Hey folks! I haven’t been updating as much because, well, the coloring part of the book is mostly done. But! I am still doing promotional graphic design, and this was one recent project for that: a postcard to help advertise our book at trans conferences. See it this year at Philly and the Gender Spectrum in Berkeley. Where do you think we should send them? These also could come in handy for sharing our project with potential publishers. 

-mel

Alright folks, here it is, at last, a digitally bound version of all the major content pages of the GENDER book. Now is the time for feedback from you, our amazing community. 

Some of the changes to come are pretty obvious, like I mistyped “neutral” on that one page and some of the speech bubbles are still blank. Even if they’re obvious and we probably already know, go ahead and mention it anyway, suggest what you’d put in those empty bubbles! If nothing else, keep us honest in our great typo search.

Please keep your comments on positive (or at the very least, constructive) notes. Remember, we’re just humans like you doing the best we can. Thanks!

In community,

Mel Reiff Hill

resident artist, the GENDER book

PS- New here? To learn more about our book, please visit our website! 

PPS- Make sure you press ‘expand’ by hovering over the middle of the book if you care to, you know, read the words.

This page was a late addition, but it’s important and will go near the start of the book. 

What are some common misconceptions you feel around gender?

-Mel

The birds and the bees, aka our gender and sexuality page!

Notice a few speech bubbles were left blank. IF you’d like to add your experience about gender as it relates (or doesn’t) relate to your sexuality, or any thoughts on those realms, comment here and it may be used in the final book!

Cheers!

Mel, the artist 

Yay! One of the most detailed and intricate pages of the book, done. Thank you to everyone who responded to surveys and chose to be drawn.

Website redesign is up and running!

If you haven’t been to www.thegenderbook.com lately, you really should check it out.

It’s a great way to contextualize these graphics and learn more about who and where they came from, and learn ways to give back to the project if they’ve been useful to you.

Also, there are some free downloads and an archive of all past pages. Check it out!

-Mel

Hey folks! I’ve been a little off-the-map recently, moving down the street (still in Oakland). Anyway, been churning out this page for a few days and it’s slow going but really fun. I was getting ansty to update, so I thought I’d share a sneak peek from it, the Gender Across Communities page. Special thanks to Zuri who let me show his reference photo. It’s a really fun challenge to cartoonize people I’ve never met! Will post the full page within the week, I promise. Just have some website updates to do first…

And yes, I color-coded my dock. Don’t judge me. 

New page! We’re in the illustration home stretch. Now it’s things like the acknowledgments page and footnotes and further reading.
One major bump in the road has been getting my copy of photoshop to work. Talking to technical support is a bit like trying to carve my way out Alcatraz with a spoon (while listening to elevator muzak, no less).
So while I can’t work digitally, I’ve been inking and scanning the last few pages.
However! I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled for the third time. And maybe third time’s a charm. So cross your fingers I’ll be back to coloring tonight.
Irony: I never had this much trouble when I pirated software.

New page has been colored!

Try googling the [nonwestern] cultural identities to expand your gender awareness.

Most of these I didn’t know before researching this page. 

Enjoy!

-Mel

Yes! That’s what I was thinking, too.

I mean, okay, it’s all a metaphor, but really, we all know that no-one is born into a gender. I used that language so folks brand new to all of this would buy into the metaphor (this is like page 3 of the book, don’t want to confuse anyone too early), but it is deeply flawed when I think about it, and warrants changing.

most folks grow up in one landmass or the other, or are assumed to be citizens of one or the other. That wording is definitely what I’m planning on changing at the moment, because, though I like the idea of an intersex atlantian island for creative reasons, it’s still not usually a gender identity, and like you’ve mentioned, most folks I’ve talked to were not given that option; they were instead shuttled to the closest/most medically convenient landmass available to be raised in the traditions and norms of that ‘land.’ 

Anyway, thank you for all of your feedback, and please do keep it coming, especially if you have thoughts on specific wording that is honoring to all, while still being accessible to all. That’s one of our biggest challenges in writing a book like this.

Thanks again!

In community,

Mel, resident artist, the GENDER book

Thanks for voicing that, beans. How would you incorporate intersex folks to this page?

To my understanding, intersex is matter of sex, you know, your body parts and DNA, not so much about gender, which is why we didn’t include it here (it certainly is covered elsewhere in the book, scroll back to see the pages about it).
Our thought process was that, for *most* intersex people we’ve talked to, they were pigeonholed or assumed into one of the two most socially acceptable gender roles shortly after birth. I’m not saying this is a good thing, that’s just how it often happens at the moment. And if you’re an intersex person, if you identify as trans probably depends most on how you were socialized more than your body. Yeah?
Let us know if your or anyone you know has a differing experience. We really love hearing from you and we’re just super open to hearing how we can make the book as a whole as inclusive as possible.
Let’s keep brainstorming. What do you think, other tumblrs?

In community,
Mel, the artist

Just colored the “gender planet” page, our extended metaphor to describe to folks how the words transgender and cisgender are typically used. I love this thought, and it was fun to come up with gender slash geography puns. Enjoy and please send any feedback our way!

-mel, the artist