These Cartoons Expose The Challenges Modern Women Face Everyday

Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau

While most cartoons today expose problems for a group of people in a harsh, but effective, way, Cécile Dormeau creates cute and colorful portrayals of everyday women and the daily issues they face.

From belly fat to being groped on public transportation, Dormeau covers a variety of topics that many women can relate to. The artist hopes that women can not only see themselves in her cartoons, but laugh with them and enjoy them as well.

As for her motivation to continue to create these images, Dormeau told ATTN:

“I want to celebrate imperfection.”

Magazines promote socially-constructed ideas of perfection that often don’t exist, such as with models that have no pores on their face or no peach fuzz on their tummies. Women of all ages are absorbing this information through photos and even articles that tell women how to attain these beauty trends, and it can cause many of them to feel insecure about themselves.

Dormeau took this negative energy and channeled it into her art, creating unique images of women that celebrate, instead of demonize, different body types, situations, and preferences.

One of the topics portrayed in her art is an issue that plagues women everywhere they go: sexual harassment and assault. She told ATTN:

“This is unfortunately something which happens to all girls. I wanted to speak about the violence of this act by humor. Many women feel ashamed when they’re harassed, and this is not normal. Our bodies don’t belong to anyone, and no one has the right to touch a woman without her consent. This GIF is just a way to say to girls that they should not be scared to react to their aggressor, and make everyone conscious about this problem.”

The GIF she’s referencing is in video format below.

According to Huffington Post, 65 percent of women experience sexual harassment on the street and 1 in 3 women face sexual harassment in their workplace. This makes sexual harassment a prominent issue for the majority of women and something that needs to be addressed.

Dormeau says that sparking conversation is one of her larger goals in developing these pieces, as many individuals don’t feel comfortable coming out and saying how they feel about a range of issues. Instead, they can use her art as a conversation piece on their social media or in person to state their stance on an issue.

Another hot topic that makes an appearance in a number of her illustrations is body hair. Many women feel pressured to shave their body hair in a number of places, which is something that is natural but seen as disgusting by many people. Dormeau addresses this in her drawings by showing beautiful women who choose to keep their hair and says,

“Girls will say, ‘I feel like a man when I do not shave,’ or ‘I am so gross with my hair,’ or feeling abnormal because they have hair on legs, pussy, arms, belly, breasts, peachfuzz, or whatever part of the body. But guess what, having hair is completely normal. We always feel bad in our bodies because society will never show realistic bodies, that’s why it’s our responsibilities as [artists] to represent what is not enough represented.”

Overall, Dormeau has a message about how she wants her drawings to be perceived by viewers:

“If my followers can recognize themselves in my illustrations and laugh at them and with them, I hope it can help them to move forward towards self-acceptance. How many times as a teenager (or even older) you will think, ‘I am not normal,’ because you will not feel identified to what media is showing you. I really want to say this by my illustrations, ‘Don’t worry, you’re not alone. I have flaws too. I am fucked up too sometimes, you are completely normal.'”

Scroll through her illustrations below to get a feel of what her work is all about. You can also find her Instagram here and her tumblr here.

Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau
Credit: Cecile Dormeau

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