Usually it’s the reverse, and usually it’s not on purpose.
“Someone Thought An All-Male Panel On ‘Women’s Empowerment’ Was A Good Idea,” a Huffington Post article from 2017 reads.
“College’s ‘Women In Math’ Panel Features Only Male Speakers,” another, from 2018 this time, reads.
But Caitlin Major, a comic artist who lives in Toronto, wanted to shift that stereotype on its head.
The “Men in Comics” panel will be featured at the Toronto Comic and Arts Festival on Saturday, and features a list of ladies to speak about the topic.
“Men have a long history in comics, both as readers and as characters,” the description on the website reads.
“This panel is a chance to talk about the decisions that creators make when writing and drawing male-identified people.”
Major says she’s passionate about the role-reversal – her new comic is called Manfried the Man, and it’s about a cat who has a human for a pet. That’s what gave her the idea for this type of panel.
“You hear all the time about – not just in comics but in other industries and whatnot – it’s like you know women in film like animation or whatever, and it’s like a pile of dudes … or one token woman,” she said.
“I thought it would be a funny joke to have a kind of reverse thing.”
While it may seem like a joke, Major says the panel will be tackling serious topics relevant to women in comics.
“I think I’m mostly going to focus on how men are depicted in comics and how we as women would write or draw men in our comics and what the differences are between the men writing about men or women writing about men,” she said.
The comic book industry has been criticized for its male-dominated sphere, and while Major says she hasn’t personally experienced any gender discrimination, she has friends who have.
The panel isn’t going to focus on discrimination, though, because Major doesn’t want to invoke any rumours and wants to keep it positive. Instead, it’s offering a space for women to talk about drawing and writing.
“I’m definitely a big advocate for women-only spaces,” Major said, explaining it offers them a chance to open up without being “mansplained” too.
She says so far, there’s only been positive reaction to her panel.
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