Its annoying, because there really is a kernel of a point to be had in Sinfest. Namely, the commercialization and comdification of sex is bad aktuly. Selling people identities and then hitting them up with recurring billing to maintain gender as a lifestyle brand is awful. Selling people some YouTuber's bathwater because that person is a commodified symbol is fucking horrific. Merch is a pox on society.
But then it just goes off the rails with the "Your world is fake and my world is real!" Randian Objectivism. There's no space left for anyone outside of traditionalist social norms, because he paints any deviation as Evil Corporate McDevil Man Selling You Something. The peak of the comic and its revolutionary fervor has collapsed into "Everyone's a Zombie and KILL KILL KILL!" alienated self-aggrandizing sociopathy.
I mean fashion culture as a stand in for identity effectively creates a recurring cost to that identity. If you need to shop at Hot Topic or Banana Republic and wear at least fifteen pieces of flare to feel included in your cliche, your identity has been commodified.
That's the case with some trans people just as it is with some cis people. Just because someone is trans doesn't mean they be shopping more than anyone else. Tbh the majority of my clothes are hand-me-downs from cis women I know, and a lot of the rest are from thrift stores.
Its annoying, because there really is a kernel of a point to be had in Sinfest. Namely, the commercialization and comdification of sex is bad aktuly. Selling people identities and then hitting them up with recurring billing to maintain gender as a lifestyle brand is awful. Selling people some YouTuber's bathwater because that person is a commodified symbol is fucking horrific. Merch is a pox on society.
But then it just goes off the rails with the "Your world is fake and my world is real!" Randian Objectivism. There's no space left for anyone outside of traditionalist social norms, because he paints any deviation as Evil Corporate McDevil Man Selling You Something. The peak of the comic and its revolutionary fervor has collapsed into "Everyone's a Zombie and KILL KILL KILL!" alienated self-aggrandizing sociopathy.
What do you mean by this?
I mean fashion culture as a stand in for identity effectively creates a recurring cost to that identity. If you need to shop at Hot Topic or Banana Republic and wear at least fifteen pieces of flare to feel included in your cliche, your identity has been commodified.
That's the case with some trans people just as it is with some cis people. Just because someone is trans doesn't mean they be shopping more than anyone else. Tbh the majority of my clothes are hand-me-downs from cis women I know, and a lot of the rest are from thrift stores.
Absolutely. And the comic has plenty of criticism for fashion as a substitute for identity in the cis-het world as well.
Right. Which is where a lot of the author's critic on trans people really falls apart.
It seems like Tatsuya has never met a trans person IRL. Or, of he has, its only been in some kind of heated argument over his comic.