39 pages • 1 hour read
Maia KobabeGender Queer: A Memoir
Nonfiction | Graphic Memoir | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key Figures
Maia Kobabe
Maia Kobabe is the author, illustrator, and protagonist of Gender Queer. E is an academically and professionally trained cartoonist with an MFA from the California College of the Arts. Since entering eir undergraduate education in comics, Kobabe struggled with writing personal comics and revealing information about emself. Kobabe is asexual and nonbinary. These identities posed many problems for em growing up with no representation to help em understand emself.
Many of the vignettes from Kobabe’s life center on issues caused by this lack of information growing up. This ranges from sexual education centered on cisgender, heterosexual, and allosexual sex to a gender binary that only allows for people to be the gender assigned to them at birth. Kobabe often feels ashamed or frustrated by eir inability to grasp what seems normal and natural to others. Kobabe’s purpose behind writing Gender Queer is to share experiences that are often kept in the dark. This is why e promises to come out to eir students in the final pages of the memoir.
Phoebe Kobabe
Phoebe is Maia’s younger sister by two years. Phoebe is also queer and a visual artist. She and Kobabe are incredibly close, and the two share many experiences growing up including shopping for bras and discussing their sexual identities as teenagers. Phoebe quickly accepts Kobabe for who e is. As early as the tenth grade, Phoebe identifies Kobabe as a “genderless person”; Kobabe sees this as eir sister knowing about eir identity before e did.
Phoebe is instrumental in Kobabe becoming comfortable with eir own identities. She introduces em to buying clothing that affirms eir gender identity instead of buying the clothing expected of em like feminine and lacy underwear. She also starts dating Amila Cooray, introducing a transgender man into Kobabe's life. Phoebe is a reassuring and solid presence in Maia’s life due to their closeness, shared LGBTQ+ identities, and Phoebe’s ability to connect Maia to the wider LGBTQ+ community.
Amila Cooray
Amila Cooray is Phoebe’s boyfriend and a transgender man. Amila is one of the first openly transgender people Kobabe meets and is the only one in Kobabe’s immediate family setting. Kobabe is amazed when e learns that Amila’s periods stopped due to taking testosterone. He and Kobabe also discuss eir identity, helping em clarify that e is nonbinary and not a trans man. Amila’s presence is positive and affirming when Kobabe spends much of the memoir’s latter half worrying about how others will treat eir identity.
Amila and Phoebe give Kobabe two binders as Christmas presents, supporting em emotionally and physically by both respecting eir identity and buying em gender-affirming clothing. Amila, who is portrayed as unashamed of his identity, shows the audience the kind of self-confident person Kobabe wishes to be at the end of the memoir.
Mom and Dad
Kobabe’s mom and dad are highly educated and raise Phoebe and Maia in a nontraditional environment. Phoebe and Maia grow up in a house with no electricity or flushing toilets. Kobabe’s mom has a degree in botany and likes athletics. Eir dad has a degree in physics and makes jewelry and music. Both are vegetarian, and neither enforces gender roles on Phoebe or Maia as children.
Kobabe’s mom and dad accept eir sexuality when e comes out as bisexual, but they have difficulty accepting eir gender identity and asexuality. Eir mom is distressed by imagining Maia never having children. Both slip up with eir pronouns, and eir mom expresses frustration over using them. Kobabe ultimately has an excellent relationship with eir parents, and they are accepting. Kobabe’s evolving relationship with eir parents and their determination to accept and understand Kobabe’s identity mirrors Kobabe’s struggle to accept emself. This highlights the importance of growing together as a family, and Kobabe’s mom’s growth is shown when she takes care of Kobabe after eir traumatic pap smear.
