Panel 1:
Rob: Everywhere I look people are claiming they're one of these 'alternative' genders!
RH: You mean, like me?
Panel 2
Rob: Well, yeah! It all seems to be kind of a fad! Right now it's trendy to say you're not a man or a woman, but if all of this 'genderqueer' and 'nonbinary' stuff are real genders, why weren't there any of you when I was a kid!?
Panel 3:
RH: Oh, we were always there! But a lot of us didn't have the language or the tools to know there were options.
Panel 4:
RH: Hmm, think about it like this:
Panel 5:
RH: What if there were a world where people were only allowed to like chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream! Not only that, they were told that the only ice cream flavours that were physically possible were chocolate, or vanilla.
Person1 : I love chocolate!
Person 2: Vanilla is great!
Person 3: Chocolate for me, please!
Person 4: Um...I guess....vanilla is fine.
Person 5: I don't like ice cream...
Person 6: Everyone likes ice cream! You look like a vanilla person to me...here you go!
Panel 6:
RH: In all the grocery stores, in all the restaurants, any time it's dessert time you have to choose between chocolate or vanilla.
(dessert menu with 2 items on it)
Panel 7:
RH: But then imagine that someone new came to town to sell ice cream...
Ice cream truck: Oh yeah, we have chocolate and vanilla, they're great. Hm, we also have tiger tail, rocky road, butterscotch, superkid...
Panel 8:
Person 1: Oh jeez butterscotch is so good!
Person 2: Have you tried this chocolate-vanilla blend?
Person 3: Raspberry gelato WHAT SO GOOD!
Person 4: These are interesting, but I still just like vanilla ice cream!
Grumpy person: All these new ice-cream flavours are just trendy. Soon you'll come to your sense and realize that you liked chocolate the most all along.
Panel 9:
RH: Of course it makes sense that when there are more than two ice cream flavours, people would realize that they like other flavours more than they like the two they were initially exposed to.
Concerned person: But robot, gender isn't ice cream! That's super reductive!
Panel 10:
RH: It sure is! Gender isn't a preference, and it's not a flavour of the week.
Panel 11:
Images of people with different gender presentations:
RH: It's an identity that shapes how we understand ourselves, and how we present ourselves to the world.
Panel 12
RH: But if we agree that gender is a complex and fundamental identity, and that it's way more complicated than ice cream, then why do we still cling to the idea that it's a simple binary?
Panel 13:
(form with different gender options)
RH: And as non-binary genders are getting more attention in governments and media, is it no wonder that people who are realizing they have more options are choosing to exercise those options?
Panel 14:
RH: I promise you, from the amount of scorn we get from both cisgender folks (Person: you just want to be 'special'!) and some of the binary trans community (Person: 'Trans-trender!'), we're not just doing this for fun.
Panel 15
Rob:
Well, I see what you're saying. But I have to admit, I still don't really understand what it means when you say you're not a woman or a man.
Panel 16
RH: That's ok! The most important thing is to listen to us, and to trust us that we know ourselves best, whether it's about our ice cream preferences, or our gender identity!
Panel 17
RH: In the mean time, would you like an ice cream cone?
Rob: Yeah, I'll take mint chocolate chip, please.
RH: That's the spirit!
