Cartoon: Eventually You Gotta Inhale

Posted on August 24, 2023 by Ampersand

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In 2020, Helen Pluckrose and I had an online debate over if dieting works. During this debate, I said “Not a single weight-loss model – including long term approaches – has ever been shown to work in a peer-reviewed controlled clinical study.” Helen responded:

It simply isn’t possible that people ate fewer calories than they burned and got fat or that got slim and then ate the same number of calories that they burned and got fat. Fat needs to be built or maintained with calories.

To which I replied:

Of course if someone eats little enough, they will lose weight. And if they keep eating little enough forever – which may require eating even less than when the diet began, as their body attempts to regain the weight – they can keep the weight off.

In this extremely superficial sense, it’s true that all fat people can diet their way to no longer being fat.

But that’s sidestepping the real question: Can a typical human voluntarily reduce food intake enough to cause a large loss of weight, not just for a few months or years, but for a lifetime? Not just in theory, but in practice? Study after study has shown that the overwhelming majority of us cannot.

Helen’s argument is one I’ve seen made at least a hundred times – albeit almost always far less politely said. (“So you’re saying the fat acceptance movement are idiots who don’t believe in the first law of thermodynamics” is a more typical way they put it.)

But rudely or politely put, it’s the same miscommunication – when fat acceptance folks say “diets don’t work,” we mean that our brains won’t allow us to diet forever, but they think we’re talking about physics.

When I encounter the same argument over and over, I often wish I just had something I could paste in that explains it, rather than having to explain it over and over. I’m hoping this cartoon will be useful, for me and for other fat acceptance folks, in exactly that way.

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The challenge and the fun in drawing this was, as you’d expect, the sequence of expressions from panel four through panel eight, showing the character’s increasingly desperate attempt to hold her breathe. It’s so nice being a cartooney cartoonist; I think it would be harder for someone with a realistic drawing style to pull off.

The challenge in writing this strip was fitting it all in! I edited again and again, trying to cut the words down while maintaining clarity and – hopefully – not draining the dialog of all personality and life. I still ended up having to do panels with as many as 30 words, which is both not many words at all and more words than I’d prefer to use.  (To give you a sense of how not-long 30 words is, the sentence “I still ended up having to do panels with as many as 30 words, which is both not many words at all and more words than I’d prefer to use” is 30 words long).

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has nine panels, arranged in a three by three grid. The cartoon has two characters. The first character is a fat woman with a pixie haircut and glasses, wearing a polka dot shirt and a skirt. Let’s call her “DOT.”

(I don’t know if I’ve EVER seen anyone in real life wear a polka-dot shirt, but Bill Watterson sometimes drew adult characters in polka-dot shirts, and as longtime readers know it’s my firm opinion that if Watterson did it then it by definition is good cartooning).

The second character is a thin character with curly hair, wearing a button-up shirt with large black buttons. Let’s call her CURLY.

PANEL 1

Dot has her hands raised – open hands facing inward, a tiny bit above elbow height, which is so much the go-to for cartoonists trying to show a character explaining something that the cartoonist Joe Matt once drew this pose with a caption arrow pointing towards the hands saying  “Good ol’ explaining hands.” Curly is cheerful and smiling, and holding one hand out with palm down in a dismissive gesture.

DOT: DIETS DON’T WORK! Studies show that for nearly everyone the weight comes back.

CURLY: Nonsense! Eat less and you’ll lose weight! That’s physics!

PANEL 2

Dot continues explaining, now using a pointing finger, while Curly eagerly leans forward, hands clasping each other, and her eyes replaced with dollar signs.

DOT: While I reply, could you hold your breath? I’ll pay you $1000 if you do it till you faint!

CURLY: $1000? Okay!

PANEL 3

Dot continues explaining; Curly is holding her breath and looking confident.

DOT: Physics says you can do it… if you don’t breathe in, oxygen can’t get to your system, and you’ll pass out.

PANEL 4

A close-up of Curly, still smiling, with her cheeks puffed out, but her eyes are widening. Dot speaks from off-panel for this and the following three panels.

DOT: But this is about biology, not physics. Right now, your brain is sending chemical signals to your body saying “inhale!”

PANEL 5

Curly is still smiling, but she’s obviously straining a bit to keep holding her breath.

DOT: The same thing happens when you diet. The brain thinks you’re starving and sends out signals saying “you’re hungry! EAT!” It’ll send those signals for years if it has to.

PANEL 6

Curly isn’t smiling and doesn’t look confident. She’s still holding her breath, but has balled her hands into fists and is trembling.

DOT: The brain also releases hormones to make your body hold onto more fat. we evolved that way to get through famines.

PANEL 7

Curly has her hands on her cheeks now, and is trembling a lot more, and her eyes are huge and almost popping out.

DOT: And a tiny fraction of people lose weight forever! But for most people, no matter how much willpower they’ve got, eventually…

PANEL 8

In the foreground, Dot looks – let’s face it – a bit smug as she smiles. The panel is mainly taken up by Curly, who has opened her mouth hugely and is gasping. A huge sound effect, drawn so that the letters are converging towards Curly’s open mouth, says “GASP.”

PANEL 9

Dot is back to explaining hands, but with one forefinger pointed up. Curly has turned her back on Dot, arms folded, and has a sour grapes expression.

DOT: THAT’S biology! See my point?

CURLY: Screw THIS! I’m getting a lung bypass!

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Eventually You Gotta Inhale | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Fat, fat and more fat | 14 Comments  

MORE Things To Stop Telling Autistic People

Posted on August 23, 2023 by Ampersand

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Almost a year ago, I posted the cartoon “Things To Stop Saying To Autistic People,” drawn by Becky. Becky and I were both pleased with how it came up, and there is, alas, tons of material there. So, have a sequel!

