In many ways the year 2000 ushered in the beginning of a new age instead of bringing about the end of civilization as the Y2K rhetoric would have had you believe at the time. It was around this time that the internet became much more accessible than it had ever been before, with advancements in technology significantly lowering the price of entry onto the Internet, and for many people, granting accessibility for the first time.
Prior to the 1990s and early 2000s, representation of gay and lesbian individuals on syndicated cable TV, which was the only commonly available consumer entertainment media of the time, was limited at best to two or three individuals, and they were always at the center of majority consumer ridicule… and trans people simply did not exist, with the exception of being a “trap” in some “comedy” films. There was no healthy representation of trans individuals.
With an increase in the widespread levels of accessibility to the internet however, that was about to change. People who had suffered in solitude their whole lives, now had the means to reach out into the void to try to find other individuals who are like them. People began to communicate. ideas began to spread, and with those ideas art began to circulate and communities began to form. With increasing internet speeds and the subsequential ability to utilize images more readily on websites because of that increase in data transfer speeds, web comics quickly became extremely popular on the internet, and with them came one of the most proliferant forms of representation of trans existence that is still carried on through today.
Venus Envy was a mostly light-hearted slice of life webcomic that began in 2001 and continued through 2014. The author of the series was a transsexual intersex woman named Crystal Frasier, writing under the pseudonym of Erin Lindsay. When questioned why she wrote a comic about a transsexual, she replied:
“It’s a segment of the population that you rarely see in entertainment (or at least you didn’t see it when I began the comic in 2001; there are significantly more trans-oriented series these days), and the special needs and circumstances of most transsexuals can thoroughly play hell with the usual genre tropes. Besides, the first rule of writing is write what you know.”
(Lindsey, 2014)
Venus Envy follows Zoë Alexis Carter, a teenage trans girl, as she comes out to her parents, goes through extensive therapy, moves across the country with her family to a place where she can thankfully get gender affirming care, and begins a new life living as a teenage girl full time in a new city and in a new state. After the move, Zoë explores friendship and gender, experiences all forms of teenage angst, makes friends with other teenagers who are living in stealth, joins a high school soccer team that is full of lesbians, and just tries to survive the everyday antics that come from living as a blossoming young woman with extremely resistant and overprotective parents in a world that isn’t welcoming to people who are different.
Closetspace, a webcomic written by Jenn Dolari and illustrated by Liz Courts, had its first pages published online in 1992, but it still gets updates sporadically when the author’s have time. The comic features a much more gritty and mature reality that trans individuals so often find themselves living in, and everything from homelessness, family abandonment, sex work, transphobia, hypersexualization, depression, general violence towards trans individuals, repression, employment struggles, toxic romantic and sexual relationships, and victim blaming, to SA and murder.
▼ Also it has lots of music embedded in it. ▼
(Gordon-Bloomfield, 2020)
No topic is sacred and the heartbreak that the reader feels for C, Allison, Heidi, Amy, and the rest of the cast wrenches the soul, but there are also small victories on their journeys and you can’t help but cheer them on as their friendships grow. In spite of all of the bad, they still continue to sculpt themselves into the versions of themselves that they want to be. Closetspace at it’s heart is an interwoven collection of victory tales.
▼ More music too ▼
(Gordon-Bloomfield, 2021)
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I want to be a cute anime girl in stark contrast is a heartwarming slice of life webcomic that follows the antics of 15 year old Cheryl as they explore themselves and their personal identity surrounded by a cast of super supportive family and friends. The original sheet was published in late 2019 and new pages have been uploaded with pretty consistent regularity since. Very little is know about the author other than they have confirmed that they are trans in a Q&A (Crescent, 2019-2021).
Something worth noting in conclusion is how much more gentile and optimistic webcomics about trans individuals and our existences and futures are now than they have been in quite recent past. If art is truly a reflection our collective perception of the world, then we have a lot to look forward to in the future.
Ease of access and innocuous appearance to the judgemental gaze of disciplinarian and unforgiving guardians will ensure that webcomics will continue to provide support to those who are still in hiding. To those who have no one that they can talk to about how they feel there will still be the vicarious experiences and adventures of comic heroines and heroes that provide temporary escape and future hope that there will be a day that they will be able to explore and become the version of themselves that have always wanted to be. It’s happening for me right now.
Bibliography
Crescent, A., (2019). I want to be a cute anime girl. (1-12). https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/i-want-to-be-a-cute-anime-girl/image-change/viewer?title_no=349416&episode_no=1
Crescent, A., (2019-2021). I want to be a cute anime girl. https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/i-want-to-be-a-cute-anime-girl/list?title_no=349416
Courts, L., (1992-2021). Closetspace. http://www.dolari.org/cs/toc.htm
Dolari, J., (1992). Closetspace, (4-12). http://www.dolari.org/cs/toc.htm
Dolari, J., (2017). Closetspace, (352). http://www.dolari.org/cs/352.htm
Dolari, J., Courts, L., (2021). Closetspace, (360). http://www.dolari.org/cs/360.htm
Gordon-Bloomfield, N., (2020). Closetspace. http://www.dolari.org/sounds/closetsp.mp3
Gordon-Bloomfield, N., (2021). Liars and cheats. http://www.dolari.org/sounds/closetsp.mp3
Lindsey, E., (2001). Venus Envy. (8) http://venusenvycomic.com/index.php?id=8
Lindsey, E., (2001). Venus Envy. (19-23). http://venusenvycomic.com/index.php?id=19
Lindsey, E., (2001-2014). Venus Envy. http://venusenvycomic.com/
Lindsey, E., (2014). Venus Envy. http://venusenvycomic.com/about
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