soft ribs - a queer zine
A downloadable zine
soft ribs is a zine about my nonbinary relationship with my own chest. it is made other nonbinary people in mind, especially to those to whom going through mastectomy feels very complicated.
it is 16 pages, made straight to folded ripped out pieces of paper from my sketchbook on a ballpoint pen, drawn spontaneously spending my last summer days at my friends cabin.
this zine is pay what you want. do not pay for it if you are poor, but if extra coins my way dont do you harm, go for it! im paying for my hrt on a student budget without government assistance at the moment so it is appreciated.
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first of all, let me just say that i love your art style.
secondly, as a trans man, i can relate to this on some level. i've been desperately wanting top surgery not only for myself, but because i do not want other people to percieve me as a woman. in my mind, my chest is an inescapable reminder of the prison of a body i was born into, and i still struggle in thinking that people i know think of me as a man only to please me. i can't seem to wrap my mind around the idea that i can have a chest like this, yet still be a man, because i so desperately want to pass that i can't even comprehend passing before i can get top surgery. i dont know if any of this makes sense. i feel like perception of our bodies can cause a lot of dysphoria for trans people, more than if we somehow lived in a vacuum where no one was judging what we look like or if we pass.
thanks for making the zine, it really made me think about society and gender expectations in a way i struggle to articulate
hey, thank you for such a long and thoughtful comment. i do feel like my venn's diagram of transition experience with trans men is almost a circle, hehe. i feel the most support and same experience in support groups of transitioning men
it's a really difficult topic to think of, and its painful to think of how society and the experience of transition changing throughout generations can cause such a painful relationship and dissassociativieness with our own bodies. i try to be kinder, and i try to find myself in my body thats not affected by cis people, but by love from other trans people ... its made dysphoria easier, and also more difficult at times. but it feels like a kindness to try not to think of transition and your gender being dependant on that one thing on your body, it is atleast kinder and easier going towards surgeries when treating one self with kindness
im rambling! eitherway i wish you good things and health and support in your journey my trans sibling, it is rarely not a tough one but it is much easier to go forward with people with the same experience and feeling paving the way
Hey, I’m setting up a non-binary bundle. Would you be interested in joining?
P.s. I can’t remember if it was before or after i made some changes to my body but I came across your comic a while ago and IDK. It’s a special kind of beautiful thank you for making this! And thank you for doing what you do
such kind words thank you so much. ive never been in a bundle before, im interested! feel free to msg me more
oh of corce i forgot to send you the link! https://itch.io/jam/nonbinary-bundle
This resonates so much with my experiences. I dont actually really hate my chest, but i know i will be forever perceived as a woman if i have it, and thats unbearable
thank you for commenting ... glad to have created something that resonates. what you´re saying sounds so familiar. i was recently nearly barechested in cis company and it was a very different experience from what i described in this zine, and made my feelings sway in a very different direction once more. its so strange to be dependant on where you are on whether or not you feel comfortable.
as someone with a bit of a different (aka transfem) bodily experience, i really, truly love to hear about experiences like this. because despite that difference there's just so many things that resonate, and that i really appreciate hearing as someone who can sway wildly between "maximal medical transition" (my anti-binary way of describing my own goals) and then struggling with wanting to develop and appreciate (as much as i can) what i have at the moment.
messy way to say, thanks, this was really neat <3
i really appreciate your comment, thank you so much ... i also love mess <3 i think its so lovely to also hear of the wide spectrum of trans experiences, id love to see zines about the experiences and perceptions of everyones own bodies from every kind of person. maximal medical transition is a really cool term, haha. it really is so difficult to balance the cherishing of your own self and then the aspect of bodymodification. its a lot to think about ... thank you again for sharing your thoughts
a gorgeous zine ✨
thank you so much <3333