It’s funny how the first panel of this cartoon is almost a continuation of the last panel of the previous cartoon. That wasn’t on purpose, but I like it.

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Becky’s comments:

This was a fun “draw 8 different assholes” challenge. I kept the first “things not to say to autistic people” cartoon open so that I wouldn’t accidentally repeat a character design or pose. I aimed for a variety of ages and races, but now that I look at it, everyone’s pretty gender normie in this one. As usual, I scrolled on social media a bit for inspiration. The “You must be high-functioning” woman was based on someone in a workout video ad. I snuck a Melissa Schemmenti sitting in the subway background looking at her phone.

I especially enjoyed cramming the subway panel with all the potential sensory nightmares (crowds, chili dog, crying baby, SOMEONE’S SHOES ATTACHED TO THEIR PACKPACK RIGHT AT EYE LEVEL, EWW). Not to be the person who always has to mention they’ve lived in New York, but…

Incidentally, I think the grossest thing I saw on the subway was a weekend-night drunk DIY ear piercing. I’ll never look at a subway handrail the same way again.

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has nine panels, arranged in a three-by-three grid. Each panel shows a different person speaking to the reader.

The exception is the central panel, which has the words “MORE THINGS TO STOP TELLING AUTISTIC PEOPLE” written in large, friendly lettering.

PANEL 1

A woman wearing a blue shirt and librarian glasses, with her hair in a bun, is leaning down to talk to us (i.e., we’re in a child’s perspective). We can see from the background that this is a classroom for small children.

WOMAN: If you’d just act normal you wouldn’t GET bullied.

PANEL 2

A man with freckles speaks to us with a dubious expression on his face and his arms folded.

MAN: You’re ALLOWED to drive?

PANEL 3

An older woman, wide-eyed with white hair pushed high on her head by a wrap, speaks to us, a concerned expression on her face.

WOMAN: You must be VERY high functioning.

PANEL 4

A cheerful woman wearing a button-up sweater open over a shirt shrugs.

WOMAN: Isn’t EVERYONE a little autistic?

PANEL 5

This is the central panel; there’s nothing in it but the title of the strip, “More Things To Stop Telling Autistic People,” in large letters.

PANEL 6

This panel shows the inside of a crowded subway car. There’s a lot of people; there’s a screaming baby, there’s a hot dog with scent lines coming off it, there’s a grumpy child with a spiked turtle shell backpack, and mainly there’s just a ton of people packed shoulder-to-shoulder. A bald man with a hip little chin beard holds on to a ceiling strap with one hand as he speaks to us, smiling.

MAN: Just don’t LET it bother you.

PANEL 7

An older woman, with white hair flowing down onto her shoulders, puts a finger on her chin as she speaks cheerily to us. In the background, we can see a dreamcatcher hanging on the wall, near a poster of a wolf howling in front of a full moon, and a big candle shaped like a headless Venus of Willendorf statue, with the wick coming out of the neck. (Becky: “Inspired by a candle I saw at People’s Food Co-op.”)

WOMAN: I bet YOU were vaccinated as a child, right?

PANEL 8

An older man, bald and wearing a short-sleeved polo shirt, grins at us.

MAN: You’re autistic? COOL! Quick, what’s 241 times 672.5?

PANEL 9

A man speaks with great intensity, his face looming so close in the panel that the bottom and top of his head are out of panel. He has wide, staring eyes.

MAN: I can’t trust anyone who won’t look me in the EYES.

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More Things To Stop Telling Autistic People | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Disability Issues, Disabled Rights & Issues | 2 Comments  

Cartoon: Gender Affirming Care Is Evil Except When It’s Not

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Ampersand

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Welcome back to still-new-but-slightly-less-new-now collaborator Nadine Scholtes. I’m happy to say we’ll be seeing more of Nadine’s work here.

Lettering panel one was a challenge because there was no place I could put three balloons that wouldn’t cover up some background detail I really liked. “I can’t put it there, I like that hole in the tree trunk… but I can’t cover up that park bench… but…”

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Justin T. Brown, in an autobiographical essay with the very descriptive title “When I started growing breasts as a teen boy, I got gender-affirming care without stigma,” writes:

When I confided in my conservative dad about what was happening, I was about 15. He saw how much this was holding me back, and we immediately went to a plastic surgeon for a consultation. A quick procedure and a few weeks of wearing an ace bandage later, I was flat-chested and finally had a body that looked like mine….

It was straightforward: I’m a dude, I was born a dude, I want to be a dude, and having breasts didn’t align with that for me. They needed to go for me to live a fuller life. 

Here’s what I know for sure, had I been trans and seeking the same surgery, there’s a good chance it wouldn’t have been as easy as it was for me — 20 years ago in rural Maine or today.

Vic Parsons, a writer and trans man, writes about the same double-standard:

When I wanted to try taking testosterone, I first had to go to my GP for a referral that meant I then spent several years on an NHS gender clinic waiting list. Finally I had two hours-long appointments, one with a social worker and one with a clinical psychologist, discussing everything from my childhood to my sex life to my mental health. I received the precious diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which permits me to obtain gender-affirming hormones and surgery. Then, finally, I was prescribed testosterone gel.

…As a cis man, my GP could order a blood test and, if my testosterone levels were low, send me to a specialist (after a wait of weeks, rather than years) who could prescribe me testosterone gel. Note: no several years spent waiting, and no need to obtain a clinical diagnosis to prove myself.

