Week 8: Diversity w/ Gender and Sexuality in Manga

My Solo exchange Diary (Sequel to " My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness"), was much more real than I expected. The piece very much reminded me of several webcomics I like that simply update when the artist experienced something interesting in their life and decided to draw it. It was extremely relatable and interesting and I'd love to read more of it. It did not read as a usual manga at all and I'm very curious how it did financially (as all types of these I've ever seen are free and online). 
   I think this format of manga is the most help full when it comes to representation. Sure, its nice to have a gay character in a fiction series- but seeing this real life scenario play out not only describes a day in the life of a real person who is a member of this minority, but in doing this it educates its readers and makes them feel ok for being themselves. It also makes people feel like they're not alone- and normalizes the minority to those who don't belong to it- humanizes the minority and makes them on the same social "side" as everyone else.
      This is the exact kind of thing we need more of, and is exactly what I would like to read more of- I only hope the public at large feels the same.

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