Women in Questionable Content: size and bodily functions

Faye, in comic 1562, with her hand on her hip and a jaunty expression on her face. She is wearing a pink shirt that says "PRETTY PRETTY PRETTY".

It should be clear, at this point in my review of lady characters in the long-running webcomic Questionable Content (QC) that I am, with some exceptions, a fan of how Jeph Jacques approaches his women characters. Faye, Dora, Hannelore, Tai and Marigold are particularly thought-out and relateable characters depicted with respect, attention, and interest. Jacques' approach to fatness and bodily functions is equally refreshing. While QC's portrayal of different sized bodies is in many ways narrow, it is in other ways full and realistic: these women poop and fart with the best of them, and their level of fatness does not correspond to their level of health or percieved beauty.

Body size and shape is a major focal point in the world of Questionable Content; more specifically, Faye's body is of particular concern to pretty much every character heavily involved in the universe. She is explicitly fat, according to herself and others (though the phrase retains much of its stigma in Jacques' use). She is also the central point of romantic and sexual attraction for most lady-loving characters; Marten, Sven, Dora, Tai, and Angus have all repeatedly expressed admiration of her plump pulchritude, and she too seems to like her body as it is. Both Faye and the other fat character, the recently-introduced Marigold, reflect a realistic level of insecurity about their size, but such comments are usually countered - not with denials that they're fat, but with denials that they are anything less than lovely.

Faye's physical health, while not a locus, is not assumed to be terrible because of her fatness. When thin Penelope tricks her and Dora into going to the gym (a problematic move that I read as a reflection of Penelope's proselytizing qualities than of any messages the comic is trying to send), it's suggested more for her mental health rather than her weight - ableism is no better than sizism, but it is different. At the gym, Faye bests skinny Dora in a run-off, subverting the trope that skinny people are automatically healthier than fat people (though there's some ageism later in the strip). Later, Faye eats ice cream, says she doesn't care about losing weigh, and explicitly praises her own size. Fat is not moralized in QC; it's not ascribed to anything in particular except body shape.

Reinforcing the transgressive aspects of size in QC are constant denials that Faye is actually fat. Because she is seen as attractive and because she is on the smaller end of fat, reviewers frequently dismiss or claim not to see her fatness. Faye does tend to fluctuate in size, as most people do, but that's more a signal of the evolution of Jacques' drawing style than of weight loss. As usual, fat is not seen as a descriptive term but rather a negation of any healthy or negative qualities.

But while I generally take a favorable view of size in QC, it is not without its problems. Fat in the QC universe is definitely on the small end of the spectrum; RJ of Riot Nrrd Comics characterized it in our interview as "like the Dove real beauty stuff, where it's good to be chubby! But only chubby enough." For a comic that is often known for its portrayal of diverse body types, the standards of what constitutes attractive is pretty narrow, and not just on the axis of size; this is, as I've discussed in the past, completely about cis people, and it is, as I plan to discuss soon, almost completely about white people.

Jacques' focus on Faye and Marigold's breasts is also a little disconcerting. The size, quality, and loveliness of their mammaries is constantly remarked-upon. Breasts are a constantly sexualized quality in all women, but particularly in fat women, and Jacques falls into a trope by strongly associating Marigold and Faye's beauty with their breast size.

The depiction of fatness in QC has what I believe to be a net positive impact. But what I really like about Jacques' handling of female bodies is the fullness of their functioning. The women in Questionable Content, without exception, talk without shame and positively about their experiences of pooping and farting and burping and menstruating. From the fourth comic on, women use bodily functions as a source of humor and conversational fodder. Most male authors fetishize women's bodily processes, but Jacques handles it with humor and honesty.

Faye is a central figure (once again) in most discussions of the digestive system. She likes to poop and she likes to talk about it. Her frankness about her functions is both familiar - she talks a lot like me and my friends talk about such matters - and strange - few fictional females talk discuss such things. She is also the emblem for frequent farts and burping as communication. While Faye is the most enthusiastic potty mouth, she is far from the only one - Tai, Dora, and Hannelore have all been involved in toilet related gags.

