Q Toon: Show Me Yours and I'll Show You Mine

After seeing a flurry of blog and Facebook posts about two trans* guests "schooling" Katie Couric for asking them about their gender reassignment process, I expected to see some insistently rude questions followed by a finger shaken to the tune of "Oh, No, You Didn't!" The Baltimore Sun headline, after all, was "Katie Couric's Offensive Interview Reveals Need for Transgender Visibility."

In preparation for this week's cartoon, I watched Couric's interview with model Carmen Carrera and actress Laverne Cox to see what in particular was offensive about the interview. What I saw was Couric asking a question about Carrera's gender reassignment surgery and being told that Carrera didn't want to answer such a personal question. Couric said she understood and moved right along to other questions. When she joined the other two on the show, Cox seconded Carrera's dislike of questions about their genitalia.

The tone of the discussion appeared friendly and sympathetic throughout. Couric didn't seem so insensitive or intrusive, really. After all, this is the woman who invited America to come along on her own colonoscopy.

So instead of using my cartoon to rake Katie Couric over the coals, I've resurrected Celiva Drewledge, a fictional talk show host character from a cartoon I drew over 15 years ago. She looks more like Katie Couric today than she did when I first drew her, but as the cartoon indicates, she's had some work done.

* No, you're not supposed to check for footnotes today.