“Sex Is Real” Is A Euphemism
March 18th, 2024 Barry Posted in LGBT cartoons, Nadine Scholtes collaborations | No Comments »
This cartoon is by me and Nadine Scholtes .
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has four panels.
PANEL 1
A man in a blue turtleneck, wearing a name tag, sits behind a desk marked “customer service,” hand on forehead, looking like he’s very annoyed. Also behind the customer service desk, a woman who looks like a manager – silver hair, blouse and jacket – is leaning over his shoulder and haranguing him. I’m going to name the woman “Manager.”
MANAGER: Can you just confirm that you’ve got a vagina? Just say it! Say “I have lady bits.” Say it!
PANEL 2
We’re now in a warehouse or back storage area, with many large boxes on industrial shelving. She is talking, with a condescending attitude, to a worker wearing a hardhat and yellow vest, who is carrying a couple of boxes stacked. The employee looks like they really, really wish they were anywhere else.
MANAGER: “Non-Binary?” Ha! No such thing! Thinking you’re non-binary means you’re insane!
PANEL 3
We’re in what looks like a backroom employee break area – water cooler, cheap folding chair at a table. The manager stands between a tall woman and the women’s room door, deliberately blocking the way. The woman being blocked has a restrained anger expression and her arms folded.
MANAGER: So-called “transwomen” only want access to women’s bathrooms to commit rape!
PANEL 4
Manager is standing gently crying, holding a handkerchief to one eye (no tears are actually visible). A hand comes in from out-of-panel, holding a professional-looking microphone – i.e., the manager is being interviewed for a news show. A logo in the lower right corner says “4,” so presumably this is on channel 4.
REPORTER: So you were fired for saying “sex is real”?
MANAGER: That’s what happened.
CHICKEN FAT WATCH
“Chicken fat” is a cartoonists’ expression for meaningless but fun details in comics.
In panel 1, there are a series of fliers, all with the same picture of a startled-looking cat, taped to the wall. The first one says “Lost Cat!” The second says “Never mind! Found it!” And the third says “Cat for sale!”
In panel 2, a poster taped to a shelving unit says “FORKLIFT IN USE” in large red letters, and in smaller letters below that, says “If crushed remember to clock out!”
In panel 3, a poster taped to the wall has a lot of little pink hearts and the lettering “The company loves you!”
And in panel 4, a chyron scroll (that little scrolling text with allegedly breaking news at the bottom of news broadcasts) says “Chyron writers vote to unioni…,” and then on a second line in smaller lettering, “Networks announce new “AI Chyron” project will soon take…”