While pooping is not the only function discussed in QC, it is the most prominent, and that brand o function discussion sometimes excludes processes usually identified with women. Pooping and farting so dominate the body humor that periods rarely get any airtime. Periods, of course, are not uniquely feminine and they are not universal to all women. And it is occasionally mentioned in strip dialogue. But the cis women in QC, so given to discussing the messy workings of their body, would likely discuss menstruation a little more often than they do.

Jacques' depiction of women of size as attractive is neither singular nor revolutionary. And his focus on bodily processes may be a little bit juvenile. But in the media of a kyriarchy, there are still stiflingly few representations of fat women as beautiful, and the inner workings of women's bodies are oppressed. Faye, Marigold, and the other women centralized in QC are full-sized and fully-realized, and while this is far from unique, it's still quite rare, and a treat to watch as they develop.

This is the last post in a series on women in Questionable Content. Part one and two are here. I've also written on disability in QC. I'm planning on writing on race and QC at some point in the near future - though not for a couple weeks at least, these are always surprisingly exhausting. (A special welcome to people from the QC forums! Y'all have been my second-biggest link provider of this month, so thanks!) Check back next weekish for a review of my other favorite webcomic, Achewood.

Women in Questionable Content: sexuality and identity

Dora hugs Tai. From Questionable Content #1596, by Jeph Jacques

Questionable Content, the long-running webcomic by Jeph Jacques, is pretty hetero-centric. It puts consistent emphasis on relationships between cis men and cis women - I would list all of the pairings of this description in the comic if it wouldn't double the length of this piece. But it is not heteronormative; though Jacques' focus is on typical heterosexual romantic drama, he makes an effort not to erase other sexualities. Though it has major flaws, Questionable Content (QC) is generally very considerate of different sexualities and identities in developing its universe.

While the central relationship of Dora and Marten is heterosexual, not all members of said relationship are quite so straight. Dora is openly bisexual - a fact that has long been established in the script. She talks about being attracted to women, including, uh, Marten’s mom, (a sex worker) and her friends (which gets a little creepy sometimes). Her identification is presented completely with stigma or marginalization; her relationship with Marten does not make her bisexuality less real, and her attraction to women does not negate her partnership with Marten. Furthermore, their relationship also brings them in contact with Marten’s dad, who is getting married to a nice younger man. It would have been nice to see Dora actively pursuing or dating women, but that’s partially a comment on the male-centric world of the first 600 strips, before their relationship began.

The other major non-hetero character in QC is Tai, Marten’s lesbian boss who goes to “Smif”. Tai is a petite young woman with a lot of energy. Her characterization as a young lesbian at a cis* women’s college rings true to me: she is having a LOT of fun and going through a LOT of drama. (She’s also the only major character that can be read as non-white, but I'm planning another post on that in the future.) Like Dora, her sexuality is mostly treated in a matter-of-fact, everyday manner. Her love of women is not her only interest: she is also a lover of crappy romances, a deejay, a Harry Potter nerd.

But her interactions with other characters are often very centered around her sexuality - her ongoing flirtation with Dora, her discussion of her polyamory, her bonding sessions with her subordinate employee Marten. Dora's bisexuality is truly a detail that, in proportion to her appearances in the strip, is not mentioned all that often, whereas Tai's presence usually (though not always) comes with an allusion to her sexuality.While this is understandable in a comic about romance, there is an element of tokenization to her character - like she is the character’s out there wacky queer friend. This is particularly underscored by her lack of a last name, something only one other (white, hetero, male) character lacks.

Tai is one of two promiscuous female characters in the main cast, the other being Raven (who is not featured much these days but could always return). In portraying sex work and promiscuity, Jacques takes a no-shame, sex-positive approach to open sexuality - while still depicting internalized and externalized slutphobia.. Though Raven is occasionally slut-shamed by the acerbic Faye, she is generally quite happy and proud of her life; in responding to Faye's guilt over her commitment-free sex with Sven, Raven once quipped, "I just realized fucking is fun and it's stupid to feel bad about it!"

Jacques does not, however, show all sexual relationships to be healthy or good. His portrayal of Tai's polyamory was seen as flippant by some, though Jacques made a strong effort to temper his portrayal and apologize. There’s a strong degree of judgement in his writing of Sven, Dora’s brother and a lady-magnet singer songwriter who has a rather disastrous friends with benefits relationship with Faye. Jacques’ gender switch in moralizing promiscuity is somewhat transgressive: Sven is shown to be hurting himself and others with his libido, whereas Raven and Tai are basically having fun.

