Her characters are called Stéphie, Ciel, Eiríkur and Raquel. Their stories speak of transidentity, non-binarity, sexual orientation, first names and chosen pronouns. Their exchanges are, despite a candor inherent in youth, tinged with an understanding of the world much more advanced than the average. With the comic book Assigned Male, born on the Web in 2014 and recently available in bookstores, Sophie Labelle transforms the lives of many people and becomes, despite herself, the target of countless haters.
If the paper version of her work allows her to reach a new audience, it also prepares her exit from the dark meanders of the Web. “With the haters, the pressure to create online is enormous,” explains the cartoonist in an interview. “I don't want anyone to live with this for the rest of their life. My goal is to retire from the internet one day. For that, my work must be accessible outside of social networks. »
Let those who imagine a few rare insults from strangers (by diminishing their impact on the mental health of the designer) be wrong, the hatred of which Sophie Labelle is the victim is as diverse as it is vicious. “I get death threats almost every day from people with real social media profiles. The police don't want to do anything, because it's happening online and it's not local. She is also the victim of a smear campaign by members of right-wing forums, some of whom openly display their affiliation with neo-Nazism. "They tell me I should just do comics like another trans artist who doesn't make waves and who sucks the boots of transphobes..."
in 2017, her home address was even publicly released, which prompted her to move to ensure her protection. “It didn’t take long before they found me. I only had a few thousand followers interested in my comic when whole groups of haters ganged up on me to attack the Facebook page and insult everyone in the comments. I try to see it as proof that I have to continue. »
Beauty outweighs ugliness
However, she sometimes wonders if it is worth continuing her work under these conditions. “Fortunately, the positive reactions are much more numerous. Every week, people come to me telling me that they have transitioned after reading my comic or that it has opened their eyes to their own experiences. I also receive a lot of messages from parents telling me that comics have had a positive impact on their trans child and from young people who write to me that comics allow them to get through more difficult days. It touches me particularly and it gives me the courage to continue despite everything. »
by reading the foreword to Assigned Male, we learn that Sophie Labelle has often abandoned creative projects along the way. But not this one. “The fact that I have an enthusiastic audience gives me a lot of confidence and ideas. » if the comic strip was originally a way for the young activist to no longer have to repeat the same things over and over again about basic LGBTQ+ issues, she gradually transitioned into a way of empowering people . “I realized that LGBTQ+ people are particularly interested in my work. I wondered why and I realized how much they lacked positive representation that allows a form of empowerment [self-determination, editor's note]. It became my goal to show a diverse palette of relatable LGBTQ+ characters. »
Despite the didactic tone of several dialogues and the passages having the power to decompartmentalize minds or to inform, Sophie Labelle affirms that she does not seek to educate. “I often write without thinking about the impact of comics. I only have things to say. if people feel educated reading this, that's kind of out of my control. »
Comics have always been, first and foremost, her refuge. "It was for a long time my main medium for expressing myself, I who didn't speak much at school. Having this space in which I could let myself go always gave me a lot of joy. there are no limits in comics. Even the most intimate content, I don't have to show it to the public. Of course, I like to share my works publicly, but I know that there will always be a space in which I will be able to express myself. »
SAMUEL LAROChELLE
samuel_larochelle@hotmail.com
INFOS | assiGnÉe GarÇon : aMBianCe Trans De FeU, soPHie LaBeLLe / DenT-De-Lion 2022
WWW.assiGneeGarCon.CoM
