.png)
.png)
Original RadFem Art: Saying “Men Can Be Women” and "Lesbian Women Can Have Penises" is Rooted in Males' Woman-Hating & Anti-Lesbian Corrective Rape Culture
Exploring the Absurdity of Male Thought
Gender Abolitionist Comics by Preeti Pathak
The Lesbons of Lesbiana: Earth Wellness Check, Preeti Pathak, Acrylic, Marker, Ink on Paper, 2025
Artistic Process Reflections: How Imagination Can Be Sparked
The artistic process is a complex one. It’s not something I can easily document, it isn’t always consistent, and the most random shit can spark an idea. I can’t remember what I was watching when this idea came to my head, but it was something to do with “Get the L Out UK” - an organization that I hadn’t known about. After watching the video, I went to the organization’s website. I read through the homepage and came upon the statement, “lesbians do not have penises” and I burst out laughing. I had just finished smoking my blunt so the high was in full effect. I was intrigued both by the absurdity of the statement and the absurdity that it actually needs to be said. In my downtime, when I’m relaxing and I take off my diplomatic educator cap, it can be fun to play with the idea of absurdity. That made the “Get the L Out UK” website a perfect inspiration for this comic. To be clear, the website is rational; the reality that they need to state what should be agreed upon scientific facts, is what’s absurd.
Understanding the Path to the Absurd as Acceptable: The Intertwinement of Mysticism and the Weapon of Gender
When you study sociology you start to realize how easy it is for the absurd to become normalized. Believing the absurd is a slow process of breaking down the target’s reality and boundaries. Think about how bat-shit crazy religion/spirituality is, but that delusion is mainstream. It is also the concept that was manufactured to enslave women and girls and formalize the weapon called gender. Raping girls is legalized through child brides, which is a tool created by all religions and their gender ideologies: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc. Yet somehow Americans go about their business letting this absurdity exist. Think of how enslavement has existed since the inception of Male Parasitism and that has been normalized. Think of the absurdity of “chattel enslavement” aka the trafficking of African peoples and Latin American peoples to modern-day U.S.A. That was based on the the weapon of race and that delusion, just like gender, was openly accepted and celebrated. So a statement like “lesbian women do not have penises” is both absurd and understandable to the sociologist because we know just how fucked up male thinking and culture already is and how it permeates all thinking so as to render critical thought dysfunctional. The sociologist can see how we get from there to here, and you can too if you expand beyond all-or-nothing and tunnel vision analysis.
There are women that I know who do believe lesbian women can have penises because they have listened to experts who are good at convincing others that sex isn’t binary, and is in fact a spectrum; just like their are experts good at convincing others that there is a punishing god and a blamable devil watching you and there’s no such thing as evolution. I once read those same supposed experts—the scientists, the religious and spiritual clerics—and listened to them because I thought their might be truth in what they say. I will never forget the diagram below from Scientific American, because it shook the core of my scientific understanding. For the first time ever, I doubted my understanding of material sex. And it wasn’t just this one article or one group of scientists, this message was repeated by many trusted sources. Though I never believed that one could transcend sex, even through body modification, I started to wonder if the binary theories of human sex were accurate. Even a concept as stable as gravity has new scientific findings and challengers, so I know as a critical thinker to never say never. Another rule of science is that nothing is one hundred percent. So I sat back and started listening to all sides of scientific theory, and that’s why I know that thought leaders on any “side” can persuade others of almost anything, if they can plant the seeds of doubt. The other major issue was that back when I was doubting myself, I was still deeply religious and spiritual. It wasn’t until I could challenge the delusion of religion/spirituality/mysticism, “god”, “good and evil”, and “souls” that I was able to see the delusion in these scientists. Once one delusion is normalized in the mainstream, others follow. In a Christian-controlled country like the U.S., I’m not surprised at all how delusions of gender are believed and worshipped.
We’re Collectively Taught By Males to “Be Polite” And Accept Delusions Like Religion and Gender
The ultimate test of women’s belief in “lesbian women can have penises” AKA “transwomen are women” is by asking the lesbian woman if she would date a “transwoman.” And for lesbian women like me who lived mostly in leftist echo chambers, I bold-faced lied to a couple women who point-blank asked me this question. I felt they were testing me, so I said a lie I learned from other lesbian women online: “suuuurrreee, yeeeaaahhhhhh, if she’s post-op.” Meanwhile when men who call themselves women showed up on the dating apps, I had a visceral body response of upset and betrayal. It was like all those other males who said “yeah I’m a lesbian too” or “I loooovvvveeee LESbians” when they found out about my sexual orientation. It’s like that sexist, misogynistic, anti-lesbian, corrective rape anthem by Drake, “Girls Want Girls” where he calls himself lesbian and proceeds to challenge a fictional lesbian woman’s boundaries, ending with a stanza that embodies sexism, misogyny, and patriarchy. The cover of the album entitled, “Certified Lover Boy” is a depiction multiple pregnant women emojis. A further exploration of the male artist (Damien Hirst) shows that objectifying pregnant women is a theme in his work. Male parasitism really is all connected.