Less active sexuality is usually validated as well. Hannelore exists completely outside of the romantic interactions of the rest of the cast. She is sexual to an extent - mentioning attractions to men - but it’s not something she particularly wants to act upon. Marigold is similarly inexperienced, but it’s a comment on her lack of self-esteem rather than her worth. Additionally, validation of her attractiveness and social worth usually comes from her female friends rather than male interests. As I discussed in my analysis of disability in QC, Faye’s reticence to get involved romantically is framed as a valid choice, and one that she is, in her own way, moving out of.

Cis characters completely dominate the QC landscape, but Jacques' mentions of trans people vary from decent to very flawed. In one strip, Marten asks respectful questions about Tai’s gender identity, to ensure that he is not being disrespectful and uses the right pronouns. The strip is careful and considerate without being heavy-handed. It would be nice if Jacques depicted a trans person instead of just having cis characters talk about trans issues. And there is some broken language, though this strip was written when "MTF and FTM" were still considered politically correct terms. But there is not much cissexist about this particular strip, which is pretty rare for media about trans identities written by a cis person.

Ryan, a trans man and longtime QC reader who lives in the area fictionalized in QC, said that strip was true to his experiences: “A lot of people who met me right when I had started T used female pronouns and I was too shy/polite to correct them, but immediately switched when my voice started cracking because they picked up on [my transition.] At work, everyone who can see my schedule knows that I am trans, but not one person has ever said anything disrespectful to me. I am respected more in the back room of a grocery store versus [a civil rights organization] in Virginia.”

But some other mentions of trans folks have been less respectful; in other strips, trans identities are reduced to punchlines. In one strip directly after Faye begins seeing Sven after a long period of sexual inactivity, Dora comments: “Two weeks later, Faye’s fucked all the straight men in town and has moved on to the transsexuals.” This construction excludes heterosexual trans male identities - in Dora's framing, there are straight men and then there are trans men, who cannot be heterosexual. Ryan took a kinder view of this, saying that the comic had "context specific humor...the idea of Faye sleeping with a trans man in Northampton is not that far fetched at all and probably very likely if she started sleeping with a lot of men.".

But the reader can't really tell if it's intended to refer to trans men, because trans people here are robbed of their sex. They are not trans men or trans women or non-binary people - they are "transsexuals", and as far as Dora's concerned, that's all they are. Transsexual, an adjective, has been turned into a noun that completely erases their gender and personhood.

This is not the only instance in which Dora marginalizes trans identities - though she's well-meaning, cissexism seems to be a realistic part of her characterization. In one strip, she demonstrates jealousy by worriying that Marten wants "a girl with a penis". While I think there are some not-awful aspects of this ("girl" and "penis" are not framed as mutually exclusive) this is not a positive depiction. It's still exoticising and othering trans identities. Marten's flippant "with the right hormones..." joke is also not the worst joke that's ever been made about trans people, but it conflates trans masculine and trans feminine identities, and thus undermines them.

Questionable Content is a very well-meaning comic - it is clear that Jeph Jacques does not actively want to hurt, exclude or marginalize people in his depiction of sexuality and gender. In contrast with other big comics such as Achewood or Penny Arcade, Jacques gives a shit about not hurting people. And though his portrayal of diverse sexualities is pretty successful, his depiction of trans identities is mixed - he is sometimes considerate and sometimes harmful.

Related reading:

Women in Questionable Content: Women-run businesses and Bechdel-passing friendships
Disability and Comics: How Questionable Content's Faye and Hannelore normalize disability
Interview with RJ of Riot Nrrd Comics, in which QC and Jacques are discussed
Comics and disability: XKCD and dyslexia, Natalie Dee and Tourette's syndrome

Check in later this week for yet another post on women in Questionable Content. The next post will focus on body and bodily functions.

