Trans Bathroom Rights: Political Cartoon Analysis

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“Why’s it my business what's in your pants?” is a question currently being asked. Transgender rights have been scarce for a long period of time and are a major focal point of political parties in America. At least 150,000 people between 13 and 24 have identified as transgender (Crissman, 2020). Through art style, people, colors, irony, stereotypes, and dialogue the political cartoons show the need for change.
The cartoon Bathroom Business sets a scene that is analyzed through characters, irony, and art style. In the cartoon, one of the characters depicted is Barack Obama. Obama was an extremely inclusive icon in the government. Obama advocated for same-sex marriage, recognized the rights of same-sex couples, allowed LGBT members to serve openly …show more content…

While in the restroom, stalls are provided that give the privacy everyone wants and is supposed to be granted, however in the picture someone is invading another person's privacy by looking over the top of the stall and saying “Just makin’ sure you ain’t some kinda pervert” (Moore, 2016, Mar. 24). Stereotypically many people have a fear that the transgender community is just pedophiles or sexual predators that want the advantage of inclusiveness with restrooms to be able to sexually assault a person (Crissman, 2020). While it has been studied that 36% of gender-nonbinary or transgender students that are faced with restricted locker room or bathroom access had reported being sexually assaulted (Transgender teens). In the text, not only are all words capitalized, the words mind and pervert are in bold to draw attention to them. With words like this shows the ridiculousness of the situation and sheds light on the stereotypes that hundreds of transgender people have been faced with. The seriousness of this matter was demonstrated in a cartoonish look in this cartoon with a simplistic design and colorful aspects. With these more exciting features, the serious point of these problems come across with a less depressing and upsetting