Review - Primahood: Magenta by Tyler Cohen
There is an appalling dearth of books about the bisexual parenting experience, which is galling on its own but more appalling because bisexual people are those in the LGBTQ group most likely to have children. Primahood: Magneta by Tyler Cohen, a short collection of her comics and art about the experience of parenting, is a welcome addition.
Cohen is a gender nonconforming feminist bisexual and her partner is black biracial. Together they parent Nera, an exuberant, feminine, and loveable biracial daughter in San Francisco. Its clear that Cohen loves both her daughter and partner, and this memoir is grounded in brief stories about that love.
I think many bisexual feminist parents will relate to the endless anxiety over Barbie, Disney Princesses, and Monster High dolls. Because Cohen is fairly butch herself, these struggles take on extra weight as she worries, second guesses, and tries to meet her hyper-femme daughter on her own terms. The result is an enjoyable (if too brief) collection of parental musings and moments that often spark more questions than answers.
The vignettes in this short book pack a quick punch and actually leave me hoping for a longer work on this topic by the same author, perhaps after her daughter is grown.
- Sarah