Santa Rosa author explains and takes a new approach to gender identity

Harper Lee, JD Salinger, and Mark Twain all have something important in common with the author of Santa Rosa. Maia Kobabe: The four authors wrote forbidden books.

You may have heard of works from the first three: “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “Catcher in the Rye” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, respectively. Kobabe’s, on the other hand, a graphic novel titled “Queer gender: A Memoir,”Has been relatively unknown – until recently.

That all changed in September 2021. That’s when a school board in Fairfax County, Va. Decided that the 2019 autobiography of Kobabe’s journey to identify as non-binary and asexual was “pornography,” and removed it, along with another book, from the school shelves. Over the next few weeks, more than half a dozen other states followed suit. Bringing the total to 10.

At the last check, the book was banned or challenged in seven states. (Virginia eventually restored it.)

“I feel like my book in particular got caught in a viral social media moment because it’s a comic book, because you can take a photo of a sign you’re not in. agreement and sharing it completely out of the context of the rest of the book, it becomes shared without people ever having seen the book or read the whole thing, “Kobabe said.” When I was writing it, very early on, I showed a first draft to another designer, and he said to me, “Expect this book to be banned and take it as a compliment when that happens.” So here we are. “

Big ideas, a powerful message

The recent outcry over the book ‘Gender Queer’ is only part of Kobabe’s story – a personal story that has served as an inspiration to young people who have grappled with questions about gender identity. .

Much of that journey takes place in the book itself, which chronicles Kobabe’s evolution from adolescence to adulthood and unpacks the difficulties of coming out, the ups and downs of teenage crushes and the blatant trauma of being non-binary in a society that largely sees gender as limited to both categories of male and female.

Parts of the graphic novel are just that – graphic. Some readers have found the images offensive.

Yet the message is powerful. At the end of the book, Kobabe took readers on a journey to gender independence.

“I started to see gender less as a ladder and more as a landscape,” Kobabe wrote, reflecting on the past. “Some people are happy to live where they were born, while others must take a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow.”

Another milestone along the way: the author’s decision to use something called neopronoms.

Instead of using gender identifiers such as “she”, “them” or “their”, Kobabe adopted non-binary options “e”, “em” and “eir”. This article will use non-binary neopronoms.

Asked about the pronouns, Kobabe said, “The ones I chose look like a coat that fits me.”

Kobabe, 31, admitted that it can be tedious educating the uninitiated about these new identifiers, but also noted the importance of correcting bad pronouns under the right circumstances.

“I have corrected people live on the radio or in family and friends, but I will never correct a waiter in a restaurant,” e said. “It’s not important to me that a waiter understands my pronouns well; I would rather they remember my food order. I choose my moments to try to have an educational conversation where I think it will have the most impact.

A winding road

Kobabe is originally from Sonoma County, having grown up mainly outside of Petaluma in a rural area that some might describe as West County.

To hear Kobabe say it, the area was “in the fields of cows.” And stillness brought happiness.

“Growing up in the wild, I felt so safe and free to walk around the hills and talk to myself,” Kobabe said. “It was a very relaxed and natural childhood. I had space to be me, whoever it was, without being watched or judged or commented on by anyone. Every child should be so lucky.

Kobabe described their parents as “kind hands” and noted that they “let me grow up in my own form”.

When I had their first period at 11, everything changed. E felt betrayed by her own body. E became miserable and confused by the expectations and standards of the society. E withdrew and turned to reading and drawing to deal with feelings of depression and dysmorphia.

As Kobabe worked on his gender transformation, we started to create some original pieces on the ride. “Gender Queer” has taken shape. E attended the Dominican University of San Rafael and studied Cartoon at the Graduate School of the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.