Captain Sashay

 Captain Sashay is a voluptuous merperson with long hair and a full beard. A sailor, confused by these clashing gender indicators, says to them, “Hey sexy fish person, I can’t tell what gender you are.” Sashay replies, “That’s the point.”

This cartoon urges people to accept types of gender beyond male and female. Gender is based on our chromosomes, hormones, genitalia, and upbringing, at the very least. Just in terms of chromosomes, there are many variants beyond XX and XY. Looking at genitalia, we have male, female, and many varieties of intersex. Beyond biology, we have people’s internal experiences of gender. Looking at these additional factors, Norwegian sexologist Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad adds the categories of trans, non-conforming, personal, and eunuch. After finding no English language versions of their work, I must leave the definitions of these categories to your imaginations.

I believe that people have an inherent right to define their own gender for themselves. [Please note, in this regard, that one’s gender identity is entirely separate from one’s sexual orientation. For example, some transwomen are lesbians, others are straight.] Nobody wants to be slotted into a box and be limited in how they are treated. Too many people have different behavioral styles when dealing with a man as opposed to a woman. They take gender as determining the acceptable range of behavior for each type of person. As part of the sexual revolution, though, many people seek freedom from gendered expectations. We wish to identify solely as persons, with no limitations imposed by our perceived gender.

Captain Sashay delights in keeping their bodily gender a mystery. That’s fine by me. I’m even getting used to using the pronoun ‘they’ in the singular, to cast off the gender marker of language. Nobody needs to know what organs are inside another person’s pants, most of the time.

However, a queer, trans, or intersex person who contemplates a sexual or romantic relationship with someone else owes that individual a discussion about their respective genitalia before clothes are removed. A surprise reveal has been known to result in homicidal violence. At the very least, it can really derail a sexual encounter.