In both cases, testosterone gel is being used as a gender-affirming treatment. But the way the same medication is prescribed is hugely different.

We see this double standard play out in the popular debate over and over. Puberty delaying drugs, aka GnRH agonists, have been prescribed to cis children with precocious puberty for decades without controversy; no medicine is entirely risk-free, but GnRH agonists are low-risk and can greatly improve the course of a child’s life by delaying puberty. But once it became known GnRH agonists were being prescribed to trans kids, famous writers and elected politicians are equating them with Nazi experimentation. It’s appalling. Cis kids and adults should have the same access to medicine that trans kids and adults do – and the decision should be one made by the patient with their parents and doctors, not right-wing jackasses on Fox.

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels. Each of them shows the same two characters walking through a park. The character on the left has a gender-ambiguous look, with short hair on the sides and a big puff on top, glasses, jeans, and a purple plaid flannel shirt open over a blue t-shirt. We’ll call them “Flannel.”

The character on the right is a guy, has short, neat hair, and is wearing a thick zip-up hoodie over a white t-shirt. We’ll call him “Hoodie.”

PANEL 1

The two are walking along a paved footpath through a park, Hoodie in front. Both of them are calm.

HOODIE: So-called “gender affirming care” is an atrocity!

FLANNEL: So a cis girl with PCOS shouldn’t get medicine to reduce facial hair?

HOODIE: I don’t mean that.

PANEL 2

A closer shot from the front; the two are still walking along without facing each other (Hoodie’s back is to Flannel), and still calm.

FLANNEL: Are you against breast reduction surgery for cis boys with gynecomastia?

HOODIE: Nope.

PANEL 3

The same scene as they walk on.

FLANNEL: Cis women getting laser hair removal? Cis men taking testosterone? Boob jobs for cis teens? Rogaine and Viagra for cis men?

HOODIE: All those are fine.

PANEL 4

Hoodie suddenly turns around, leaning forward, angry and yelling; Flannel, surprised, leans back.

FLANNEL: How about when a trans person–

HOODIE: THAT’S EVIL AND MUST BE BANNED!


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Gender Affirming Care: Evil Except When It’s Not | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Sex & Gender, Transsexual and Transgender related issues | 3 Comments  

Cartoon: 5 Things Congress Says When It Plans To Cut Social Security | Patreon

Posted on August 19, 2023 by Ampersand

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Drawing five random characters (or semi-random, in this case, since they all had to be plausibly the sort of person who could be in Congress and seeking to cut Social Security) is always fun.

In this case, to make them different looking and also for my own entertainment. I used different base shapes for their skulls; panel two guy has a tube-shaped skull, panel three a sphere, panel four a triangle, panel five an oval, and panel six a rectangle. If I don’t think about it I tend to default to giving all characters a spherical head, but it’s nice to switch it up.

The challenge here was drawing the Capitol Building in the background of panel seven. I could have done a more impressive-looking drawing, with less effort, by tracing a photo, but I was determined to draw the building freehand.

I have to confess, the results aren’t my best drawing ever, but I’m pretty confident that it’s recognizably the Capitol Building, or at least recognizably “some big government building,” which is all that’s required for the storytelling to work.

(I do think my ability to draw buildings without relying on tracing has been improving, but it’s a slow process).

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One thing that isn’t in this cartoon, but maybe I’ll do a future cartoon about it, because it really pisses me off:

Politicians can only get away with code phrases for “we want to cut Social Security” – such as “raise the retirement age” – only when news media allows it. And the media shouldn’t allow it, ever, from politicians of either party. These code phrases should be translated to “cutting Social Security,” not five or ten paragraphs deep in the story, but in the headline.

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has seven panels. The first six panels are a two-by-three grid taking up the left half of the cartoon; the seventh panel takes up the entire right half of the cartoon.

PANEL 1

This panel is empty except for the title of the cartoon, printed in large, friendly looking letters. 

5 THINGS CONGRESS SAYS WHEN IT PLANS TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY

PANEL 2

A red haired man wearing a brown suit, and a dark tie with red dots, is speaking directly to the reader, looking a little anxious.

MAN: Cuts? NEVER! We only want to… er… “raise the retirement age.”

PANEL 3

A smiling man, wearing a suit with a red striped tie, worries his hands in front of his chin as he talks to the reader. 

MAN: We’ll just take billions out of Social Security funds to play the stock market! What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

PANEL 4

A man with a salesman’s grin, wearing a cream-colored jacket over a light blue shirt and red tie, holds his lapels as he talks to the reader.

MAN: Social Security should “sunset” every five years unless Congress re-passes it. (Sunsets can’t be bad! They’re so pretty!)

PANEL 5

A well-dressed woman wearing a red jacket over a v-neck gray blouse is looking a bit up into the air as she searches for the right word. Her expression is uncertain.

WOMAN: Overhaul! Wait that sounds bad… Reform! No… um…

PANEL 6

An older man, but still quite strong looking, has white hair parted on one side and is wearing a white button down shirt with a black necktie. He has a stern expression as he speaks to the reader.

MAN: Our debt limit plan won’t cut Social Security! It’ll just force Social Security cuts. That’s totally different!

PANEL 7

This panel has a large caption at the top, in the same font as panel one, which says:

1 THING IT NEVER SAYS

The red-haired man from panel two is back, talking directly to the reader and making a chopping motion with one hand. His expression is stern. Behind him we can see the U.S. Capitol Building (although the Statue of Freedom on top of the building has been replaced by a statue of Woodstock from Peanuts).

MAN: We plan to cut Social Security.