Women in Questionable Content: Women-run businesses and Bechdel-passing friendships

Image: Characters from the webcomic Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques. Clockwise from top left: Hannelore, Dora, Marigold, Faye, Tai, Cosette

Check out other entries in my review of Questionable Content: Women in Questionable Content: sexuality and identity; Disability and Comics: How Questionable Content's Faye and Hannelore normalize disability

Questionable Content is rare for a work about women written by a man. Whereas many women in works by men centralize their hetero sexuality, their male bosses, or their something something to dudes, Questionable Content (QC) writer Jeph Jacques focuses on women-only spaces, women-run business and complex friendships between women, and his strips regularly pass the Bechdel test. Though QC’s protagonist is male, the women are fueling the plots and relationships that make up the strip to strip action of the comic.

The action in QC centers around a small business owned and operated entirely by women. The Coffee of Doom is owned by Dora Bianchi and is entirely staffed by the other female characters: Faye Whitaker, Penelope Gaines, Raven Pritchard, and more recently Claudette and Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham. These women are shown to be competent and effective at their job, though they do slack off. It’s not a challenging position, and it does reinforce the idea that women belong in the service industry, but it’s a convenient setting that is realistic for a group of 20somethings.

In an inversion of patriarchal valuation of personality characteristics, the signature attraction of the shop is its employee’s snark. The Coffee of Doom (hereafter CoD) baristas are known and publicized for their witty, haughty putdowns. Whereas women (particularly in service positions) are typically expected to be pleasant and rewarded for docile compliance, the professional requirements for the women in the central setting of QC are quite the opposite.

Women are not only put in authority positions at the CoD, but also at the male protagonist Marten’s place of employment. Tai is a small, lesbian, “Smif” student who hires Marten for recognizing iambic pentameter. Tai is a fun character with whom Marten discusses a lot of tricky subjects, usually fairly respectfully. They discuss gender fluidity and trans men with a fair amount of respect, though the comic has othered and marginalized trans women on a few occasions. And speaking of marginalizing trans women...

Though I didn’t go to Smith, I did attend an all-cis-woman institution, and I really like Jacques’ portrayal of all-women “Smif”. Tai, Cosette, and Lydia are the main representatives of the Smith corollary in QC’s Northampton. There’s a lot of parties, a lot of gals loving on gals, a lot of smart women. The stuffy trustees who pretend not to know what’s going on also ring true. The women at Smith are cis, class, and for the most part race privileged women having fun and occasionally studying - pretty close to what I remember.

Beyond these two strongly women-identified and operated examples of effective business, female characters in QC are shown to have a wide variety of skills and talents. Faye is a talented sculptor whose major patron and advocate is Dora. Hannelore has turned her disability into employment through a one-woman counting business. Marigold is self-employed, though we’re not yet sure how.

Older women in the QC universe are also places in positions of respect and authority - even in marginalized industries. Marten’s mother is a famous fetish model and pornographer. Her accomplishments are presented with minimal stigmatization - there is no slut-shaming or pearl-clutching when her occupation is revealed. Furthermore, she is regarded with respect and admiration by Marten’s friends and girlfriend. And in another area of the sex industry, Dora and Faye have a lovely experience at a woman-run sex shop. Hannelore’s mother, a wheeling and dealing business mogul, is the closest thing to a villain in the QC universe, an intimidating figure who demands respect.

Beyond business acumen, female intelligence is always respected, sometimes in surprising and transgressive ways. Penelope is proudly literate and intelligent, but her predecessor at CoD, Raven, was a stereotypical ditz - coming up with silly answers to simple questions, with a malapropism for everything. But her exit was evidence of her intelligence - she went to study advanced physics - and in retrospect stupidity looks more like effervescence.

Female friendships are also highly valued in the QC universe. They are usually not centered around men, but around work, interests, or each other. Marigold and Hannelore’s social anxiety made up major arcs around strips #500 and #1400. Both women strike out partially of their own volition, and both were encouraged by other women to value themselves. Hannelore particularly helped model healthy social behavior for Marigold, though there was a side of judgement for her sanitary habits.

However, Dora’s comments are sometimes disturbing to me. She frequently teased Faye for her weight, and seems to occasionally sexually harass Faye - commenting on her ass and boobs, occasionally groping her. It’s playful, to an extent, but given her thin privilege and status as her boss, her comments have a slightly sinister edge.

Jacques’ Questionable Content universe is populated with independent, interesting women; women who work for and employ other women, women with talent and intelligence. Though his writing of these character is not particularly diverse - all of these women are white, cis, and middle class - it’s productive, and contributes a cartoon vision of women not usually found in the male-dominated world of webcomics.

