i was contacted by the editor of a brand new local gender magazine called “roleplay” and asked to contribute a drawing. a lot of my drawings might have gender themes, but i don’t plan that.

one of my drawings does have a deliberate gender theme: called “all i can see“. i drew it for the cover of the kyoto journal’s gender in asia issue, but they didn’t use it. this drawing keeps getting linked from different blogs, and lots of people come from stumbleupon to see it (my gallery pages with this drawing now have over 20,000 views). people seem to react strongly to it. a lot of people think the drawing is making fun of how much boys like breasts. i actually never thought of it that way when i was drawing it.

the editor asked me to write a blurb about this drawing. i sent him something i wrote earlier, from my website:

in my drawing, a boy is having breasts sewn over his eyes. he’s happy about it. he is being made more feminine. usually, that means taking something away (castration). but this is an addition, not a subtraction. i think femininity, including traditional parts like motherhood, is a positive thing. men and women are both better off if they can be feminine. not instead of other things, but in addition to them.

this magazine is available at a local bookstore, turning the tide, and USSU women’s and LGBTA centers.

because it’s so popular, i made a print of this drawing. you can buy it from my online shop.

the kyoto journal asked me to submit some work for their upcoming issue on gender in japan. i know some frequent contributors to the kyoto journal, from before i moved to canada. i submitted two drawings, one of which they’re planning to use for the table of contents page. also, one of my loudsilence photos may be used to illustrate a short story. i don’t usually draw from a theme. i just draw whatever comes to mind. so it was interesting to do a drawing with a particular theme in mind: gender in japan.

in my drawing, a boy is having breasts sewn over his eyes. he’s happy about it. he is being made more feminine. usually, that means taking something away (castration). but this is an addition, not a subtraction. i think femininity, including traditional parts like motherhood, is a positive thing. men and women are both better off if they can be feminine. not instead of other things, but in addition to them.

this drawing is not going to be used for the kyoto journal magazine, so i’m finally showing it on my blog. i’d been keeping it on hold. it’s one of my favorites. since doing this drawing, i did other drawings that also ended up following some sort of gender theme. “inside of me“, “20/20” and “my secret elephant” are some of the examples. they might be used by the kyoto journal as part of an online feature.

UPDATE: you can buy a print of this drawing from my SHOP.