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5 Things Congress Says When It Plans To Cut Social Security | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Economics and the like | Leave a comment  

Cartoon: The Time Before Gender Ideology

Posted on August 3, 2023 by Ampersand

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This cartoon is drawn by my so-frequent-we-call-each-other-comics-spouses collaborator Becky Hawkins, who writes:

This cartoon combines two of my favorite things: period settings and making fun of gender norms!

I had a blast (and took a trip down memory lane) looking for details that would place the reader in each location and time. I remembered a second-grade classmate’s WWF shirt, a Lisa Frank poster, and raiding my mom’s closet for dress-up items. I also remembered that if you’re a kid and don’t know that a slip is underclothing, it looks like a fancy lacy dress.

Here’s a combination of Barry’s script, my commentary, and our gChat conversations:

Panel 1: Colors for 1-3 are in sepia, like century-old photos (unless you don’t like that idea), but fashions and cultural stuff are from the 60s-80s.

I did not like that idea. As the clothing styles of my childhood and teen years swing back into fashion and my eyeballs are confronted with colors that I swear I haven’t seen in decades, I’ve become aware of how strongly colors can evoke a time period. I wanted to lean into that.

Barry’s script didn’t specify that the kids were dressing up in adult clothes, but that’s the activity that came to mind. These could be grandma’s clothes or mom’s pre-motherhood clothes that she doesn’t want to get rid of. Either way, they feel fancy and exotic to the kids. I tried to go hard on 1960s carpeting and wallpaper, and more 1940s with the pillbox hat, gloves, belted dress, and handbag.

From Barry’s script:

Panel 2: A girl being confronted by two other girls. Might be a playground or a park. One of them has a “pac-woman” lunchbox or shirt.

Could also be a sleepover in one of the girls’ bedrooms. (Bringing posters and PJ patterns into play to help date it.)

Surprising but true fact: I was never a little girl! So I’m especially open to suggested rewrites in this panel.

IM exchange between Becky and Barry:

Becky: The sleepover panel in your latest script gets my former girlchild seal of approval 🙃

Barry: Good! I mean, not good in the sense that it sucks that this is a real thing. But you know, good that the script works. :-p

Becky: I still remember some girl I barely know making a big deal that I filled in “Brad Renfro” on a questionnaire in 7th grade 🤷🏻‍♀️😆

Barry: LOL! Panels 1 and 3 are so autobiographical for me!

From Barry’s script:

Panel 3: Roger is a fat boy (age 10 or so) who was just sitting on the ground reading and is now being confronted/surrounded by two or three bully boys. Lunchboxes or tee shirt themes or action figures could include A Team, Knight Rider, smurfs, Bionic Man, E.T. the Fonz, Pac Man or Pac Woman. (In any of panels 1-3, not just this panel). Or any other ideas you have for dating the scenes in panels 1-3.

Barry, thank you for giving me so many ideas that I completely ignored.

Panel 4: Middle-aged crabby man talking to a couple of gender-ambiguous-dressed teens. This panel is in full color, not sepia. One or two of the characters are carrying smartphones.

Setting: Could be a public street. Or a family-Thanksgiving like setting. I’m open to ideas.

I find it funny that the last panel, scripted as the “full color” one, ended up being the least colorful. I didn’t feel like cramming a public street or a Thanksgiving dinner into the panel, so I tried drawing the people in a generic fast food restaurant. I thought about switching it to a mac store, but asked Barry for a suggestion. He suggested a mac store. Done! I think the spare white background provides a good contrast with the other panels.

I hear a lot of complaints that “androgynous fashion” is used to mean “boxy beige and gray clothes for skinny white people.” Also, when you search that term:

The floral romper, bright boots, and pride shirt in panel 4 are in keeping with the clothes I see in Portland and on my corner of the internet these days.

Barry and I had this IM exchange because of the name of the shared Photoshop file:

Barry: I just got a dropbox notice which said “Becky Hawkins changed gender ideology.” 😆

Becky: ROFL… I feel so powerful all of a sudden.

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels, each showing a different scene.

PANEL 1

Three children are playing on the carpeted floor; behind them we can see a wooden dresser, one drawer left open, and wallpaper with a pattern of hearts. There’s a jewelry box open on the floor with them, and they are wearing dresses (and in one case, a slip) over their ordinary clothing, opera gloves, a hat with a veil attached, etc.. Judging by hair length, they are two girls and one boy.

OFF-PANEL ADULT VOICE: Bobby, take that OFF! Dresses are for GIRLS!

PANEL 2

A girl’s bedroom; posters on the wall, a bed with a pink blanket matching the pink phone and lamp on the nightstand, snacks and backpacks lying on the floor. Three girls are on the floor, lying on bedrolls, dressed in sleep clothing (we can see Ariel from The Little Mermaid on the back on one’s shirt, and a rearing unicorn on another‘s). A fourth girl is lying on the bed. The girl on the bed is speaking to one of the girls on a bedroll; the girl on bed is cheerful, the girl on the bedroll looks nervous.

GIRL ON BED: Which boy do you like? Keep in mind that your answer WILL be dissected by us and you’ll be ostracized if we don’t like it.

PANEL 3

A schoolyard or sports field; green mown grass, bleachers in the background. Three boys, standing, are surrounding and making fun of a fourth boy, who is sitting cross-legged on the ground and holding a book protectively. Two of the bully boys are grinning; a fourth is yelling loudly.

1st BULLY: Roger is weak and bad at sports and he reads a lot.

YELLING BULLY: UNACCEPTABLE! Let’s hit him and tell everyone he’s gay!

