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The Town

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(Simon video chats with Bobby on his computer)
Bobby: Are you gonna look for a job in New York so you can move here next year?
Simon: I don't know. I might stay here.
Bobby: You said that town was too small for you.
Simon: Well, it's growing on me.
Bobby: Hah!
Simon: I didn't mean to do that. There's a nature trail from here to main street. I go through it every day to get to work.
Bobby: Is it GROWING...?
Simon: What do you-
Bobby: ...on you?
Simon: Heh.

Sexualities

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Simon: I'll come visit next weekend.
Bobby: Great! I have an ace friend I want you to meet.
Simon: Sounds good.
Bobby: Have you met any queer people where you live?
Simon: I can only guess based on who they're dating. I don't usually ask people about their sexualities.
Bobby: I just go up to people and say "Hey, are you attracted to my gender?" Most of them they say "Uh... I don't know?" and look at me like "What even ARE you?" But if they say "Heck yeah!" then I know we're gonna hit it off.

Bathroom Policing

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(Simon talks to Lily)
Simon: Trans people generally try to use the bathroom where they'll blend in the most. So if everyone suddenly started using ONLY the bathroom that aligns with their genitals, it would be a lot more awkward than most people realize. A lot of trans men LOOK LIKE MEN. People would be like "Oh my God, why are there MEN in the WOMEN'S room?" Like, this is what you WANTED, right? That guy has a VAGINA so this is where he belongs. Do you want him to pull his pants down and SHOW you? In that context, no one really cares what your genitals are. They THINK they do, but they only REACT how you LOOK, and that's the only thing that affects them.

Gender

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Simon: My friend Bobby has been confronted about being in the wrong bathroom, in both the women's room AND the mens's room.
Lily: Ouch. People have these ideas about what it means to be a man or a woman. You can divide people by any measure ? chromosomes, hormones, the presence of a body part... but if you have standards on TOP of that, like women need to LOOK a certain way, or ACT a certain way to be considered WOMEN,
(Panel says: Women: pretty, sweet, sensitive, nurturing, delicate. Person: Wait, ALL THIS just from having a UTERUS?)
Lily: that's how gender becomes a social construct that not everyone fits into. People exist outside of that narrowly-defined binary whether you want them to or not.

Definitions

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Simon: Even WITHOUT any other standards, I don't think it's OKAY to define gender as biological sex.
Lily: I get that, but I like to acknowledge different definitions. It's an efficient way to get past semantic issues and get to the HEART of the beliefs people cling to. Simon: In most cases I'd agree, but this isn't just about semantics. The way we use language affects the cultural messages we perpetuate.
Lily: True, but that hardly matters if you fail to communicate at ALL. Words are just VEHICLES to transport ideas from one mind to another, and if they convey the WRONG ideas, you won't know WHAT message you're perpetuating.
(A train car is carrying drinking glasses, and in the next panel it becomes eye glasses. A person picks them up and says: Why do we need eight of these a day? Other person: I don't know, but I listen to the health experts. )
(Person wearing four pairs of glasses: Ugh, I have a huge headache. Other person: Maybe you're not drinking enough water. )

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