In the background is a store with a window display, slowly revealed as the comic progresses. From right to left: Close-ups of enormous fruit (berries, a banana, a kiwi) sitting or floating over a bed of ice, with water and juice splashing dynamically upwards.
A closely-cropped image of a woman’s face, so we just see one eye and the corner of her mouth. One hand is on her cheek. Her lips and nails are icy pink. The transom above the door has an exotic flower decal.
On the front door, in an artsy font treatment, it says: “Are we a smoothie shoppe? A NAIL salon? A DISPENSARY? YOU DON’T KNOW!”
To be fair, it’s easy: a baby is born with a penis (male) or without (female). That’s not terribly complicated, so naturally we categorize them as such. We do love categorizing things. But the problem only comes in when we refuse to admit that maybe, just maybe, we were wrong and not willing to admit it and fix it.
Science, religion, and politics: these are all things we think we know everything about, but really we don’t know shit.
And somewhere along the way we’ve convinced ourselves that acknowledging we don’t know everything is somehow a weakness, and weakness is the ultimate sin.
Yet, the truly brave are the ones who can readily admit they were wrong and are willing to do the work to adjust their way of thinking based on new information.
They stay may get it wrong, and that’s okay. At least they’re trying.