PANEL 4

We’re in an Apple Store, or something similar; white walls, widely-spaced counters displaying tablets, phones and laptops. A middle-aged man, scowling, with close-cropped hair and a dark tee shirt, is glowering at a couple of younger people. The two younger people are a bit gender-ambiguous in their dress. One is wearing a newspaper boy style cap with a rainbow-striped crop top shirt, suspenders, and big clunky purple shoes; they’re giving the middle-aged man the finger. The other has long hair, a van dyke beard, and is wearing a green floral jumper.

SCOWLING MAN: There was never any “gender ideology” when I was a kid!

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In The Time Before Gender Ideology Existed | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics | 1 Comment  

Cartoon: The GOP’s Dream Speech

Posted on August 1, 2023 by Ampersand

This cartoon was drawn by frequent collaborator Kevin Moore.

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From a 2022 article in the Pennsylvania News-Standard:

“Critical race theory goes against everything Martin Luther King Jr. taught us, [which is] to not judge others by the color of their skin,” Kevin McCarthy, Republican minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, tweeted in July. 

McCarthy’s point – a ludicrous one to attribute to MLK – was that he thinks “Critical Race Theory” is bad. To make his case, he alluded to MLK’s August 1963 speech at the Lincoln Memorial. More specifically, he was referring to a single sentence of that speech – the only sentence of that speech, or indeed of MLK’s entire career as an orator and writer, that any Republican seems to be familiar with.

According to McCarthy, this is “everything Martin Luther King Jr. taught us.” Which is far from true; it’s just everything that McCarthy wishes to hear.

The same article also quotes Chuck Dickerson, an NAACP member:

“A lot of people tend to focus just on the King who spoke about his dream at the March on Washington in ‘63,” Dickerson said. “They don’t know or don’t like to focus on the King who was speaking out against American imperialism and U.S. involvement in Vietnam by the time he was assassinated in ‘68.”

This is one of several cartoons I’ve done on the subject of how the GOP misuses MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech while ignoring – or actively erasing – everything else MLK ever said and did. I don’t know why this gets under my skin, but it does, and that’s why I return to it every few years.

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I’m writing this from Ithaca, New York, where I’m visiting with family. Last night we were treated to a truly spectacular thunderstorm, with deep thooms and bright flashes that we almost never get to see in Portland, Oregon. 

Nothing makes me feel more cozy than watching a big storm while safely indoors. I was raised mostly in the Northeastern US, and although I love living in Portland, I do miss cool storms.  

That’s not relevant to the cartoon, it’s just what’s on my mind as I write this. :-)

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels, plus a tiny fifth “kicker” panel below the bottom of the cartoon.

PANEL 1

Dr Martin Luther King Jr, dressed in a gray 1960s suit with a black tie, stands behind a podium, with an array of microphones positioned to catch his words. Behind him we can see a crowd of Black supporters listening. MLK is holding up a finger to emphasize his point.

Behind him, a white MAGA dude, wearing a polo shirt with a big green stripe, green shorts, and a red MAGA cap, is emerging out of some sort of sci-fi portal hanging in the air. The MAGA dude is holding out a hand in a “STOP!” gesture and has an urgent, wide-eyed expression.

MLK: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by—

MAGA: STOP! Dr. King, we gotta talk!

PANEL 2

Dr King looks a bit annoyed at the interruption, but remains courteous, speaking softly to the MAGA dude. The MAGA dude, not seeming to notice King’s annoyance, grins hugely and puts a hand on King’s shoulder.

MLK: Er… Excuse me, my friend. I’m giving a speech right now.

MAGA: I know! The 21st century GOP sent me back in a Time Machine to tell you to stop.

PANEL 3

MLK, taken aback, turns to face the MAGA dude. The MAGA dude, still grinning hugely, explains.

MLK: Pardon me?

MAGA: The “character not skin” bit? SUPER DUPER! But you said so many things that aren’t good for us! Like reparations, and socialism, and anti-war. Be a pal and quit?

PANEL 4

MLK is amused, clearly holding back a laugh. The MAGA dude is now the one taken aback.

MLK: So you think I’ll be silent because a white man from the future says my words are inconvenient for him?

MAGA: Uh… Yeah. Why, is that a problem?

TINY KICKER PANEL UNDER THE CARTOON

MLK: You don’t know the first thing about me, do you?

MAGA: Nope! And I’d like to keep it that way!

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The GOP’s Dream Speech | Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Race, racism and related issues, Racism | 4 Comments  

Cartoon: Dragscrolling

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Ampersand

First of all, I’m so happy to introduce my new collaborator Nadine Scholtes. Her official bio:

Nadine Scholtes (born 1992) is an illustrator and comic book artist based in Luxembourg. She has been drawing her whole life, but her studies in Art began when she was 16 years old at Lycée des Arts et Métiers, and years later made her bachelor’s degree in Communication Design at Hochschule Trier.

Nadine writes:

I enjoyed drawing the expressions, how she becomes more frustrated by every panel. I chose to draw this comic because it makes my blood boil how people treat and judge lgbtq+ people and you can only imagine how they are at home. And don’t think that animals don’t judge you, my cats do so by my every move.

I love Nadine’s art in this strip – the solid-looking backgrounds, the cat (the CAT!), the believable outfit, and most of all the evolving expressions. Even if I hadn’t written it, this would be a strip I love to look at.

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Does anyone have a good idea for what I should name this strip? My first thought for a title was “Dragscrolling” but is that too obscure? If you have a thought, please leave a comment.

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To be fair, it’s not only anti-queer people who get their time sucked away by doomscrolling. Lots of people do it, from every political group. It gives us a false sense of control, of knowing what’s out there; it gives us a dopamine rush; it gives us a social reward if we’re the first one to report (whatever the outrage is) on our social networks.

