I've been interested in Chelsea Cain and her work ever since the misogynists at Marvel Corp fired her for Mockingbird's "Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda" t-shirt. I followed that controversy, and the following controversy over Man-Eaters with both sympathy and critique. When I saw a lonely copy of Man-Eaters at my local library, I knew it was time to dive in.

Man-Eaters is an alternate world where a formerly harmless virus found in cat poo has transformed. When people with a uterus are infected with this virus, they turn into feral, murder-happy panthers during their period. The time of blood-letting has turned into a time for blood sport. The world goes a little crazy about it. The United States government launches a massive campaign to stop periods, including spiking water supplies with suppressants, organizing teams of "S.C.A.T." police officers to capture/detain the panthers, and disturbing a metric ton of propaganda. Young girls, boys, and those who are neither are swept up in this toxic gender paranoia...and a few of them are starting to fight back.

This CBR article provides a good summary of the public critique of Man-Eaters. Cain forgot about trans and nonbinary people, and the comic's narrative centers around the cisgender woman experience. Man-Eaters is a satire reminiscent of those found in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, where trans issues were a Rocky Horror Picture Show-shaped blip on the mainstream feminist scene. That, and Cain's response was not the most mature: she inserted her detractors' tweets into following comic issues, without permission. Cain's oversight and response are very unfortunate, because the art and writing of Man-Eaters is otherwise very good.

The puns, the meta-articles, the art, the plot: they all hit the nail on the head with patriarchy's obsession and demonization of female-identified bodies. All bodies grow hair during puberty, but only feminine bodies are told that hair is unclean and they need to shave it off. That's a real world thing. The universe of Man-Eaters plays this patriarchal reality further. Corporations pop up to help people combat the threat of their daughters. Water "for boys" is advertised as "estrogen-free" because even its normal hormonal presence must be evil!!! Safe, gender-exclusive spaces are implemented in public schools in the name of protecting boys from predatory girls. The boy ones are large, comfortable, and filled with exclusive "boy" activities such as video games, comics, and action movies. Safe-spaces for girls are small, bare after-thoughts, and they only have books and crafting materials. Puberty textbooks are quick to assure people with a penis that their puberty process is natural and great. The other type of puberty is dangerous, gross, and all their fault.

There is a lot of solid, good feminist points in this comic. Like all of us, Cain is still learning and expanding her feminism. I hope her future works are more trans-inclusive and intersectional.