Yes, Schools Should Ban Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” (But Not For the Reason You Think)

Trigger Warning: This article will contain upsetting illustrated images.

Republican officials in red states (and even purple states) are trying to pull Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer off school library bookshelves.

And you know what? I agree. Keep Gender Queer in public libraries but please for the love of God get Gender Queer out of school libraries.

The reasons I have for wanting to ban Gender Queer in schools and the reasons Republican officials have for banning Gender Queer in schools are completely different, of course. Republicans want to ban Gender Queer because the graphic memoir talks about being gay, queer, trans etc. etc.

I want to ban Gender Queer from school libraries because Kobabe is spreading dangerous misinformation about necessary women’s healthcare procedures.

Here’s the deal: Maia Kobabe is a nonbinary comic book artist and illustrator. E uses e/eir/em pronouns. And yes, I know that there is a LOT of controversy about neopronouns. Frankly, I love neopronouns. E/eir/em, ze/zir/zem…. they’re great. Unlike people who insist on using “they/them” pronouns as a singular when the English language is literally constructed to only use “they/them” pronouns as a plural…. people using “ze/zem” pronouns never confuse others. Because “ze/zem” and “e/em” have no other meanings in the English language. You use neopronouns to refer to someone in a sentence, I will immediately know you are talking about a singular nonbinary person. I will not get confused with “Wait, how many people are we talking about again?”

Yeah, I said what I said.

Anyway, Kobabe’s memoir isn’t really that controversial in my opinion until we get to one scene where Kobabe gets a pap smear.

A pap smear is a small, uncomplicated procedure that has saved countless women’s lives ever since George Papanikolaou found in the 1920s that a microscopic smear of vaginal fluid could detect the presence of cancer cells in the uterus. At the time cervical cancer was a huge cause of female mortality. It’s the cancer that famously killed Henrietta Lacks.

Since the Pap Smear test, named about Papanikolaou, came into common use in the 1960s, cervical cancer rates have fallen by 70%. The pap smear not only detects cancer, it detects pre-cancerous cells as well when the cancer is at a stage that can be easily resolved without chemotherapy or radiation.

The pap smear test has saved millions of lives. And if you are a woman who has sex with people with penises, you will need regular pap smears.

Also, please get the HPV vaccine.

Being informative in a non-shaming non-stigmatizing, non-fearmongering way about necessary healthcare procedures for women is very VERY important. Middle school and high school age girls need to be presented the facts without drama or judgement when it comes to necessary healthcare for their bodies.

So what did Kobabe do that was so wrong?
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Well, Kobabe described, in graphic terms, how e had a trauma response to getting a pap smear. I will post Kobabe’s description below:

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So why did Kobabe experience this reaction? Did e have vaginismus? Was e sexually assaulted in the past, triggering a bad psychological reaction? Was the provider giving the test doing it incorrectly?

No, or at least not that I read in Gender Queer.
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According to Kobabe, e had a bad reaction to getting a pap smear because e is nonbinary and cannot stand any type of procedure that reminds eir of the biological reality of eir sex.
More troublingly, Kobabe goes into detail about how even after eir provider gives eir anti-anxiety medication and painkillers before the procedure Kobabe still has a very bad reaction to the pap smear.

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​Kobabe also drew a horrific image in relation to the pap smear. It implies that a pap smear is a barbaric bloody procedure.
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This is the image I have the most problems with, because it appears to be deliberately trying to scare away anyone who has a cervix from getting a *necessary* medical procedure.

​Kobabe is deliberately portraying a medical tool like a medieval torture instrument dripping with gore.

In reality speculums are disposable or have disposable covers, are generously covered in water-soluble lubricant, and are designed to cause no damage to the vagina. If the speculum has blood on it after a pap smear, it means that the procedure was done incorrectly by the provider. The doctor accidentally caused damage to the inside of the vaginal walls. A pap smear may cause a woman to have light spotting for a few days after the procedure, but no speculum is going to have any sort of blood on it, let alone be coated in it!

If Kobabe had at least portrayed a scene where e talks about the necessity of pap smears and how measures can be taken to help reduce patient discomfort and how many trans people get pap smears without any trouble, I would be less unhappy. Kobabe saying “Listen, this was difficult for me, but that doesn’t mean pap smears are scary or will chew you up and make you bleed. Many trans people can get pap smears comfortably. Trans people do need pap smears if they are sexually active and have vaginas.”

But Kobabe never says that. Kobabe instead portrays pap smears as a horror show and then asks that high school nonbinary kids with vaginas read this garbage.

It’s irresponsible fear-mongering on Kobabe’s part. And no, Gender Queer does not belong in school libraries.

Trans people, cis people, anyone with a cervix… you need a pap smear. Period. You have no idea how many people’s lives have been saved by pap smears. I promise you. And cervical cancer does not give a damn about your feelings.
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Life is too precious to allow a mediocre cartoonist to scare your nonbinary kid away from the doctor.