But it matters what you’re doomscrolling for. It’s one thing to doomscroll looking for the latest Trump embarrassment; it’s quite another to doomscroll for photos of marginalized groups to mock.

GCs (stands for “gender criticals,” the name TERFs have given themselves) are constantly searching for two things: men in unconvincing drag (even if it’s deliberately unconvincing), and trans women who – at least in the curated photos GCs choose – don’t “pass” as cisgender women. (The GC, of course, don’t distinguish between these two very different things.)

The photos, when found, are circulated on GC social boards and media. Often accompanied, without any conscious irony, by complaints that “they’re shoving their lifestyle down our throats!”

The effect of all this is to prescribe a restrictive idea of gender. Women are only allowed to look a certain way; those who don’t look feminine enough for GCs’ arbitrary standards are mocked and disdained. There’s even been a bunch of times that GCs (and their allies the Christian right) have circulated photos of cis women who aren’t what GCs consider feminine, calling them “men in dresses.”

That this is coming from people who call themselves gender critical is laughable. What they are is gender police.

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has seven panels, all showing the same thing: A woman, seated at a desk in what looks like an apartment, clicking a mouse as she looks at her computer. Her blonde hair is held out of her face by a purple hairband, and she’s wearing a dark blue blouse with pink trim shaped like flower petals, and capri jeans.

PANEL 1

From behind, we see the woman looking at her monitor as she clicks her mouse (SFX: click click click). An orange and white cat sits on the floor, patting her leg with a paw to try and get attention. A window behind her shows daylight.

WOMAN (thought): There’s always a new one up…

PANEL 2

The woman leans her face on one hand, looking a bit frustrated and still manipulating her mouse (SFX: scroll scroll scroll). The cat is climbing up the chair, and the window behind her is getting darker.

WOMAN (thought): Where IS it?

PANEL 3

The woman continues to search (SFX:click scroll click), while the cat sits on the desk, tapping her on her arm with one paw.

WOMAN (thought): C’mon… I’ll find one somewhere.

PANEL 4

The woman leans forward a little, still looking annoyed. The cat, also annoyed, glares at her. It’s even darker outside.

WOMAN (thought): I’ll check the newsgroup.

PANEL 5

The woman rubs a hand through her hair, now looking not just frustrated but a little  mad as she keeps searching (SFX: scroll scroll scoll click). Her cat, unnoticed, jumps off the desk.

PANEL 6

The camera zooms in closer as the woman, fully angry now, pounds her fist on the desk. Behind her, we can see that it’s full dark and there are stars in the sky.

PANEL 7

This panel is larger than the other panels. The woman pushes her chair back, pointing a finger at the screen, and yells angrily. In the foreground, the cat walks away but looks back at her resentfully.

WOMAN: AHA! A picture of a MAN in a DRESS! WHY must they SHOVE it in my face?

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Dragscrolling | Barry Deutsch on Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and Queer issues, Transsexual and Transgender related issues | 2 Comments  

Cartoon: What I Said CAN’T Be Racist Because…

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Ampersand

This cartoon is drawn by my most frequent collaborator, Becky Hawkins. Becky writes:

Coming up with 8 different character designs is one of the treats and challenges of drawing a cartoon like this. It’s either a fun exercise, or it feels overwhelming and you open and close the file several times over multiple days without making progress because you’re not sure what anyone should look like and facial expressions are hard and all your sketches look bad. (It’s been a tiring month. I may not have been in a great headspace.) Fortunately, deadlines can be very inspirational, and I’m really happy with how the finished cartoon looks!

I try to vary the hairstyles, body shapes, and clothing of each character. When I feel stuck, I scroll Facebook to look for looks that pique my interest. All resemblance between these cartoon characters and persons in my Facebook feed are entirely coincidental and based on me not remembering what contemporary humans look like.

For the chalkboard in panel 2, I looked up stock photos of “complicated math equation” and stitched together the parts that looked the coolest. I also added a big R for “racist.”

I was originally planning to save time by limiting the color palette to two colors, like in another cartoon I drew, “Things To Stop Saying To Autistic People.” But I didn’t think the panel with blackface would read clearly without a more realistic coloring style. So I used another trick for a slightly less limited palette: color in a few things, then look for where to reuse those colors. I started with the orange jumpsuit, banana, and makeup. Those colors could show up in other people’s hair, the professor’s elbow patches, and the halo. I’d imagined the jewelry in panel 1 as turquoise, so I used that color for the jewelry and some of the backgrounds. When I used the exact same blue, orange, and yellow in every panel, it looked a little flat. So I desaturated the color on the backgrounds and added a different blue to the palette. If you’ve read this far, thanks for getting into the weeds with me!

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Of course, it’s totally possible to deny that a statement is racist in a meaningful way. For example, “when I said I don’t trust people like them, I was referring to bowlers. That some of them are Latinx isn’t relevant.”

But it’s all too common to refute criticisms of what someone did or said with defenses based on who the person is. “What I said can’t be racist, because [I have a Black friend.] The part in brackets is irrelevant to whether or not what was said was racist.

People with Black friends can say racist things. Even Black people can say racist things. In general, the way to figure out if a statement is racist is to examine the statement, not to examine the speaker.

Not every panel in this cartoon is an example of this sort of logical fallacy, but most of them are. And all of them are examples of people switching the subject from what was said, to talking about themselves. And although the cartoon exaggerates, this sort of thing is really really common in real life. (And even more common on Twitter).

