Love, Joolz: Cishet Men
That awkward moment when the thing you think is yours punches you in the face
[Quick note: In this context, a cishet man is a cis (non-trans) man who is heterosexual. We good? Great. Let’s go.]
Like most Joolz comics, this idea came from shooting the breeze with some friends on Twitter. A while ago, I had noticed the Love, Joolz readership skews male on Instagram (the only social network I’ve found that seems to break out metrics by gender). I thought that was really weird considering how much shit I talk about bad male behavior in this comic. But I didn’t think much on it. I just figured men appreciate that I say things about men they don’t like, but can’t trash talk publicly for fear of looking like a traitor to the gender. (It’s a thing I guess?)
But further conversation has lead me to the conclusion that cishet men think everything is for and about them.
Stop and think about the utter lunacy of this. Men on instagram will see the cute green haired cartoon girl and think “Yup! This is for me!” even though the green-haired cartoon girl is about to throw a dude over a mountain ridge with a trebuchet.
You…really think friend-zoning and trebuchet-related violence is *for* you?
Wow. Cishet men really will assimilate even their highest critics. That’s bonkers. I love it and I’ll take it.
If I could slide back in time and tell High School Julie that in the future she’s going to be known for making a cartoon criticizing men, flinging them with trebuchets with *a majority male readership* she would not believe me. Hell, I don’t believe me and I live it.
But here we are. I’m a cis-hit with cishet men.
Okay, so it’s funny that cishet men like me even though I’m salty, but I feel like I have everyone’s best interests at heart. Love, Joolz has never been about dealing damage, but breaking people into better shape. Ultimately, I do care about men. Not just because I’d like them to stop shooting at the rest of us, but because I feel sad at how disconnected they all seem to be. Capitalism + patriarchy has these guys all the way screwed up. Most cishet men don’t know how to confront their own feelings and are high key terrified of intimate relationships. When we have entire swaths of humanity emotionally disconnected and getting crazy about it, shouldn’t someone say something?
Shouldn’t someone care?
There’s a lot of weight in being pretty and paying attention to someone. Especially if they need all the joy they can get.
-Love, Joolz
Love, Joolz: Cishet Men
I love the analysis you are adding to your work.