Check out the second installment of Women in Questionable Content, focusing on sexuality and gender identity:

Women in Questionable Content: sexuality and identity

And some related reading:

Disability and Comics: How Questionable Content's Faye and Hannelore normalize disability
Comics and disability: XKCD and dyslexia, Natalie Dee and Tourette's syndrome

Disability and Comics: How Questionable Content's Faye and Hannelore normalize disability

Check out other entries in my review of Questionable Content: Women in Questionable Content: sexuality and identity; Women in Questionable Content: Women-run businesses and Bechdel-passing friendships

Spoiler alert, and trigger warning for discussion of trauma and OCD.

Questionable Content is a necessary part of my morning routine. It’s a long-running comic that I’ve taken in with my morning coffee on a daily basis for almost four years now. One of the strongest points of the ongoing, 1600+ installment 7+ year story is author and artist Jeph Jacques’ consistently thoughtful, moving, multifaceted portrayal of people with disabilities. Hannelore’s obsessive-compulsive disorder and Faye’s response to trauma are shown with sensitivity and nuance. It is not a coincidence that these two characters are fan favorites; their disabilities are realistic, present challenges, and act as a single facet of their whole character.

While Marten Reed is the protagonist of QC, assertive, full-figured Faye is probably a better-known and more crucial character to the script. Faye’s depression and treatment (professional or otherwise) are as frequent a part of the story’s twists and turns, and her character as her snark to customers and romantic entanglements. Faye’s depression stems from some really horrible teenage trauma (her father killed herself in front of her) which is developed in one of the comic’s most emotionally charged arcs.

Faye’s trauma has caused her real and ongoing mental pain and trust issues that are validated as real and worthy of attention, care, and consideration. Her need to take time off for treatment is necessary, not some kind of special consideration. She seeks treatment without shame, and she and her friends discuss and make considerations for her needs in a normalized, matter-of-fact way.

She is not the model of self-care at all times: she struggles with alcoholism, though her choices regarding what and how often she drinks are up to her and usually not a matter on which she is judged (except by the other PWD in the cast, Hannelore).

However, Faye was and always has been more than her mental disability: she was the strip’s main female character for three years before her disability was introduced. Her depression influences and emphasizes her snarky, assertive, prickly nature without defining it; it’s a part of her life without being all of it.

Another character that’s become the face, so to speak, of QC, is Hannelore Ellicot-Chatham. Hanners (as she’s called by other characters) is funny, well-developed, and encouraging. She has OCD, and it’s a big part of her life, but it does not stop her from being happy or doing what she wants to do: baking, drumming. Her disability is evident without being tragic or marginalizing. She is a chipper and determined woman with lots of energy; she is a loyal friend (the most highly valued characteristic in the QC universe). She is neither a stereotype nor an inspiration but a woman with disabilities.

Hannelore’s OCD is a visible characteristic from soon after her introduction. Her focus on cleanliness is a little clichéd, but the portrayal is much deeper than “HAY GERMS". She exhibits symptoms of social anxiety and not just obsessive behavior but also intrusive thoughts. Hannelore makes reference to unwanted violent thoughts towards herself and her friends on more than one occasion. But it’s accurately framed as a non-threat, and turned into a joke of which Hannelore is the butt: in one instance, Hannelore makes reference to an intrusive thought in which she pushes her friends into ongoing traffic. While Dora reacts poorly, Marten takes it and runs with it, coming up with funny ways to attack and counter-attack using the context of the Coffee of Doom. She’s a little creepy. But the creepiness is not framed as dangerous or necessarily negative; it’s simply a feature of her personality.

Her OCD is sometimes disabling. There are times when she is unable to function, when she is severely disturbed by a friend’s hygiene or when she looks up the wrong thing on Wikipedia. But it’s also something that she’s shown challenging, fighting, and treating. She offhandedly mentions taking an anxiety reliever after she helps a sick friend. She actively challenges and contradicts her disability by confronting and participating in situations involving potential germs and infection.