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has eight panels, each of which shows a single white person speaking directly to the reader. An additional ninth panel – the center panel of the grid – has nothing in it but a large caption, written in a distorted font. The caption says:

WHAT I SAID CAN’T BE RACIST BECAUSE

PANEL 1

A fashionable looking woman, with an undercut hairstyle, cats eye glasses and a septum piercing, waves a hand dismissively.

WOMAN: Liberals can’t be racist. Everyone knows that.

PANEL 2

A man dressed like an academic, including a bow tie and a jacket with elbow patches, is standing in front of a blackboard, pointing to the blackboard with a, er, pointer. The blackboard is covered with complicated looking math equations, and at the bottom there’s a simple drawing of the academic’s face, and a drawing of a devil face, with a not equal sign (“≠”) between the two faces.

MAN: Because racists are bad bad people, and I’m a good person. Q.E.D.!

PANEL 3

A red-haired man, wearing a collared shirt with a nametag, points to himself. He has a pleased and proud expression. There’s a footnote at the bottom of the panel.

MAN: I’ve got a Black friend!*

FOOTNOTE: *work acquaintance 

PANEL 4

A good-looking man in his twenties, wearing an open plaid shirt over a white t shirt, is speaking to us.

MAN: I’m not white! Family legend says that great great great Grandma was an Indian!

PANEL 5

This is the central panel. It has nothing in it but the words “WHAT I SAID CAN’T BE RACIST BECAUSE” in large distressed letters.

PANEL 6

A man talks to us, wearing blackface makeup and holding a banana. He’s shrugging.

MAN: I was only joking! That makes it okay!

PANEL 7

A blonde woman holding a drink makes the “come here” gesture towards people who are out of panel. 

WOMAN: I adopted three children of color! THREE!

WOMAN: Prop, Shield and Excuse, come here so I can show these folks.

PANEL 8

A woman speaks to us. She looks as if she’s about to cry, and is holding a handkerchief in one hand.

WOMAN: If you say something I said is racist I might start crying and no one wants that.

PANEL 9

A person (could be either female or male) closes their eyes and holds their hands in front of them, as if praying. They are wearing blue robes. There is a halo shining out from behind their head, drawn as if in stained glass.

PERSON: My intentions were pure.

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Racism | 36 Comments  

Cartoon: Believing (Some) Women

Posted on June 20, 2023 by Ampersand

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This comic was drawn by a new collaborator, Kelly Lawrence. Kelly says:

My name’s Kelly, and I’m a comic artist and illustrator based in the Pacific Northwest. I love to use bold line and color, and I’m always excited to work with a subject matter that uplifts others.

I was drawn to this cartoon because I’m a firm supporter of sex workers and oppose how exclusive some feminists are about what women deserve to be respected. All women deserve to be listened to.

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As Kelly says, “some” feminists. That’s important – a strip like this isn’t meant as a knock on feminism in general, just anti-sex-worker feminism, or SWERFs (like TERFs, but with “sex worker” replacing “trans” in the acronym).

It’s curious that – in my anecdotal experience – most SWERFs are TERFs. There’s a horseshoe effect going on, in which the most (allegedly) radical feminists have wound up preaching the same sexual ethics as conservative Christians. Both SWERFs and conservative Christians frame sex workers as women who are victims, and if many sex workers don’t see themselves as victimized, it means they don’t know their own minds.

In an academic paper, feminist economist Victoria Bateman wrote about how SWERF thinking replicates “the cult of female modesty.”

Contrary to radical feminism, I will argue that it is society’s division of women into “good girls” and “whores”, where “whores” are deemed as undeserving of respect, which can often be found at the root of society-wide mistreatment of women. The radical feminist ambition—which seeks to abolish sex work—conspires in such thinking, fuelling “whore” stigma by suggesting that sex work is wrong, that no woman in her “right mind” would choose to do it (hence all sex workers can be cast as “victims”), and that sex workers are the (albeit unwilling) cause of the sins men inflict on other women. Rather than challenging the “cult of female modesty”, feminists conspire in its teaching.

If you have time and interest, the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE), a sex-worker-led umbrella group of various sex workers rights organizations in thirty-five countries, has published a terrific overview of the relationship between sex work and feminism. (It’s thirty pages long, a little dry and academic but totally readable). Like virtually all sex worker rights organizations, ICRSE advocates for decriminalization and ending stigma.

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels. Each of the panel shows two young women in an outdoor area with trees and a paved walking path – maybe a college quad. 

One woman, standing behind the table, holds a megaphone and is speaking out to the world in general. She has neck-length hair, fashionably choppy, and is wearing a blue hoodie over jeans and a gray shirt. (I’ll call her “HOODIE”.) Her table is surrounded by banners saying “real men don’t buy women” and “sex work is violence against women”; her table has stacks of pamphlets, as well as a thermos and some pens, and a little pop-up sign which says “prostitution is rape.” (Nice detail work from Kelly!).

The other woman is walking past in the first panel. She has her hair in a high ponytail, is wearing jeans and a pink t shirt, and is carrying a small purse. (I’ll call her “PONYTAIL.”)

PANEL 1

Hoodie is talking with conviction into her megaphone, throwing a fist into the air. Ponytail is walking by.

HOODIE (loudly): WE MUST ALWAYS BELIEVE WOMEN!

PANEL 2

Ponytail’s attention has been drawn, and she pauses and turns to face Hoodie.

HOODIE (loudly): WE MUST ALWAYS LISTEN TO WOMEN!

PANEL 3

Hoodie continues shouting with her megaphone, looking even more passionate. Ponytail, excited by what she’s hearing, holds her hands up and speaks to Hoodie.

HOODIE (loudly): BELIEVING WOMEN AND LISTENING TO WOMEN… THAT’S THE ESSENCE OF FEMINISM!

