Book content warning: transphobia, sexism.
'Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms' - what a cute and lovely little graphic novel about cheerleading and transgender rep.
It's a high school coming-of-age LBGTQ love story, between the cisgender, white, fat, snarky, antisocial overachiever Annie Ginter, and the shy, pressured, sensitive, constantly-on-edge, half-Hispanic trans girl Beatrice "Bebe" Diaz.
As sweetness and light as the comic is, there is as much terrible realism as well. It doesn't sugarcoat the rampant transphobia, both micro and macro aggressive, that Bebe faces on a daily basis. In fact, it overshadows the cheerleading aspect of the story on an ecliptic radius.
Bebe's close friends from the cheerleading squad, who try to be supportive, treat her as more of a mascot and a charity case than a person with her own agency and feelings, and they whisper snide comments to each other when she does show that agency and passion, aka when she "acts like a man". "Making a scene" - doing anything at all to reveal the shocking truth that she is only human, and a child - is Bebe's greatest fear.
She is referred to as "it", right in front of her and her squad, by some woman coach, who didn't even bother to look up her name and what she looks like before confronting her, as at first the coach mistakes one of the more "masculine"-looking cheerleaders for the trans girl whose existence enrages her for no reason. That Karen's breathing privileges should be revoked.
Bebe's parents are also awful, putting a whole lot of pressure on her to be perfect with perfect grades in order to downplay her transitioning, telling her she is "not a normal girl" (what a horrible thing to say to your own child) and so she can't have any free time and go out and have fun and be with friends, and they threaten to make her dress like a boy if she doesn't get those stellar grades.
Oh and there's a creepy guy who won't stop hitting on her, because in his own twisted logic he is doing her a favour, because "nobody else with ever touch her". And she is a girl who "makes an effort" in being extra girly. She's a checkbox to him. Dickhead.
Things turn out fine in the end, of course. Bebe gains in confidence, and Annie and her friends do better by her (though they are not called out for certain remarks made from earlier, disappointingly). Bebe stands up for herself, without other people White Knight-ing her. Her parents learn to accept her and love her, not just tolerate her.
Although at the end of his arc her dad says to her, "You're so pretty when you smile". I'm sure this is meant to be seen as him being happy that she is smiling at all (that's been a part of her character development), but seriously, what does pretty have to do with anything? There is so much sexism to unpack there, not least the presence of drawing dangerously close to the line of the long-dead "Smile, you'll look pretty" bullshit. Not to mention the transphobic dig that suggests that only trans women who look pretty - meaning, who are "feminine" enough - will be "accepted" by society, because of those sexist standards upheld by the patriarchy, that places a woman's looks above everything else about her. The comic even made it a point in an earlier scene that Bebe is pressured to look pretty so that "she doesn't gross people out". The dad is not called out on his little line that exposes so much. WTF?
Annie remains hilarious, but also kinder and more polite to others, especially the cheerleaders she unfairly judged before. Her gives-no-shit attitude is great, and her relationship with Bebe - wherein they were friends before Bebe transitioned, and they manage to rebuild from there through cheerleading - is well developed and totally sweet.
Huge props to the author for integrating the harsh reality of transphobia in this otherwise luscious and cordial comic - culminating in an inclusive prom scene finale - AND without once deadnaming Bebe. Kudos.
In addition, one of the cheerleaders comes out as nonbinary at the end (admittedly they didn't get nearly as much panel time as the other cheerleaders beforehand, but still).
Rainbows and love and pompoms all around!
'ANNIE: I thought you wanted to study! Why didn't you tell her no?
BEBE: Oh, I couldn't say no. I don't want people to get upset with me.
ANNIE: I say no to people all the time and people love me!
BEBE: Annie, you're literally hanging out with me because everyone else hates you.
ANNIE: Well, I love me, and that's what's important!'
'BEBE: I can't just turn everything into a fight every time someone is insensitive or rude. So sometimes, if people are trying, that's enough for me. I can swallow some hurt feelings for the sake of not having to fight every moment I'm awake! And I never want to be the center of attention!'
'BEBE: I know I shouldn't apologize all the time... I just feel like I have to apologize for being around. [...] My transitioning put so many people out... [...] And even the people who are nice get so much angrier when I get upset than they did before. Like they're all just waiting for proof that I'm "one of the bad ones". And no matter what I do, everyone is always looking at me. I'm always the center of attention. And they think if I screw up or freak out, it's because I'm a trans girl... Never because I'm just not perfect.'
'BEBE: Sometimes it makes me so mad at all the other girls in school that they can just change in the locker rooms... Or go out without makeup.'
Prejudice, bigotry - it is all hateful, deadly, suffocating, zero sense shit. I wouldn't recommend it.
Unlike this comic. I would recommend that.
Final Score: 4/5
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