By Landon Funky
Funky Feminist
September 8th
You
know what sucks? Unequal representation in the media. I know I don’t
have to tell you all that. We have published piece after piece drawing
attention to this issue, and we shouldn’t have to. Time and time again I
hear the same thing: if you don’t like it, fix it. And so, we do.
But
fixing what is wrong and unequal is a challenge, an uphill battle. In
order to get equal representation, we have to assert ourselves into the
conversation and make sure to be heard by those in positions of power.
More importantly, we need to be heard by our youth. If you want to
change the world, you have to create a different world view and present
that view to the children in our lives – which is exactly what Jacinta
Bunnell is doing with her coloring books.
Bunnell’s coloring books tell a story. In the one I am currently working on, Sometimes the Spoon Runs Away with Another Spoon,
she creatively retells popular fairy tales that break free from the
usual heteronormative, cisgender tropes with which we grew up. The
prince searches for Cinderella, not to find his princess, but to ask her
where he could find a pair of glass slippers for himself. A little girl
rides on the back of a tyrannosaurus rex in a sheriff’s uniform, and a
little box finds an his treasure, an Easy-Bake Oven, in the trash.
Her other coloring books are Girls Are Not Chicks, Girls Will Be Boys Will Be Girls Will Be…, and The Big Gay Alphabet Coloring Book.
As you can tell from the titles, Bunnell writes stories to empower kids
– and adults like me – to accept who they really are. A person cannot
choose their sexuality just like they cannot choose their race. But they
can choose how they identify, and Bunnell’s coloring books are
empowering kids to be unapologetically themselves.
Now, that is something I can get behind.
Bunnell
creates a safe space for kids to question gender norms and actually be
themselves. The books are sold by PM Press for only $11. These 11×8.5
inch coloring books have forty pages and are distributed in the United
States and Europe.
She doesn’t sit back and watch the world
change; Bunnell incites the change. With each page. With each book. With
each child. If we were all as courageous and creative as she is, the
world would be a better place.
Back to Jacinta Bunnell’s Author Page | Back to Julie Novak’s Artist Page
