Twisted Wiring
The image of a snarled mess of twisted wires is forwarded as an epically apt symbol of the mystery of gender. The author compares the disconnect between sexual organs and gender to wiring which has been improperly installed. Clearly, the dominant reality is that being born with the parts of a boy or girl line up with the gender of being male or female; this is how wiring is usually works but is not necessarily how it works every time.
Mermaid Undies
Mermaids are distinctly symbolic of girlishness in the world of both biological and trans females. And here, the children’s underwear emblazoned with what appears to be Ariel is also distinctly tied to the concept of femininity. The rejection of this underwear as a means of gender identification illustrates this prevalence symbolism through the negative implication.
Clouds
Clouds—in particular, dark clouds—are situated by the author as symbols of gender confusion. One page features a timeline of sexual identity: wondering about being gay at age 13, coming out as a lesbian at age 15 followed immediately by developing a crush on a boy, bouncing from identifying as bisexual to asexual, etc. Against this backdrop of utter instability are blue and purplish clouds which signify the state of trying to see clearly through clouded vision.
Chambered Nautilus Shell
One of the most striking visual representations of symbolic meaning is the single page illustration of the author inside the multi-chambered shell of a nautilus, desperately wondering if the concept of transgender applies. Each individual chamber of circularity of the shell’s design is home to a question which builds upon the question asked in the previous chamber. The juxtaposition of the orderly precision of the chambered nautilus with the chaotic wondering of the author and the place within the gender spectrum is brilliant irony as well as profound symbolism.
Weight Scales
Old-fashioned scales which determine weight equilibrium becomes the author’s primary symbol for gender identity and the discomfort raised between the disconnect that exists between biology and identity. Weighing very heavily down on one side is the irrefutable fact of being born with all the equipment traditionally used to assigned female gender. On the other side of the scale are dozens of small individual weights which cumulatively form identifying as non-female: choices like short hair, baggy boy clothes, etc.