PONYTAIL: Yes! Exactly!

PANEL 4

Hoodie has swung her megaphone around and is yelling through it, right into Ponytail’s face; Ponytail winces back, looking surprised and annoyed.

PONYTAIL: I’m a sex worker and–

HOODIE (loudly): NOT WOMEN LIKE YOU.

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Believing (Some) Women on Patreon

Posted in Uncategorized | 20 Comments  

Cartoon: How Sanctions Usually Work

Posted on June 1, 2023 by Ampersand

This cartoon is by me and Kevin Moore.

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Kevin writes:

Any time I can draw over-the-top, absurd violence with satiric intent is fun for me. I don’t like guns or violence in real life, but in fiction it can be silly or dramatic (or both), and maybe a little cathartic. The violence of governments is harder to exaggerate, because we take so much for granted yet there is so much more than we realize. The sanctions issue is a good example: the focus of discussion and media coverage is on the will of regimes and individual leaders, but the people themselves are ignored despite their suffering. We don’t measure it and we don’t want it to complicate our good intentions.

I don’t think sanctions are absolutely necessary or unnecessary— but beyond apartheid South Africa in the 80s and possibly the BDS movement, it’s hard to think of sanctions that have been effective. Russia does not seem deterred in its war against Ukraine, no matter how many sanctions the west imposes. Iran may have felt pressure by sanctions to join the treaty with the US under Obama, but after Trump scrapped it, I doubt they’ll bend to that kind of pressure again— not so long as the US can’t be trusted to hold up it’s end of the deal. Nonetheless our foreign policy will continue to rely on sanctions, because elites are oblivious (as always) and they don’t want to lose any tools they have.

I love the energy of Kevin’s cartooning here (panel two is my favorite). And I never could have drawn that gun so well!

I should mention that the funniest thing in this comic strip – the decapitated head saying “oh you shouldn’t have” – was made up by Kevin.

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Professor Francisco Rodríguez, in his paper “The Human Consequences of Economic Sanctions,” writes:

The evidence surveyed in this paper shows that economic sanctions are associated with declines in living standards and severely impact the most vulnerable groups in target countries. It is hard to think of other cases of policy interventions that continue to be pursued despite the accumulation of a similar array of evidence of their adverse effects on vulnerable populations. This is perhaps even more surprising in light of the extremely spotty record of economic sanctions in terms of achieving their intended objectives of inducing changes in the conduct of targeted states.

And blogger Daniel Larison writes:

Sanctions advocates often present using this weapon as a peaceful alternative to war rather than acknowledging that it is a different form of warfare, and they do this to make an indiscriminate and cruel policy seem humane by comparison. The illusion that economic warfare is a humane option makes it much easier for politicians and policymakers to endorse it, and the fact that the costs are borne by people in the targeted country makes it politically safe for them to support.

Unfortunately, sanctions seem to be an everlasting, untouchable policy in the U.S., supported by elites of both major parties. But we have to hope for change, and sheesh is this post a bummer.

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When I posted this cartoon on Patreon, I was taken aback to be accused of supporting Russia in Ukraine.

But being anti-Putin – to be clear, I loathe Putin & his government – doesn’t obligate me to support ineffective and inhumane policies.

The U.S. has imposed sanctions on over 20 countries since 1998; studies have shown that sanctions are ineffective at creating regime change (and are in fact counterproductive), and harm the worst-off people in the targeted countries, not the rich and powerful.

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON

This cartoon has four panels. Each of the panels shows an Uncle Sam type figure – actually just a really muscular bald guy wearing a tight t-shirt and a tall stovepipe hat, decorated in an American flag motif. The t-shirt has an eagle design, similar to the eagle design on the official Great Seal of the U.S.A., on front, and a eagle-plus-stars-and-bars design on the back. Sam is holding what Kevin described to me as “a mashup of different hand held Gatling guns I found on a google image search. I went with what looked the most ridiculous.”

Uncle Sam is standing on a small hill. Across a field from the hill, Sam is facing a wealthy-looking man in a suit. The wealthy guy has well-cut black hair and a large mustache.

On the field between Sam and the Mustache dude is a crowd of ordinary citizens, men, women, and children.

PANEL 1

Sam, standing on the hill, is yelling at Mustache Dude. The people standing between Sam and Mustache Dude look around nervously.

SAM: Do what I want you to do OR ELSE!

MUSTACHE: Ha! Do your worst!

PANEL 2

A closer shot of Sam, macho scowl in place, as he points his gatling gun and blasts it. There are lots of ejected bullet casings flying through the air and a huge sound effect that says “BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA.”

SAM: Have some broad economic sanctions! BAM!

PANEL 3

A shot from behind Sam; he is continuing to fire the gun. We can see a bit of the terrified crowd between Sam and Mustache Dude. Mustache Dude is shaking a fist in the air and yelling back at Sam.

SAM: Give up or I’ll sanction you some more!

MUSTACHE: Screw you! We will never give in! NEVER!

PANEL 4

Sam is standing in the field, smiling, surrounded by bleeding corpses. Sam is holding up a decapitated head, smiling at it as he talks to it. In the background, we can see Mustache Dude across the field, completely unhurt, grinning with his arms folded.

SAM: Remember, I’m doing this to help YOU.

DECAPITATED HEAD (small): oh you shouldn’t have.

MUSTACHE: Sanction me some more! I DOUBLE DARE you!

LARGE CAPTION PRINTED ALONG THE BOTTOM OF THE CARTOON: How Sanctions Usually Work.

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This cartoon on Patreon

Posted in Cartooning & comics, International issues | Comments Off