Blog / 2025 / Protector(ess)
March 17, 2025
This video is inspired by Kat Gupta’s essay “The Me I Am When I Am Not Me” in the book Non-Binary Lives. In it, the author writes:
“What does it mean to ‘pass’? To ‘pass’ places the burden of intelligibility on the person who seeks to ‘pass’: if we are not interpreted correctly, it is because we have failed to make our meaning clear. I reject that. I reject that there is one meaning that we can make of our bodies. I reject that we have such a degree of control over the ways in which people interpret us. I reject the implication that the failure to be read—failure to be seen—is our fault. Instead, all we can offer is ourselves. We can guide an interpretation but we cannot control it. My other selves—the selves that people see in me but who I am not—say this with one voice.”
For more about how nonhuman animals don’t fit neatly into traditional ideas about gender, check out my queer science picture book Crime Against Nature, which you can download for free.
The original Protector(ess) artwork is available for $3600, plus shipping (and tax if you live in New Jersey)—contact me to purchase. You can buy prints and pretty things of the image here in my print shop.
Protector(ess)
2025
acrylic on canvas
36 x 36 inches
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
You see a lion with a mane, and one of your first thoughts is: that cat must have a penis. I mean, you might not think it in precisely those words, but the association between mane and male is strong.
In many human cultures, the link between body hair and male is strong. Same for bald heads, big or tall bodies, and clothing that’s not skin tight or colorful. There are just certain things that read as male to a lot of humans.
But none of it is entirely fixed. It’s all debatable. Even the manes.
What I mean is that some lionesses have manes. We can’t know how these animals think of themselves, but what we can say for sure is that they have both manes and ovaries. They roar and mount other females while also mating with males. We’ve only fully confirmed the existence of maned lionesses recently, but they’ve probably always been there, hidden by scientists’ assumptions that a mane means there must be a penis too. This is true in a lot of animal species. Scientists’ devotion to the idea of an unambiguous gender binary can make it hard for them to see what’s right in front of them.
And it can make it hard for all of us to see the maned lioness as the lion she is.
Which is to say that our language is full of the binary. Lion versus lioness: they’re both big wild cats but we add an E-S-S to one to distinguish between the two. Man versus woman: they’re both human but we add a W-O to one to distinguish between the two. What if our default was to call a person a person and only make further commentary about their gender once we understand their experiences?
My whole life, I’ve been told I don’t perform my gender correctly. When I went by “she” exclusively and referred to myself as a woman, I was told all the time that I wasn’t femme enough. Why didn’t I shave my legs or my arm pits? Where was my makeup? Why didn’t I take up less space? And couldn’t I walk in a more feminine manner?
Now that I use “they” as well as “she” people wonder why I don’t look more like a “they.” Why don’t I wear androgynous clothing all the time? Shouldn’t I at least keep my hair short?
The simple answer: because, with or without manes, lionesses are always lions and, more importantly, lions are lionesses.
Art is the love of other humans made tangible across space and time. When a person can’t get a hug from a friend, art is there to make them feel seen and understood. Please share my work with your favorite people!
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