gargoyle than a troll,but I still love this! Could you do an agender character?
There already is an agender character.
http://www.discordcomics.com/minoritymonsters/12-professor-puce-the-agender-sphinx/
I’m super happy I rediscovered these comics! So many more have been added since I first stumbled across them.
To the artist: You are awesome and I really hope you make more in the future!<3
I LOVE your comics and your book, (i did buy it, and it arrived in good time, it is awesome :D )
Just a question, could we have some more nonbinary charachters, i know some people who are third gender, pangender and bigender for example :)
I really couldnt figure out anything else that might have been missed so that is SO awesome!