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Assigned Male
Author(s)Sophie Labelle
Websitehttps://assignedmale.tumblr.com/
Current status/schedulelive
Launch dateOctober 1, 2014[1]
Genre(s)Drama, Slice-of-life, Comedy

Assigned Male is a webcomic illustrated and written by Sophie Labelle.[2] It draws upon her experiences as a trans girl and woman.[3][4] The comic, and series of zines, address issues of gender norms and privilege. It began in October 2014 and is ongoing, published in English and French.[1][5][6] The webcomic is released in printed anthologies on Labelle's online store.[7][a]

Plot

This comic follows life through the eyes of a middle schooler named Stephie who alternately makes light of, and chafes under the realities of growing up a transgender child in a cisgender world.[8][9]

Characters

Protagonists

  • Stephanie "Stephie" Bondu - An 11-year-old trans girl discovering and embracing her gender.[10][3][11] Stephie is autistic[12] and uses she/her pronouns.[13] Her mother, Alice, understands quickly, while her father, Martin, doesn't understand until later. She later tells her friends she is bisexual.[14][15]
  • Ciel Sousa - A genderfluid seventh-grader who uses they/them and she/her pronouns.[16] Virgil Sousa is their younger brother and Eirikur is their boyfriend.

Supporting

  • Alice Bondu - Stephie's mother. From the beginning, she is supportive of Stephie, helping her transition. She is also bisexual, with Feyrouz as her girlfriend.[17]
  • Martin Bondu - Stephie's father. At first, he was not supportive of Stephie, not respecting her pronouns or name, but later changes his opinion.
  • Brianna - A trans girl who is close friends with Ryder and uses sign language, acting as his interpreter.
  • Ryder - Trans boy who describes himself as a "gender smoothie."[18]
  • Aidan - Trans boy with strong opinions who often disagrees with Stephie. Even so, Stephie later begins to act kindheartedly toward him.
  • Myrick - Trans boy who claimed he is white passing and uses he/his pronouns.[13] He is a member of the Gender Pirates, along with Stephie, Ciel, Milena, and Myrick.
  • Eirikur - An Icelandic student who is in the same class as Ciel and Stephie. He is a cisgender boy.
  • Frank - A cisgender boy in the same class as Stephie and Ciel. He is the boyfriend of Stephie.
  • Feyrouz - Mother of Hamza and Muslim woman. She is dating Alice,[17] Martin's ex-wife.

Release

Labelle said that while working with transgender children, she "noticed how negative everything we tell them about their own body is, so I wanted to create a character that could respond to all those horrible things trans kids hear all the time."[11] She also has made educational guides to go along with the comics, promoting safer spaces for trans youth.[11] In another interview, Labelle said the format of the webcomic allows her to "reach a lot of trans and gender non-conforming people."[5] She added that she is inspired by Allison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For and Fun Home. Elsewhere she said that most of the comic's cast is neurodivergent since she is on the autism spectrum herself and that she uses hateful comments as some of the material for her comics.[19][20] The comic began on October 1, 2014.[1][21]

In December 2015, Labelle participated in a holiday illustration featuring Stephie and trans protagonists of other webcomics like Rain in Rain, Zoë in Venus Envy, Jess & Seb in 2punk4you, Carrie & Allison in Closetspace, and Jesska in Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls.[22]

By April 2017, the comic was getting "half-a-million visits a week."[23] In May 2017, online trolls sent her death threats, leading her to cancel an event about the release of her book, Dating Tips for Trans and Queer Weirdos.[9][24] Afterward, they hacked the page for the webcomic on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, and Facebook page, deleting three years of her work.[25][26] She was also doxxed, with the attackers even contacting her workplace. In December 2017, she released a 36-page coloring book with LGBTQ themes titled Add Your Own Colors To The Rainbow!.[27]

On January 3, 2019, the webcomic began to be published under the name of "Serious Trans Vibes" on Webtoon.[28] It is still published on Webtoon.[29][30] In March 2021, Labelle announced that she is writing a young adult novel focusing on two characters from the comic, Ciel and Stéphie, titled Wish Upon a Satellite, with two of the twenty chapters posted publicly, with others available through Patreon.[31][32]

