Assigned Male

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Rating Summary

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Background
Long ago, one of our members asked us to try and find Factual Wriley's secret SJW poe comic based on quotes from Mein Kampf. I've made several attempts to find it on Tumblr and failed. This time I got distracted from my inevitable failure by a repost of a video about a pulled YouTube review. The reviewer had made a critical review of what he described as an "evil, intolerant feminist web comic" which was "condescending, insulting, horribly-written tripe".

Naturally, I had to see if it was that bad. It was.

Downfall
This comic always sucked.

Foreword
I'm adding a foreword so it's clear why this comic wound up on our list. I know transgenderism is the current hot topic that "good people" are using to publicly prove their "goodness" with, by acting as if any slight is the same as the final step before transgenocide. There are a lot of people who might willfully choose to see a transgender comic getting a bad review through a filter of "this reviewer must be a bigot" because they want some "evil" to make sure everyone sees them "vanquishing". If you are such a person, before you begin shitting all over the internet about what this review you haven't even read is "really about", let me say this:

If it wasn't for the fact that the author is selling her work as books for children and had a negative reviewed pulled off YouTube, I would assume this comic was maliciously designed to make the transgender community look like a bunch of brainless psychotics.

That is how badly Sophie presents her points of view. Through her various mouthpieces and straw men, she makes the transgender community look irrational by association. The result of introducing any sane person to transgenderism by being given this comic as "informative" or "representative" would be terrible. They would come out the other side thinking anyone who cross-dresses is an oversensitive lunatic who failed biology, because that's what she's depicting. Whether you are transgender, transsexual, or merely someone arguing their side, the best thing you can do for everyone is to distance yourself from the foaming-at-the-mouth madness this comic contains.

If you don't believe me, read on.

Story and Plot
Stephie is an eleven-year-old boy who is now dressing and identifying as a girl. The full name of this comic is Assigned Male - The Incredible Adventures of Stephie (Who Happens To Be Trans). There is surprisingly little adventuring, and "happens to be trans" is an understatement of how often it comes up, but it was good to see "incredible" used for its less common meaning of "not credible; hard to believe; unbelievable", even though that had to be an accident.

The story begins with Stephie being taken to the emergency room with a fever and throat infection. Stephie becomes irrationally angry at the duty nurse for attempting to confirm she had the right medical card, then angry at her mother for clearing up the confusion of why "Stephen" appears as the name on Stephie's card. She then storms out without getting her fever treated and her mother submissively follows. This can't be passed off as emotional immaturity because Stephie regularly spews college-level leftist propaganda from the first comic and is complimented on how wise beyond her years she is in the next.

So in the very first comic, Stephie chooses identity over health and her mother goes along with it because Stephie's an upset eleven-year-old. With that in mind, what in the hell is the message here? That parents should listen to their children because kids have better perspective than adults? That children only get upset over important things? That trans people live in a fantasy world and that anything that breaks the illusion for them (even momentarily) is more dangerous than potentially giving a child medication that she's allergic to? Emotions aren't more important than being able to breathe. If you believe otherwise, I'll indulge in that fucking stupidity for a moment and give you a counterargument you'll understand: ''hospital staff have feelings too, and they tend to get really sad when they cause a child's death by asphyxiation. Like, really, really sad.''

The comic continues in the same vein, with our twenty-something eleven-year-old having conversations where nobody talks like real people. Stephie gets a black friend named Lea (to pad out the diversity quota). Lea alternates between serving as a sounding board for Stephie's speeches or as a wing man for delivering "truths" to the reader. We're also introduced to Stephie's straw man father who is depicted as a knuckle-dragger with generic "manly" imagery so you know you're allowed to hate him because everyone knows masculinity is evil and foolish. If the author were from the USA, he'd be wearing at least one American flag at all times and talk about the importance of voting Republican. He is presented as unsympathetic because - if your child suddenly decides he's another gender - it's totally normal and not any kind of struggle for anyone else to adjust to. Compassion and understanding should be totally unlimited for everyone... unless you don't immediately agree with the author, which can only be coming from a place of hatred or selfishness or evil masculinity. (You fucker!)

After being introduced to a couple of side characters, Sandro shows up. Sandro is a boy who Stephie introduces to cross-dressing, but who still identifies as a boy. This is so the author can put out a forced explanation of the various new "sexuality" classifications SJWs are currently forcing on everyone who'll listen when he eventually starts dating in a few months, which is blatantly obvious to anyone who didn't grow up eating lead paint chips can make the heavy-handed subtle point that how people dress is a meaningless social construct. Sandro later gains the ability to fire gender-neutral lasers from his eyes NO I AM NOT KIDDING.

