Crime Against Nature: Beautifully illustrated children's book explores what "natural" really means

This is a book about "doin' what comes naturally". Which is to say, sex. But what kind of sex? With whom? And to what purpose? At what point do things like gender expression, sex, reproduction, and child-rearing stop being "normal and natural" and start being something weird that humans do because we are diverse/perverted/sinful/creative (depending on your personal point of view)?

In reality, the word "natural" is mainly how we tell each other which behaviors and traits are the socially correct ones. Calling something natural is often more about specific human cultural standards than it is about what actually happens in nature. Crime Against Nature is artist Gwenn Seemel's attempt to correct that mistake. Filled with gorgeous, Klimt-esque illustrations, Seemel's book shows readers just how diverse nature can be and just how often it fails to conform to our ideas of what is normal — from girls who are bigger and tougher than boys; to boys who give birth; to boys and girls that don't have sex or reproduce at all (and don't seem to mind one bit).

The issues at play here are hefty and potentially uncomfortable, but the book itself is light, playful, and pleasantly un-preachy. It's also set up in a way that allows it to evolve with kids as their reading skills improve — pairing simple statements like "Boys can be the pretty ones" with longer but still easy-to-read paragraphs explaining, for instance, the most recent scientific theories about why male peacocks are so much more colorful than females.

Overall, the book is a great reminder that there are lots of ways to be a girl and lots of ways to be a boy. Nature is chock full of role models for every kid (and every adult). Just because you don't conform to the version of your gender that you see on TV it doesn't mean that you're defective. Last month, my husband and I navigated aisle after aisle of noxiously gendered toys, trying to find things for our niece and nephew that reflected those individual kids, rather than telling them who they were supposed to be and what they were supposed to like. In a world where even Legos come in pink boxes (with instructions for building cute little houses) and blue boxes (with instructions for building race cars), Crime Against Nature is a much-needed breath of fresh air.

You can buy a print version of Crime Against Nature from Gwenn Seemel for $32.

Alternately, you can download the digital version for free (or for a donation of your choice!)

• [mr_bloo_sky]

  This reminds me of what a neuroscientist told me once, “There are no normal human brains, only average ones.”

• [James Mapes]

  Just a note – she spells her name with two N’s, so Gwenn Seemel.

  • [Maggie Koerth-Baker]

    Fixed. Thank you. I was so focused on spelling “Seemel” correctly, that I missed the extra N in Gwenn. 

• [Lodewijk Gonggrijp]

  If you find this interesting you really want to check out Humon’s comics.
  Example : http://humoncomics.com/crazy-hyenas
  Some of her comics might be considered slightly NSFW if you are of the easily offended sort.

• [sarahnocal]

  Natural? Some moms eat their babies! Some dads kill their children! Some boys rape girls! Some dads have sex with their daughters! It’s natural!

  Not really sure what animal sexuality has to do with humans. Natural does not = good.

  • [Alpacaman]

    I’m not sure you understand the point being made.

  • [Girard]

    Hey, kids need to learn about the Naturalistic Fallacy sometime!

• [Girard]

  “When a clownfish female is removed from her anemone home, the male turns into a female and one of their young becomes a mature male. The new pair continues to breed in the same anemone.”

  Suddenly Marlin’s extreme dedication to finding Nemo is cast into sharp, deeply perverse, relief.