Reception

The comic has been received positively by critics. Suzi Chase of the Washington Blade called the webcomic "hilarious" and said it shows transgender humour can be funny without being offensive.[33] Tara Marie reviewed the comic for ComicsAlliance, writing that while there are "loose plot-lines," there are topical comic strips, and stated that the series has a "delicate touch."[34] Marie described as equivalent to the Peanuts but queer-friendly, talking about queer youth, while still being soft, light, and welcoming. In The Solute, Tristan Nankervis said that the comic does not respect the basic "conventions of the medium" and said that while they agree with gender theory in the comic, it "displays a worldview," specifically focusing on trans feelings.[35] Kevin Dennison reviewed the comic positively, praising how it addresses issues that intersex, gender non-conforming, and trans people face, and providing "numerous educational strips" which introduce people to those issues.[36]

In a Masters of Arts thesis, Katelynn Phillips said that the comics are often humorous, drawing out "the ridiculous and problematic approaches of cis/heteronormative thinking" and argued that readers of the comic must embrace a "queer vision of childhood" where Stephie and other characters are more complex than how children are often portrayed societally.[37] She further said that the comic shows that children are more thoughtful than seen by mainstream society, calls for changed conceptions of girlhood, boyhood, and accepting non-binary people, while pointing to sources of trauma that trans people face. She stated that the comic is "filled with ridicule and sarcasm," highlights the importance of dealing with hate speech and violence against LGBTQ people, provides a "humorous space" that can be comforting to trans people, and has Stephie symbolize the value of giving children "the ability to create their own versions of childhood." Similarly, Brahidaliz Martinez of The Geekiary, praised the webcomic for dismantling "misconceptions about transgender people" and said they love following the comic's characters through their relationships, exploration of gender identity and their lives, in general.[29]