The comic continues with Stephie always being right, especially when arguing with adults, in spite of making arguments that only work in a vacuum, are entirely subjective, consist of uncited "facts" and "statistics" invented on the spot, or which are completely absurd. Naturally, everyone who argues with her either was ignorant-but-sees-the-light or is a horrible person, like the homosexual speaker who turned out to be "homophobic". Some of her "adventures" include discussing "privilege," discussing gender-inclusive bathrooms, trading coats with Lea, other people discussing lesbianism, discussing feminism, discussing transgenderism, discussing reading books, discussing--

Say, have you seen a pattern yet?

Stephie is currently being paired up for a relationship with Myrick, who (I think) is a girl who identifies as a boy. If not for that I would have expected to see Stephie paired with Sandro in a relationship that would be incredibly tediously described, over and over again, in those "adventures" I went over.

Art review
The art is very basic. Backgrounds are simple or just solid colors. Most of the human figures are proportional, but the faces are sometimes drawn lopsided or unrealistically in a way that makes them seem ugly. Most of the characters suffer from chronic same-face and can only be told apart by skin color and hair. The only significant difference is between the faces of children and adults, which itself is only limited to forehead size and cheek width. When Stephie's mother made an incomprehensible comment about being a lesbian I had to guess it was her retroactively because she had different hair color in that scene.



It's clear that art isn't the first, second, or even third thought Sophie has when making the comic. It is lazy, low in detail, and has the same basic faces recycled endlessly. Throwaway characters are easier to tell apart from the regular cast because their eyes often are just dots.

Writing review
Nearly every part of the writing is terrible. The dialog doesn't sound like anything any people would say in any conversation that didn't take place during a college lecture. The "story" (a word I am using generously here) is a series of settings for the author to preach to you or depict her detractors as idiots. It is frequently interrupted by single-panel diatribes that take up a whole page.

The question here is not "Are there any arguments to be made for tolerating or accepting transgenderism?" The question is, "Would you really want transgenderism associated with arguments like these?" Because there is no way to review this comic without bringing up some of the insane statements and implications being put forward as representative of the trans community.

Let's go through some of the thought policing bullshit we're expected to believe 11-year-olds say (and throw in some commentary from reality here and there):
 * "Everybody keep [sic] saying that I was born in the wrong body. My body is not wrong!  What is wrong is what people say about it.  It's assumptions they make when they learn that I have a penis!  Everyone seems so preoccupied with my genitals - the government in the first place - that they forget what I am going through as a human being." -- Stephie, who is 11


 * "So you want to compensate for your insecurity regarding your masculinity and parenting by denying my identity?" -- Stephie, who is 11


 * "I wasn't "born a boy," just as much as I didn't "become a girl." It's just that nobody asked me first." -- Stephie, who is 11
 * "Nobody asked you because newborns can't talk and biology isn't subjective... but mostly because NEWBORNS CAN'T TALK." -- Science


 * "That would be ridiculous. It would mean that he thinks femininity is a lack of masculinity rather than a legitimate identity."  -- Lea, who is probably 11


 * "What? People believed you were a boy? I always thought you were a girl." -- Some unimportant child side character


 * "Come on! Sandro clearly does not follow the hegemonic masculinity model and he wouldn't impose his domination on us.  For all we know, we're experiencing a similar oppression due to sexism." -- Stephie, who is totes 11 years old for serious


 * "It's not our fault. We swear!  Hetero- and cisnormativity made us do it!" -- One of two 11(?) year old children who still says the word "faggot" outside of FPS games.
 * "'Cisnormativity' is not a real word and neither is 'heteronomativity.'" -- English


 * "I know! It sounds like common sense... you don't even need to be a boy or girl, if you don't feel like it!" -- Stephie, who I assure you sounds 11
 * "There's no need to acknowledge male parts make you male. You can't form an identity for yourself unless you convince yourself inconvenient facts are lies founded upon ignorance and hate.  What harm could be worse than letting biology interfere with fantasy?"  -- Prostate Cancer
 * "YOU DON'T KNOW ME! DON'T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH!" -- Common Sense


 * "Let's pretend I didn't hear you [say that transsexuals are rare]. Would you personally include trans men in your conception of masculine homosexuality?"  -- Stephie who is absolutely sounding like an 11 year old.


