If you’re not a transgender person, you’ll never fully understand the many experiences that someone goes through when they transition from their assigned gender to their real gender identity. Luckily for us, there’s an artist who’s shedding a light on those experiences.
Her name is Julia Kaye, a cartoonist based in LA. She currently works in a Disney show called Country Club (coming out in 2018) and has done work for Cosmopolitan, Maxim, College Humor and Buzzfeed. She’s the author of the comics project Up and Out.
Last year, Up and Out took a more personal turn. Julia decided to start posting a side project of black and white panels that illustrate her experience of transitioning into a woman.
The comics are honest, heartbreaking at times, and cheerful at others.
Julia told Refinery29 that at first, even though she came out to her friends and family and they were accepting, she still felt isolated because she didn’t have any trans friends like herself.
In order to help her sort through those isolating emotions, Julia used her comics as an emotional outlet, and eventually, as the catalyst for meeting other trans people who related to her experiences.
The illustrations cover every aspect of her transition. From the early days of realizing that she was trans, her name change and the many times people bigendered her.
Julia told Metro.co.uk that she began the comics 4 months after her transition. She would take some time at the end of every day to reflect and she found this ‘therapeutic.’
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Initially, Julia kept the comics to herself. But then she shared them to the world when she realized that someone could relate to them.
She first posted the comics to Twitter before putting them up on Instagram (where she has more followers). This is because she was worried about how some of her fans might react.
Julia was hesitant because she always made a point to distance her personal life from her work. But she says that opening up so honestly worked out and most people have been very positive.
Today, Julia receives daily messages through Tumblr, Twitter, and Instagram from young people who are grateful to see their experiences validated and represented in comics.
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Julia’s comics have also helped cisgender allies (people whose gender matches the one they were assigned at birth) understand the pain of living with gender dysphoria.
“My life is so much fuller now that I have the community I so wished I had early on,” she told Refinery29.
julia kaye
Now, Julia hopes she can make a difference in the lives of trans people looking for a supportive community in a society that is often cruel and harsh towards their identity and their experiences.
She wants trans people to know that they’re not alone and that they can count on many resources that didn’t exist not long ago. ‘It’s not always easy, but things do get better.’
Vanessa Hojda
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