Without getting into any superpower crap, Hannelore’s OCD is often positioned as an asset. Her lucrative, fulfilling job involves counting. She learns drums very quickly, describing it as “counting using [her] whole body". Her attention to cleanliness is something she enjoys rather than suffers. It’s also an asset on the social level most crucial to QC. Her cleaning leads to a great friendship with the less-than-clean Marigold, and she helps Faye by referring her to Dr. Corrine.

One commonality between these two characters that I’m slightly troubled by is their shared inability to get romantically involved. Hannelore is not asexual, but she has no desire to get involved in a physical relationship – a bit of a cliché for an OCD character. As mentioned above, Faye’s depression was revealed and given as a reason for her to not date Marten, and she subsequently avoided both Sven and Angus because of it. This is a little troubling because the idea that women with mental disabilities are not suited to relationships is a common and harmful one.

Though this is slightly problematic, it is not monolithic and is, in some ways, constructive. Romantic challenges or lack thereof are a very common theme in QC, mostly recently with the frustrated Marigold. Hannelore’s lack of romantic interest doesn’t define her as an essentially lacking person; she’s just not into lovin’ right now. Avoiding emotional entanglement is framed as self-care for Faye and potential partners; her romantic activity is characterized, basically, by a desire to be as honest and open with her partners as possible: about her feelings from them, her boundaries, and her interests. She is not someone who plays games: she stated right off the batthat she didn't want anything romantic from Marten, and reiterated it, honestly, as a sign of respect and love, when she realized he was in love with her so that he could move on (to one of her best friends, a development she reacted to honestly and maturely). She’s been honest with Angus about her issues and her interest in him. Her upfront, no-bullshit attitude is in many ways a powerful rebuttal to the very commonly enforced assumption that women with mental disabilities are inherently manipulative, inconsiderate, and self-centered in relationships.

Both Faye and Hannelore exhibit some internalized ableism. Hannelore at one point expresses a wish to be “normal", while I find this depiction of a charcter who is by all accounts quite charming and lovely to be problematic, it’s also realistic – people with mental disabilities do have these feelings. But she does this while wearing a shirt saying “I’m OCDelightful!" (a shirt I wish Jacques would make, come on man!) which makes the depiction a little more complex.

My major issue with Questionable Content’s depiction of PWD – and it is a major issue – is the complete lack of folks with physical or evident disabilities. No one uses any kind of mobility aid or has any kind of accessibility issues. This is erasure of a sort, and I’d like to see Jacques expand his portrayal of PWD to those with immediately obvious disabilities.

It would also be nice to see characters in the comic not use ableist language like lame and crazy. I don’t really expect this - it’s about twentysomethings, and that’s how they talk. Still, though, it’d be nice. It would also be nice if Jacques made the site more accessible by linking to transcripts of the comics on Oh No Robot, as he used to. And there are other issues, here and there, and I am sure that other folks will have different and equally valid readings of Jacques’ work. But, speaking as a reader with mental disabilities, the positive and complex framing of disabilities overrides these small objections.

Problems asides, Questionable Content is an excellent example of how writers with disabilities create meaningful and resonant characters with disabilities. Jacques has said in the past of Hannelore:

Hannelore, man, I don't know what the deal with her is. Well, I guess I do, it's just very wordy and complicated. For one thing, she's extremely fun to write. I can get away with just being incredibly cruel to her, but she's got this inner core of hope and resiliency that allows her to bounce back into shape -- she's the Wile E. Coyote of emotional trauma, I guess. I've got obsessive-compulsive disorder myself (nowhere near as bad as her, but enough that it is sometimes a problem) and so I can use some of my own tics and experiences to flesh out her problems.

Hannelore and Faye’s openness about their disability show a lack of shame and normalization that is rarely seen in the portrayal of folks with OCD and depression. Usually, we are just others, just weirdos, just crazy. The acceptance of Hannelore’s aneurotypicality and Faye’s response to trauma contribute to an environment in which disability is not othered, but just another variance in the makeup of personality.

*Note on language: While Hannelore explicitly has OCD, I don’t know if Faye actively identifies herself as a PWMD. But she’s a fictional character, and that is how I, a PWMD, sees her, and I think it’s a valid interpretation. If Jacques does not identify as such, I will change the description of him.

Further reading:
Comics and disability: XKCD and dyslexia, Natalie Dee and Tourette's syndrome
My OCD experiences