Sophie Labelle is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

cartoonist, public speaker, and writer. She is known for her

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

Assigned Male ''Assigned Male'' is a webcomic illustrated and written by Sophie Labelle. It draws upon her experiences as a trans girl and woman. The comic, and series of zines, address issues of gender norms and privilege. It began in October 2014 and is on ...

'', which draws upon her experiences as a trans girl and woman. She is an activist in the

transgender rights movement The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health ...

, and speaks on the subjects of trans history and

transfeminism Transfeminism, also written trans feminism, has been defined by scholar and activist Emi Koyama as "a movement by and for trans women who view their liberation to be intrinsically linked to the liberation of all women and beyond." Koyama not ...

Early life

Labelle grew up in rural

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, near

Châteauguay Châteauguay ( , , ) is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, located both on the Chateauguay River and Lac St-Louis, which is a section of the St. Lawrence River. The population of the city of Châteauguay at the 2021 Cens ...

. She worked as an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

teacher, and was the camp coordinator for Gender Creative Kids Canada.

Career

Labelle is the author and illustrator of ''

'', a webcomic and series of

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

s addressing issues of

gender norms A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cente ...

and privilege. It features the character of 11-year-old Stephie, a trans girl discovering and embracing her gender. Labelle said that while working with transgender children, she "noticed how negative everything we tell them about their own body is, so I wanted to create a character that could respond to all those horrible things trans kids hear all the time." She has made educational guides to go along with the comics, promoting safer spaces for trans youth. The ''

Washington Blade The ''Washington Blade'' is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newspaper in the Washington metropolitan area. The ''Blade'' is the oldest LGBT newspaper in the United States and third largest by circulation, behind the ''Philadelphi ...

'' called the webcomic "hilarious" and said it shows transgender humour can be funny without being offensive. Labelle has written several books and zines about

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...

and expression, including ''The Genderific Coloring Book'', ''A Girl Like Any Other'', ''Ciel at Camp Fabulous'', and ''Gender Euphoria''. The English translation of the second volume of the Ciel series, ''Ciel in All Directions'' (2020,

Second Story Press Second Story Press is a book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its titles include the international bestseller ''Hana's Suitcase'', about Hana Brady, which has been published in over forty countries around the world. The com ...

) was named as a 2022 Bank Street Children's Book Committee's Best Books of the Year. She wrote the foreword to Tikva Wolf's book ''Ask me about Polyamory: The Best of Kimchi Cuddles''. She has created trans-centered

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

materials for

Trans Student Educational Resources Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER) is a United States-based organization that seeks to educate the transgender youth. It was founded in 2011 by teen activists. It is the only national organization led by transgender youth. TSER provides ...

. In May 2017 Labelle released the comic book ''Dating Tips for Trans and Queer Weirdos''. A scheduled launch at the bookstore Venus Envy in Halifax was cancelled after threats were made against both her and the store. She received death threats, her home address was posted in online forums, and her web site and social media accounts were compromised (which she temporarily took offline). In the wake of the harassment, Labelle advocated for Canadian

Bill C-16 ''An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code'' (french: Loi modifiant la Loi canadienne sur les droits de la personne et le Code criminel) is a law passed by the Parliament of Canada. The law adds gender expression and ...

to protect gender identity and expression, and for stronger laws against

cyberbullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital ...

Works

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Labelle, Sophie 1988 births Artists from Quebec Canadian cartoonists Canadian women cartoonists Canadian feminists Canadian webcomic creators Canadian female comics artists Female comics writers LGBT comics creators Canadian LGBT rights activists Living people People from Châteauguay Transfeminists Transgender rights activists Transgender artists Transgender women Canadian transgender writers Writers from Quebec Canadian comics writers 21st-century Canadian women writers