Toxic masculinity, mansplaining, and man-spreading are not qualities exclusive to men, despite the gendered implication.
Shelby Lorman risked inviting an onslaught of cyberbullying into her life when she first began posting her satirical cartoons on her @awardsforgoodboys Instagram account. Hundreds of thousands of followers later, aggressive DMs from strangers still land in Lorman’s inbox. Ironically, though, most of the criticism she gets now corroborates the point she’s trying to make in her artwork and commentary, so her content — strips or single-panel scenes with stick figures making grossly exaggerated accusations against or back-handed compliments to others — is constantly self-duplicating.
Now, the accidentally internet-famous humorist will commemorate her rise to social media fame in Awards for Good Boys: Tales of Dating, Double Standards, and Doom, published June 4th by Penguin Books.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlD9c_vHjJu/
Lorman, a graduate from Oberlin College’s Class of 2015, draws somewhat crude illustrations of award medallions for what she refers to as “good boys,” or men she has dated or encountered who have said ridiculously self-righteous things to her that make for uber-relatable memes made to mock millennial romance.
The “good boy” award extends to anyone who’s relatively harmless but still emotionally toxic and is trending on social media, or a fan-submitted real-life encounter. Anyone from world-leaders to accidental participants in viral Facebook videos can get an award, as long as their behavior falls just short of demeaning to people less privileged than they.
In print for the first time, fans and non-fans will be able to engage with good boy cartoons in a freshly authentic setting that makes for good entertainment, conversation, or both.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Be_m9eLHHzm/
If the title of the account sounds polarizing, it’s definitely meant to be. We can all be a little complicit in encouraging a culture where anyone with enough privilege can generally get away with saying just-slightly discriminatory things, and it’s infuriating just how hilarious it looks and sounds on your phone — or on paper.
From Jezebel:
“In candidly retelling her own dating horror stories, Lorman highlights many problematic stereotypically male behaviors, but also explores her own impact on reinforcing the knee-jerk praise Good Boys receive in media and our private lives.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj41QbBHc2_/
Awards for Good Boys: Tales of Dating, Double Standards, and Doom will feature illustrations from Instagram, but also commentary and composition — and probably explanation — from Lorman herself.
(Awards for Good Boys touches on extremely contentious topics in feminism and sexual harassment but it should under no circumstances be mistaken as a definitive guide to tackling the Patriarchy, modern dating, or conflict among friends.)
Featured Image Via NPR.