What It’s Really Like To Change Your Gender, According To Transgender Comic Artist Julia Kaye (50 New Pics)

At 32, cartoonist Julia Kaye lives in Los Angeles, where she works for Disney TVA. But, much more than just that, she is also a brave transgender woman who, like most people who have gone through gender transition, had to face her fears and the prejudice of others in order to become who she is today. Julia’s experiences and gender transition are illustrated within her 3-panel comics that she frequently shares with her followers on her social media platforms.

Published on the cartoonist's Instagram, the said illustrations are a way to show and highlight the problems faced by those going through gender transition. However, it’s not only that—Kaye’s comics also serve as support for those who might be in a similar situation too.

Today we’d like to feature 50 of the newer comics; however, the rest of them can be found collected in book format in "Super Late Bloomer: My Life In Transition," which Julia released.

More info: Instagram | twitter.com

#1

Image credits: upandoutcomic

Bored Panda reached out to Kaye.

“As for how autobio comics came into my life and what inspired the 2 series:

Honestly, I've never been any good at keeping a traditional written journal and comics have always been a huge part of my life. So when I started my gender transition, it just made a weird sort of sense to turn to making journal comics to help me navigate the constant barrage of highs and lows in my life. Making them each day became art therapy for me—my sketchbook was a place I could be fully honest with myself about how I felt, something I used to greatly struggle with."

#2

Image credits: upandoutcomic

#3

Image credits: upandoutcomic

"Originally, I never had any intent to share them with anybody but my closest friends, to hopefully help them understand what I was going through. But as time went on, I realized that by sharing them with the public, I could possibly help other people who are trans hopefully feel seen and thus feel less isolated in their own experiences, as well as help cis allies better understand the sort of things we go through. That first series eventually became collected in the book 'Super Late Bloomer: My Life In Transition.'"

#4

Image credits: upandoutcomic

#5

Image credits: upandoutcomic

"A couple of years later, when I was 3 years into my transition, I realized the landscape of my life was radically different than it used to be. I found myself feeling the pull to go back and make a second series to help navigate what my life had become. This time, to help show that life keeps moving on past that fraught, anxiety-ridden first year of transition and settles down. To show that as your gender dysphoria lessens, you have so much more capacity to truly live your life as yourself. It's a side of transition that isn't talked about enough. So I started making daily comics for 6 months, for better or worse, no matter what. Eventually, the second series was collected and published earlier this past year as 'My Life In Transition: A Super Late Bloomer Collection.'"