Fine: A Comic About Gender - Rhea Ewing

Author: Rhea Ewing

Illustrator: Rhea Ewing

Genre: Graphic Novel, LGBTQ+

Rating: 4.75 stars.

No matter how many compelling adjectives I use in my review, they will fall short to explain what an illuminative experience reading this book has been!!

From the days when there were (supposedly) only two main genders – male and female – to today when gender is known to be not a binary concept but a spectrum, human thinking and acceptance of gender variations has come a long way. Unfortunately, we have an even longer path to journey ahead. In an age where there are so many gender-related terms coming up regularly – genderqueer, nonbinary, genderfluid, androgyne, cisgender, agender,… it is so easy to feel lost and confused, trying to understand who is what, who prefers what, what is what!

This book won’t provide you with a dictionary of definitions but it will certainly help you understand concepts you never looked at or attempted to understand before. Because of its inherent structure, it provides perspectives, not definite solutions or fixed answers. Using the information it provides, you will be at least a little better prepared to understand the nuances of gender in today’s world.

Rhea Ewing is a visual artist based in California. After struggling with their own gender identity for a long time (right term for this: ‘Gender Dysphoria’, which I now know thanks to this book), they decided to take up a social study as their college project. The plan was to ask people their idea of what gender means to them. (Try asking this question to yourself: “what is gender?” It’s not as easy as it sounds.) As the interactions grew, their questions, and thus their project, went on increasing in complexity and span. Rhea ended up spending more than a decade on their project. This book is the end result of all those efforts. As they write in the introduction, “Take the book for what it is: my own attempt to understand and connect with other people. No more, no less.”

The structure of the book can be primarily divided into three categories: a theme/topic introduced through Rhea’s memories or experiences, answers related to that theme/topic taken from Rhea’s interviews with people of various gender identities, and finally Rhea’s own musings on that theme/topic before moving on to the next topic. The themes are as varied as race, language, hormones, healthcare, bathrooms, feelings, and many more.

The content is staggering to comprehend. This is not a book to be read in one go but to be pondered over slowly and discussed often. I would have appreciated a glossary of the various gender identities because not everything comes out clearly through the interviews. At the same time, I can understand the difficult of collating so much information into a sensible and coherent flow and why a glossary would have been difficult to include – the definitions are still evolving and as of now, are more fluid than fixed, just like the idea of ‘gender’ itself. I can't say if I'll remember everything I read in this book but I've definitely learnt a lot and have begun looking with a fresh perspective at many things I’ve always taken for granted.

Though this was a graphic novel, I didn’t really focus much on the artistic style used. This is a book you ought to read for its content, not for its illustrations. But if you are interested in knowing, the sketches are primarily in earth tones – varied shades of blacks, whites and browns. The illustrations don’t jump out of the page, keeping your focus on the text, as should be the case.

A much-needed novel for today’s world where gender definitions change faster than we can stay abreast of. Again, this book is not to understand what is encompassed by each gender identity but to realise that there are many gender identities out there and we need to start thinking beyond just masculine and feminine, and to be an ally to everyone in every way we can.

A must-read for all, no matter what gender you identify as. The book will help you understand why the rainbow flag is in rainbow hues and not in a dichromatic tint.

The book begins with this beautiful dedication, and I’d like to end my review with it:

“ This book is dedicated to everyone who wonders if they are enough. You are enough. ”

My thanks to W. W. Norton and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “Fine: A Comic About Gender”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.