Guest post by "Being Useful" If I had to wager, I'd guess the number of agoraphobics outpaces the number of trans* by a wide margin... a ratio of 6:1, if I've got my statistics right.
Additionally, Maxy does get the furry thing, yes, but also the understanding thing.
Few people can understand or identify with gender dysphoria. Pretty much everyone can understand and identify with fear and negative thoughts.
A quick comparison:
Number of people who're going to reblog or share "everyone hates me" strip here on facebook or tumblr includes armies of people with depression and loneliness, as they can understand and relate, or have friends that this reminds them of.
Number of people who're going to reblog or share the latest princess strip, where Sarah finds a new crown? Pretty much no one. It's a girl spotting a tiara. Big deal.
Sarah doesn't have a lot of internal strife going on. She's mainly a victim of awkward circumstances. She doesn't really "change", she's just subjected to external issues, some good, some bad. If you take out the backstory, she's basically an Archie comic. There's no real struggle. No conflict, nobody to root for.
Maxy, on the other hand, is pure internal strife wrapped in a cute, relatable package. In today's episode, chilling at her window is a real struggle. We have conflict, we have a team to root for, and an enemy common to all living people--self doubt.
If you wanted to show children one strip to read, end to end, to help them think better about the world, which would you show them?
