Panel 1
Ronnie is standing in the panel, wearing a black t-shirt and long yellow skirt, hair tied up, waving.
Ronnie: Hey everyone, this is Ronnie. I made a comic a month ago trying to use hyperbole to explain that transphobia transcends every effort of a trans person to be “acceptable.”
Panel 2
A copy of the previous comic is in the background. The trans woman protagonist from the previous comic appears in the foreground, gesturing in a frustrated manner.
Ronnie: In the comic, a trans woman goes through a process of trying to appease a politician and doctor to accept her as a woman, going from changing how she talks about her experience to dressing differently to taking hormones until finally she yells—
Trans Woman: Look, I got genital reconstruction surgery! And I didn’t even really want it! Will you recognize me as a woman now?
Panel 3
Ronnie waves their hands, explaining.
Ronnie: I knew this panel was the most ishy out of the entire comic, since bottom surgery is a difficult topic that needs a lot of nuance. I rationalized that people would not consider the comic a realistic portrayal of trans peoples’ motivations behind bottom surgery and medical intervention in transitions in general.
Panel 4
Ronnie puts their hands on their face, exasperated at themself.
Ronnie: But the truth is – I was wrong.
Panel 5
Ronnie in foreground as the narrator. In the background, a person uncertainly sits in a surgery gown, while another pleads with a doctor, unsuccessfully.
Ronnie: So, here it is without any teasing. Trans people getting gender affirming surgeries, especially bottom surgery, out of a sense of obligation/desire to please the people around them is actually very uncommon. What is dramatically more common is trans people being denied transitional services (hormones and surgeries alike) that they desperately want and need.
Panel 6
A rough map of Ontario in the background.
Ronnie: Even in one of the most trans-accessible areas of North America, southern Ontario, in Canada, you still need to find a trans-friendly doctor who will refer you for fully-covered surgery through CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health), the wait list for which is two to three years long.*
*And that’s if you’re a Canadian citizen. If you are, you automatically have the provincial insurance to cover for the doctor and the surgery. If you’re an immigrant, provincial insurance is largely inaccessible until you are a permanent resident, a process which takes several more years.
Panel 7
A trans person is animatedly talking, while another trans person listens.
Ronnie: Trans people often have to encourage each other to sign up if they have even the smallest desire for surgery, because too many wait until they really want/need surgery only to suffer the wait list.
Trans Person: If in two years you realize you don’t want to, you can just cancel the appointment!
Panel 8
A drawing of a crowdfunding campaign page, featuring a smiling young trans woman with long dark hair, titled “Help Summer Afford Bottom Surgery!”
Ronnie: In the United States, it is much more difficult to access health insurance at all, much less a plan that will cover surgery. Trans people have to find ways to raise between several thousand and almost a hundred thousand dollars, or go without, and many do.
Panel 9
Ronnie standing in the middle of a crowd of faceless people. Their arms are crossed.
Ronnie: The reality is, the idea that trans people will pursue the mentally, physically, and financially exhausting process of gender affirming surgeries on the off chance that they will be accepted as their gender by a stranger, isn’t an idea that should be spread, even in the pursuit of proving a rhetorical point.
Panel 10
Ronnie is now squeezing through the crowd, including a boisterous supporter with a “Love Yourself! sign and a noisemaker.
Ronnie: That idea only encourages well-meaning people to believe that if trans people would just “accept themselves” and “stop caring what people think,” they wouldn’t need medical interventions in their transition.
Panel 11
Ronnie throws up arms in frustration; some of the crowd looks over awkwardly.
Ronnie: And that just perpetuates the cycle of trans suffering because everyone thinks that trans people are being disingenuous! Everyone thinks they know trans people better than they know themselves!
Panel 12
Ronnie runs a hand through their hair, looking tired.
Ronnie: The trans community, my community, deserves better than that. We deserve to be trusted and supported, no matter what medical interventions we want or don’t want, no matter if we change our minds, even more than once.
Panel 13
The comic lens pulls back, revealing that the crowds are lining a Trans Pride parade, where people are marching by with various signs advocating for trans rights. Ronnie almost fades in with the people entirely.
Ronnie: After all, change isn’t just a trans thing. It’s a human thing. And it’s our humanity that needs to be respected.