 * "Milena, you know that you're privileged for not having to tell which are your preferred pronouns?" -- Stephie who is 11 and almost never has to tell people her preferred pronouns because she makes herself look like a girl


 * "I feel great, but being pregnant is a very particular situation for a man. People use my pregnancy to invalidate either my gender identity or my sexual orientation." -- A heterosexual woman who identifies as a man, convoluting the description of their relationship with a man
 * "Nothing about you being pregnant is even slightly particular." -- Biology
 * "Your relationship would be considered heterosexual and sinless by pretty much all of us (except maybe the Westboro Baptist Church)." -- Christianity
 * "... and you could get legally married." -- Every government on Earth


 * "My mother actually said that after all, we're "kind of" a heterosexual couple, since we can reproduce. I got really angry." -- A heterosexual man in a relationship with a woman (who identifies as a man) trying to convolute the relationship
 * "You do realize your claims gender is a choice entirely contradict our claims homosexuality isn't a choice, right? Because we've been arguing that it's genetic for decades so that it can't be immoral because it's natural.  Good luck shaming us into adopting your side." -- Liberalism


 * "My brain is busy undoing beliefs that were forced into it about the relationship between heterosexuality and reproduction. Is that an effect of heterosexism, mom?" -- Stephie, who is 11
 * "No, it's an effect of learning how reproduction works the vast majority of the time with plants or animals through observation." -- Causality


 * "I was born with a penis, if that's what you want to know. A penis is neither male nor female."  -- Stephie who is 11
 * "No, it's male. Our terminology is objective because we view things like preventing cancer as more important than obscuring language to reinforce your sense of identity." -- Medicine


 * "The only diagnosis I'll recognize is Gender Euphoria" -- Stephie who is 11 (or possibly the Author)
 * "No, seriously, I don't want you to die because you think you have to redefine facts to feel comfortable in being who you are. That's an exceptionally stupid thing to put ahead of your health." -- Medicine


 * "I hate when people tell me how it's great I don't 'look' intersex or trans. I don't feel less oppressed when they say that, just as I still face racism even if I'm white-passing.  Seriously, huh?"  -- Myrick, another 11(?) year old
 * "You know I exist against white people too, right?" -- Racism


 * "Even if LGBTI people can work together towards the same goals, using the 'LGBT' or 'LGBTI' acronym when you actually mean 'Gay' or 'Lesbian' is invisibilizing for Bi, Trans, and intersex people. So be careful when you use the 'LGBTI' acronym!  <3" -- the Author
 * "'Invisibilizing' isn't a word and neither initialism is an acronym." -- English
 * " What ." -- Sanity


 * "You don't understand. You're living the dream.  You won't go through the trauma of puberty.  Your voice won't break.  You won't grow a beard."  -- Some nameless woman speaking to Stephie (to the best of my knowledge, no indication was given in the comic Stephie is undergoing any treatments to prevent puberty)


 * "This is a baby doll and if you can give me one good reason for discouraging boys to play with one, please let me know." -- the Author
 * "You know we tried raising boys like girls back in the 90's, right? The boys used dolls as weapons.  Don't give a boy that baby doll unless you're okay with the possibility of seeing it used as a club." -- Feminism


 * "Being cisgender isn't an insult." -- the Author
 * "Neither is using 'normal' to describe something as normal." -- English


 * "Could we please stop advertising tampons and pads as 'feminine' hygine products? I know a bunch of trans-masculine and non-binary folks who'd be very thankful if we did so.  And that's pretty cissexist too." -- the Author (in a comic she appears to have unlinked)
 * "We advertise products to sell them, so no." -- Advertising
 * "'Cissexist' isn't a word, neither is 'trans-masculine'... you know what? Are you sure we've met?  Because I keep feeling like I should introduce myself." -- English


 * "Saying that there are male brains and female brains is neurosexist." -- Stephie who is 11
 * "You are mistaken. Also, English isn't speaking to you anymore, but wanted you to know 'neurosexist' isn't a word." -- Neuro science 
 * "I notice you didn't actually provide any of the studies you referred to and claimed to have personally read." -- Observation
 * "Calling everything you disagree with bad names to avoid considering what they've said is terrific! Keep up the good work!" -- Propaganda


 * "Recognizing your cisness and the privileges associated with it is the first step towards trans acceptance." -- the Author
 * "Nobody is entitled to demand acceptance, only tolerance. People living together in spite of having conflicting beliefs - tolerance - is the basis of civilization.  Your beliefs aren't better than someone else's because they're yours." -- Equality