When you’re lesbian, you learn real quick not to mention this fact to males. There’s too many who hate us and objectify us. When males know I’m lesbian they will sexually harass me based on this fact. Males objectify us as a way to colonize lesbian women’s sex lives and to release their rage that we’re the only sexual orientation that is exclusively female to female. We challenge the “penis-and-vaginal canal” sex act as real or legitimate. Being homosexual women means that the sex acts we see as real or legitimate aren’t accessible to males. That which is inaccessible to the colonizer becomes a point of obsession. Lesbian women are free from direct male interference. So what do males do? They interfere. This is the foundation of corrective rape culture. Tell women and girls they’re objects, they have no rights to boundaries, and that their biological sex AND sexual orientation doesn’t exist. Anti-lesbian corrective rape is so normalized that a male like Drake can create such a disgusting song and get away with it. He is making money off of lesbophobia, yet he’s beloved by his fans. See how the absurd is so easily made acceptable by males’ culture of woman-hating?
How Men Who Deny the Female Sex Class Are an Outcome of Males’ Rape Culture: My Own Experiences With the Men Who Spout the Lie That They’re Lesbian
I’ve even had a cyber-stalking experience through dating apps where a man who called himself a man that has an “affinity for lesbian women” was sending me “secret admirer” messages on Tinder. Later this man went from calling himself a man to calling himself a woman. I had a front row seat to his transformation since Tinder kept sending him my way. I documented the male entitlement I was experiencing. Sadly all the photos were saved to the secure folder of a cell phone that got stolen by—you guessed it—males. Males have accessed and targeted my profile on dating apps since I first went on them. Even as a lesbian woman I can’t escape males on dating apps. The male-controlled platforms actually give all men unfettered access to see my profile, like it, or send me forced messages through the “secret admirer” feature, if they pay enough. I’m truly disgusted (but not surprised) by the number of males who targeted me because my profile said I’m a lesbian woman. It’s another reason I call dating apps the male rapist apps or the rape apps.
The men who own those apps let the rapists that are reported, right back on those apps. The more strategic male predator has turned dating apps into a place to target women to harass, stalk, rape, and even murder. This particular male with the “affinity for lesbians” kept showing up on my Tinder feed. I would report and block him, but then somehow he would pop up again, either as one of the options that Tinder was sending to me or through the “secret admirer” feature. This went on for years. Mind you, this wasn’t the only male who has done this to me. I would jump on and off the apps, and whenever I came back, there he was. Then when the pandemic started lifting and I went out to a lesbian/”queer” event, I saw that male standing outside the venue. My heart dropped to my feet. I was shaking with fear and rage. I nonchalantly ducked behind a group of women in front of me at the door. I watched him like a hawk, waiting for him to look at me. But he didn’t. I actually don’t believe he specifically stalked me to this location. I think he targeted going to this location because it was a lesbian woman event. Who knows how many lesbian women he cyber-stalked on Tinder, like he did to me. I reported him several times to the company, but I either got error messages or no response at all. He never had to face any consequences. He kept covertly harassing me.
But when those women (or men) asked if I would date a man who calls himself a woman, I made sure to say yes and not share my real thoughts. Like everywhere else within males’ violence culture, I was coerced not to name the male sex-class and to neutralize his sex in order to not be punished for my femaleness. When I initially dissented on the topic of sex and males’ “transgender” gender ideology, I quickly learned my viewpoints were triggering for some and started lying. Just like I lied when someone told me about their belief in gods and spirits. After a handful of times telling this specific lie about sex, I finally tired and blurted out the truth to a woman I went on a date with. She asked me, “would you date a trans woman?” and I fidgeted and felt the agitation rising in myself. I blurted out in non-diplomatic fashion, “No! I’m lesbian. I like pussy.”1 She went on, “well what if she were post-op?” I calmly said, “that doesn’t make him a woman.” She gave me a look of surprise and said that most women don’t respond that way. But she wasn’t angry, she seemed intrigued. I quickly changed the subject because I was on downtime and didn’t want to get into an intellectual discussion on a second date. I spend so much of my professional and personal life being on a soap box and serious, so I like to dedicate some free time to being playful. These are the experiences that lay behind the humor in my comic. It’s something serious and painful. It is the realities of how woman-hating and lesbian woman-hating effects so many angles of my life, and all my lesbian sisters. I laugh so that I’m not constantly crying. So I can process the discomfort.
