The Four Color Media Monitor

Focus Taiwan interviewed a comics writer who's penned "The Story of Sex", a comic that look at the history of sex and argues why it shouldn't be taboo for discussion:

"The more we understand sex, the less taboo it is," said Laetitia Coryn, the illustrator behind the bestseller "The Story of Sex," a comic book that explores sexuality from a historical perspective.

Delving into something often avoided by society, the first volume of "The Story of Sex" became an instant hit after its publication in France in 2016, and has been translated into at least 14 languages, including Chinese.

Readers can find out what their ancestors thought of sex and the impact laws and superstitions have had on shaping sexuality, all along with humorous illustrations.

A sequel focusing on sex perception in Asian and African societies followed in 2020 and the Chinese-language version was published in Taiwan on Feb. 15, just in time for this year's Taipei International Book Exhibition.

[...] Speaking about working on a subject that is still taboo in most circumstances, the comic artist said she found it challenging to depict sexuality in an inoffensive way, despite society becoming more and more accepting.

"I didn't want to be vulgar, [or be] rude in my illustrations, because it would be easy to be rude for this kind of topic," Coryn told CNA in an interview, adding that she tried to be "funny and classy" while creating her illustrations to go with the text.

Her efforts to be funny appeared to be successful as she has only had positive feedback since the first volume of "The Story of Sex" was published eight years ago.

Although the history of sex is a focus of the books and the text is accompanied by Coryn's witty illustrations, they also contain a deeper message.

"Sex is a normal thing and you shouldn't be afraid to talk about it. It shouldn't be taboo," Coryn said regarding her hopes for what readers will take away from the books.

She argued that it is the lack of discussion and conversation that reinforces gender stereotypes and results in people having a limited understanding of sexuality.

Without a doubt, this is an important subject. But, based on what's to follow, I've got a bad feeling we have here another wokester at work, diminishing the seriousness of the message:

"I think patriarchy is connected to sexuality a lot [and] that's what we're describing in Sex Story. Actually, we say the base of sexuality in Western and sometimes Eastern [societies] is patriarchy, and this has to change," Coryn said.

She added that there is still a lot to work on as far as women's rights are concerned, that people should not take what has already been achieved for granted, and that "in this fight, we have to talk about sex, we have to open minds to this."

It is also important for people of different genders to feel free to express themselves, Coryn said.

[...] Coryn shared a recent exchange she had with her 6-year-old son during which he described seeing a man wearing nail polish as "scary" because "it's for women."

"No, it's not just for women. It's for men too and [you can wear it] if you want," Coryn replied.

Her son then said "But [the man] looks like a woman," and Coryn asked him what the matter with that was.

"He couldn't tell me [what the problem is] so there was no problem," Coryn said.

Something tells me maybe he could, and she's not being very honest about it. Rather, she's being a bleeding-heart liberal who believes LGBT ideology is perfectly acceptable, despite the severe damage it's caused, right down to the cross-dressing mentality that's demeaning to women. "Different genders", rather than "both" is also telling, as is the talk of "patriarchy". I simply don't buy the notion "matriarchy" hasn't enough connections with the issues of sex. And then Mrs. Coryn says she tried not to be vulgar in her output? Sorry, but her lenient view on LGBT ideology undermines what she's saying, and her stand is certainly embarrassing. What self-respecting women would lecture and indoctrinate her son that way? How is that "normal"?

It's also to be wondered if she recognizes that Islam is a serious issue when it comes to women's rights, even in France itself, as has been the case for a long time now. In any event, it's regrettable Mrs. Coryn is acting like there isn't an unhealthy, abnormal side to sex and sexuality, and today it's been eating away at only so many sane societies where it's being pushed down the public's throats. So how can we expect this alleged history of sex in a comic to provide any objective viewpoint, if Coryn won't make any distinctions between what's in good or bad taste? Sounds like another chance to offer up a bold subject in illustrations has been soured by wokeism.

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