 * "Yeah. I guess it's harder to understand trans issues when all you know about trans people is from 'Ms. Doubtfire' or 'Silence of the Lambs'." -- Stephie, an 11 year old (who watched Silence of the Lambs)
 * " 'Ms. Doubtfire' wasn't a trans woman's identity, it was a man's disguise. Those are not the same thing." -- Transgenderism

Drama For Cash
As of May 2017, Assigned Male is now the 8th highest ranked comic on Patreon. "A series of profane words phrased as a question," you ask? Here's what allegedly happened. (minor update, come '23, she had lost over a quarter of her patreons and was down to nr 36)

Sophie cancelled a book launch in May claiming she received thousands of death threats. Thousands. Supposedly, people offended by the child recruitment book she wrote went on some kind of crusade to "convince transgender people to kill themselves." It's unknown if there's any truth to this. Sophie would hardly be the first social justice retard to pull a Saarkesian to cancel on an event or to troll "allies" for money. It's also possible she did receive some threats and was stupid enough to take people on the internet seriously. After all, some of these people were Neo-Nazis because she says they are. Only someone who loves Hitler(!!!!!1) could have a problem with selling people afraid of GMO foods on the idea of putting their kids on hormone suppressants.

Regardless, the end result is the same. Sophie's raking in major sympathy cash. Assigned Male was making nearly $3,000 in mid-February before she hid the income level, which I suspect was to keep people from thinking she was getting enough money to draw wrinkled, flesh-colored sacks making strawman arguments. Since then she jumped from 663 idiot supporters to 1,367.

Author biography
I don't know much about Sophie and I don't care to look into her. It would just be fuel for her (or her fans') inevitable false claims that this valid critique of work - which she willing put on public display and sells - was somehow threatening or harassment. So instead of giving her lie fodder to cry victim with, I'd like to tell you about something from my past.

A few years ago, before "transgender" was a term, I used to haunt a forum that helped people with their problems. Most of the problems were emotional and some were psychological. One day, a man showed up announcing he was thinking of getting a sex change. There was some discussion - all civil, because that's what this place was for - about why he wanted one. He said that he loved women; how they looked, how they acted... really, just everything about them. He didn't hate being a man, he just viewed everything about women as being better. I asked if he was heterosexual (this was before SJWs started trying to convolute the meaning of the word, so there was no fear he'd been conditioned to overreact to communicating clearly). He said yes, that he was attracted to women.

Because of that, I convinced him that he would be better off if he just cross-dressed as a woman. My stance was that since homosexuals only made up 10% of the population (as was believed at the time; I know the CDC put it at less than 3% when they finally got around to looking), it would probably be easier for him to find a heterosexual woman okay with him being a transvestite than it would be to find a homosexual woman okay with him being a transsexual. Plus, it eliminated the risk of being disfigured by a bad operation and left open the possibility of having children of his own some day. He decided to take my advice. The same year I helped a forum regular pick a name for after he had gender reassignment surgery.

To put it another way: I am utterly indifferent to people's gender identities. I have no emotional investment in the topic. This comic sucked and its social arguments that made up most of the dialog were myopic, irrational, self-serving, and coming from a place of false entitlement.

It was recently discovered that Sophie has come out of the closet as a diaper fur fetishist - so not only is Sophie into portraying children of dubious gender spouting militant gender-politic bullshit, but now also portraying furry children in diapers, likely also filling those with shit, which may or may not be of the bull variety, depending on the species of the furry. That Sophie is this much of a creepy fucker should not surprise anyone.

Conclusion
The best thing the transgender community could do is distance themselves from this steaming pile of shit. Every part of this comic from the first page to the last is the worst kind of propaganda. I think I saw one convincing argument in the entire cesspool of the 68 pages I was required to read. There are multiple arguments on each page. Do the math. This comic is the last kid you should pick for your social movement kickball team. It's so bad at the game it scores most of its points against its own side.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

I was worried that maybe the reviewer was getting this wrong and a transgender person might actually think this is a good comic that properly represents the community's views so I asked a transgender friend of mine what she thought of it and she looked at one page and told me:

"The initial strip was enough, actually. Our community's not gettin' far if we're gunna be THAT militant about it."

Links

 * This webcomic not only received a listing in the TV Tropes article on horrible webcomics, they even compared it to Billy The Heretic, albeit from the opposite spectrum
 * Sophie Labelle's Twitter - which she publicly linked
 * A video about the Youtube review of Assigned Male that got pulled off YouTube
 * The video review - (mirror); take note of the extremely polite opening disclaimer that got it pulled for bullying
 * Her online store - because apparently she wants children reading this bullshit
 * The entry in Irregular Reactions for this author