Final Thoughts On Delusions, Challenging Smugness, and the Artistic Process:
In this comic I flatten the issue of the debate over material sex into a simplistic joke. Comics are meant to be a surface layer that points to a complex web of social forces. That’s why I also like to share writing that describes the process behind my art. Afterall, art is simply a kind of language just like the written word. It’s easy to just say some women are absurd when they go along with statements like “lesbian women have penises.” It’s easy to make fun of them, have a laugh, or call them stupid. But realize those women are saying the same thing about you. They think seeing sex as a binary is idiotic. And thought leaders as well as scientists back up this opinion. So have a laugh, we need some levity to release the tension. But don’t get smug thinking everyone is stupid except you and your echo chamber. This is the exact same belief in every echo chamber. We all believe we see the truth. When you hear a woman say something that you consider absurd, put aside male thinking, the online voices, trolls, Twitter/TikTok agitators, your echo chamber, etc. and try to dig into why a woman thinks the way she does. Then critique her on firm ground, not just by making fun of her and name-calling. Men who call themselves lesbian women aren’t assumed to be delusional or predators to many, even if some of us can spot them as predators a mile away.
Plenty of women uphold male thinking because they legitimately believe there is science backing up the theory of “sex as a spectrum” or the myth of “sexed brains.” I’ve spent time in multiple echo chambers, and I think it would be foolish to stereotype “liberal feminist” women I organized alongside as simply stupid or absurd for denying material sex. Just like I don’t think every conservative woman I’ve encountered (even the ones who unironically call themselves feminists) was simply stupid or absurd when she voted for one of the most openly sexist, colorist/racist, ableist, and elitist U.S. presidential candidate’s (Trump), over one who denied material sex (Harris). Try to “seek first to understand” before you jump to just making fun of fellow women who deny reality and say the absurd. From where I stand, there’s not a single woman I’ve met or observed who hasn’t denied reality or said the absurd from time to time due to male culture’s coercion. Let’s find ways to point out absurdity/delusion, use humor, while also extending thoughtful critique to our fellow sisters and avoid stooping to denigrating them through “all-or-nothing” thinking. I try to show an example of how to do that through this comic. I point out the issue without putting down women who believe the absurd. I show the absurd in a humorous but thoughtful way, which allows more women to receive my message. I do realize that even with my attempt at thoughtfulness, some women might hate this comic, call it “transphobic”, “anti-trans”, “bigoted”, “trans-misogynistic”, “racist”, “colonial”, etc. Since I have built my resilience, their name-calling sometimes hurts but it doesn’t enter into my being. It bounces off my shield and reveals that they are triggered. And triggers aren’t a “bad” or good” thing; they’re the reactive response that any human can have when they experience something that registers as negative in their being. Instead of shame, anger, or a need to defend myself, I remain peaceful and wonder about what that specific woman’s trigger is. I give her grace and hope that one day she will be able to hear my message. If she does manage to anger me, I try my best to vent my frustrations in ways that don’t perpetuate woman-hating and males’ divide and conquer tactics.
The technical artistic process for this piece was creating a rough sketch with pencil and then recreating the sketch and coloring it in with acrylic markers, markers, white-out, and ink pens. Many of my comics I sketch and then complete digitally with my Apple pencil and iPad. It was nice to make a fully physical comic from sketch to completion. I also like seeing the little imperfections that can’t be easily erased they way you can when you draw digitally.
P.S. Remember You’re Worthy of Joy and Play
Here’s a reminder sisters to say you are worthy of care. I held off on buying acrylic markers for years because of self-worth issues. I thought it would be greedy, wasteful, etc. if I splurged on yet another artistic medium. But a couple years ago in therapy I had a breakthrough about how I deny myself certain things because my caregivers and the world around me taught me this notion that I’m “unworthy.” Once I could see the pain underlying my behavior, I accepted that buying myself these acrylic markers that I desperately wanted to play with, was not splurging. Those were the voices from my past, the ones that told me I was unworthy. I bought the markers, and they have become one of my all-time favorite mediums. My main medium is abstract acrylic paintings, but drawing is equally as close to my heart. The acrylic markers bring my love of painting and drawing together in a beautiful way. A fellow sister on Substack saw one of my acrylic marker drawings, spotted the medium, and recommended Posca markers to me. It gave me a chuckle because they’re the “cream of the crop” and on my wish list to one day invest into, once my business becomes profitable. What made me laugh is that because I had challenged my absurdity in a thoughtful, gracious way, I was able to grow enough of a sense of self to value and believe in myself and what I think and want.
I want to point out how referring to liking women as “liking pussy” is very out of character for me and a defensive response. I notice that it only comes out of my mouth when I am attempting to put my foot down against illogicality. But using pussy in this manner to refer to women is wholly misogynistic and male culture thinking that I have absorbed. It’s dehumanizing and manufactured from males’ anti-female culture. I hope one day to get such flawed ways of talking out of me and use the term pussy in pro-female ways. It’s interesting to reflect on the way our language changes when we feel defensive. We have many emotional/behavioral parts to us and they’re important to become aware of and challenge when necessary.
Comments