Notes

  1. ^ These books include The World Needs More Trans Cuties, Dating Tips for Trans and Queer Weirdos, Gender Liberation and Warm Fuzzies, Help! Everything in my Life is Turning Gay, and The Assignment. Additionally, My Dad Thinks I'm a Boy?! and Nail Polish were prequels to the webcomic while Ultra Chicken Fun-Time Super Special was a spinoff from the webcomic.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Sophie Labelle (a). "When did you decide to be female/male?" Assigned Male, no. 2 (October 1, 2014). Official website of Assigned Male.
  2. ^ Thomson, Jacolyn (January 20, 2019). "Creator of trans webcomic series Assigned Male coming to Penticton". Penticon Western News. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Ennis, Dawn (16 January 2016). "Is This Golden Globes Comic in the L.A. Times Transphobic?". The Advocate. Archived from the original on August 26, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Dueben, Alex (October 25, 2018). "Smash Pages Q&A: Sophie Labelle". SmashPages. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  5. ^ "Assigned Male". GISA program. Desjardins. March 12, 2016. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  6. ^ "Comics by Sophie Labelle". Serious Trans Vibes. Archived from the original on March 30, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  7. ^ Chase, Suzi (May 13, 2015). "Assigned Male': Humor and Insight While Growing Up Trans". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Pulliam-Moore, Charles (May 22, 2017). "Transgender Creator of Assigned Male Webcomic Facing Death Threats From Online Trolls". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  9. ^ "8 Comics That Remind Us to Throw Out the Gender Binary". Everyday Feminism. March 24, 2015. Archived from the original on February 9, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c "Interview with Assigned Male creator: Sophie Labelle". Gay Central Valley. Archived from the original on June 12, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  11. ^ Labelle, Sophie (20 April 2018). "Assigned Male". Tumblr. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  12. ^ a b Sophie Labelle (a). "Down With the Cistem - 16" Serious Trans Vibes, no. 600 (January 12, 2021). Webtoon. Originally published in 2014.
  13. ^ Sophie Labelle (a). "GSA 13" Serious Trans Vibes, no. 461 (December 23, 2019). Webtoon.
  14. ^ Sophie Labelle (a). "GSA 14" Serious Trans Vibes, no. 462 (December 23, 2019). Webtoon. In this comic she clarifies she is bisexual but not pansexual.
  15. ^ Sophie Labelle (a). "The Mall (2)" Serious Trans Vibes, no. 166 (September 14, 2019). Webtoon. Ciel calls herself a "non-binary girl" in this webcomic and says they would rather be called "she" than "he." Also in a comic from 2014, Ciel states they use they/them pronouns.
  16. ^ a b Sophie Labelle (a). "Dear Cis People - 28" Serious Trans Vibes, no. 677 (January 24, 2021). Webtoon.
  17. ^ Sophie Labelle (a). "Family Meeting (pt 1)" Serious Trans Vibes, no. 4 (January 14, 2019). Webtoon.
  18. ^ Labelle, Sophie (December 17, 2018). "An Interview with Author Sophie Labelle" (online). Office of Intellectual Freedom (Online). Interviewed by Alex Falck. American Library Association. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  19. ^ Labelle, Sophie (September 9, 2017). "Ungpride and Assigned Male Comics" (online). UNGPride (Online). Interviewed by UNGPride. Archived from the original on September 8, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  20. ^ Labelle, Sophie. "About". Official website of Sophie Labelle. Archived from the original on January 29, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  21. ^ "A Very Webcomic Christmas" Rain, no. 772 (December 14, 2015). Official website of Rain (webcomic).
  22. ^ McGillis, Ian (May 22, 2017). "Quebec comics artist Sophie Labelle draws attention to trans issues". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on March 6, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  23. ^ Pulliam-Moore, Charles (May 23, 2017). "Transgender Creator Of Assigned Male Webcomic Facing Death Threats From Online Trolls". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  24. ^ Alverson, Brigid (May 18, 2017). "Comics Lowdown: Sophie Labelle's webcomic hacked". SmashPages. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  25. ^ Mian, Micol (May 28, 2018). "Sophie Labelle: "This Is How Assigned Male Was Born"". Il Grande Colibrì. Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  26. ^ Gunz, Rafaella (December 9, 2017). "Canadian cartoonist Sophie Labelle creates a coloring book version of her Assigned Male comics". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  27. ^ Sophie Labelle (a). "Nail Polish" Serious Trans Vibes, no. 1 (January 3, 2019). Webtoon. This was originally published in 2016 and precedes the action in Assigned Male according to Labelle
  28. ^ a b Martinez, Brahidaliz (February 14, 2021). "Webcomics Special: Valentine's Day". The Geekiary. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  29. ^ "Serious Trans Vibes". Webtoon. Archived from the original on March 31, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  30. ^ Labelle, Sophie (March 24, 2021). "Stéphanie Bondu's lips are everything you would..." Official Assigned Male website. Archived from the original on March 29, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  31. ^ Labelle, Sophie [@AssignedMale] (March 24, 2021). "I wrote a YA novel!! About Ciel and Stéphie!! It's called "Wish Upon a Satellite" and I will be posting new chapters (there are 20 in total) every week on Patreon. The first few chapters are public!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 26, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021 – via Twitter.
  32. ^ Chase, Suzi (March 12, 2016). "Tracy Morgan's transphobic Oscar spoof". Washington Blade. Archived from the original on September 7, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  33. ^ Marie, Tara (September 7, 2016). "Assigned Male': Humor and Insight While Growing Up Trans". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  34. ^ Nankervis, Tristan (October 5, 2020). "Dream of Brighter Tomorrows: Should You Be Reading 'Assigned Male?'". The Solute. Archived from the original on March 31, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  35. ^ Chase, Suzi (February 5, 2015). "Three Transgender Web Comics That You Simply Must Read!". Moose Jaw Pride. Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  36. ^ Phillips, Katelynn (August 2018). "Trans-Childhood Experiences and the Pain of Expectation for Trans Children (And Adults) in Assigned Male". Breaking Through Panels: Examining Growth and Trauma in Bechdel's Fun Home and Labelle's Assigned Male Comics (Masters of Arts thesis). Bowling Green University. pp. 38, 40–41, 44–45, 52, 62. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
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