Gender and Sexuality in Israeli Graphic Novels

This book explores how Israeli graphic novelists present depictions of masculinity and femininity that differ from conventional portrayals of gender in Israeli society, rejecting the ways that hypermasculinity and docile femininity have come to be associated with men and women. The book is the first to explore Israeli graphic novels through the lens of gender. It argues that breaking down existing gender delineations with regards to masculinity and femininity is a core feature of the Israeli graphic novel and comics tradition and that through their works, the authors and artists use their platforms to present a freer and looser conceptualization of gender for Israeli society. Undertaking close readings of Israeli graphic novels that have been published in English and/or Hebrew in the last 20 years, the book’s texts include Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds and The Property, Ari Folman and David Polonsky’s Waltz with Bashir, Galit and Gilad Seliktar’s Farm 54, and Asaf Hanuka’s “The Realist”. This book is of interest to students and scholars in comics studies, Israel Studies, Jewish Studies, and Gender Studies.