Book #35
Woman World
By Aminder Dhaliwal
Book Choices
So far in my Book Reading Challenge, I have deliberately read different types of books in succession. For example, a light-hearted romance might be followed by a serious memoir, or a therapy book by a work of science fiction. This variety is intentional.
But that is not the case this week. I recently read the graphic novel Y: The Last Man. It is about a fictional world where a virus wipes out all of the world’s men.
This week, I chose to read Woman World. It is a graphic novel about a fictional world where a genetic mutation stops boys from being born. Men just gradually die out.
I thought the premise of these books sounded too similar not to compare. While two speculative books can’t provide definitive conclusions, they still offer plenty of ground for discussion.
(This post will contain spoilers for both books.)
Comparing Y: The Last Man & Woman World
Differences
Authorship & Narrative
Y: The Last Man– written by Brian K. Vaughan (a man) and illustrated by Pia Guerra (a woman)
Woman World– written and illustrated by Aminder Dhaliwal (a woman)
I wonder how much the writers’ perspectives shaped their stories. Y: The Last Man is centered around a male main character and focuses primarily on the grief and chaos caused by the sudden loss of men.
Whereas Woman World has a much stronger female perspective. All of the main characters are women, while the men play a very limited role. Instead of focusing on the loss of men, it focuses on the connections and contributions of women.
Setting
Y: The Last Man– takes place in 2002, primarily in the United States
Woman World– does not mention a specific time or location, but clues can be determined by the story. It seems to be written in an imagined future of our current world. It takes place in a diverse culture, where they collectively speak English, and live in a moderate climate. It also makes references to current pop culture figures like Beyoncé and Oprah, although it is unclear if they are still alive.
Timeline of the Tragedy
In Y: The Last Man, the loss of men happened in an instant, in Woman World, it was slow, taking a few generations.
Both worlds spiralled into chaos as soon as the crisis was apparent. Neither world could figure out how to solve the problem in time to fix it.
The storyline of Y: The Last Man takes place in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, whereas Woman World takes place several decades after the men started to die out, when there are no longer any men around.
Societal Tone
The crisis in Y: The Last Man is urgent, traumatic, and chaotic. Women have to scramble in order to quickly rectify society’s collapse and take care of their basic needs.
Woman World is gentle, relaxed, and contemplative as they think about the implications of a world without men. Their basic needs are met, although they live simply.
Relationships
In Y: The Last Man there are turbulent power dynamics, violence, and cult-like groups that form. There is cooperation and friendship but these often form out of a sense of security. Disagreements are often solved through violence.
Woman World focuses on cooperation, self-discovery, and individual proclivities. The chaos that came from the loss of men is quickly glossed over. The heart of the story is women peacefully interacting and building a new world. Disagreements are seen as healthy; they mean you are standing up for your beliefs.
Inequality
In Y: the Last Man, previous systems of oppression still seem to exist, such as racism.
In Woman World, there doesn’t seem to be any discrimination based on race, sexual identity, gender preference, or physical ability. Yet there are still hierarchies of power such as governance, leadership, and elders.
Personal Relationships
In Y: The Last Man there is tension in relationship dynamics, as the characters don’t know who to trust. There are deep, painful feelings such as betrayal and anger throughout the story. Relationship boundaries were not always respected.
In Woman World, women are acknowledged as valuable community members, and the importance of different forms of relationships are apparent- friendships, mentors, etc. not just romantic love. Boundaries were respected in this story.
Language
The language in Y: The Last Man is harsh, including a racial slur. It is reactive and incendiary. Which adds to the sense of chaos and confusion brought on by the recent catastrophe. You can feel the characters’ unease in the words they use.
The words in Woman World are much gentler. While the language is also emotional, it is more introspective than reactive.
The language reflects the timing of the stories- both the period that they occurred and their proximity to the crisis. For example, the women in Woman World are farther away from the chaos, trauma, and scarcity brought on by the loss of men. They can afford time to sit quietly and think about events, and this gets reflected in the tone of their words.
Leadership
In Y: The Last Man, there are fights over power. Whereas, in Woman World, leadership seems to happen naturally and peacefully to the betterment of all.
Female leaders in both worlds express doubt in themselves, but in Woman World, this doubt is humorously treated as a quirk of overthinking, rather than a lack of skill or character.
Ironically, the one peaceful place in Y: The Last Man that is most similar to the town of Woman World is a place that was settled entirely by female criminals.
Creativity
Y: The Last Man focuses on the loss of male creativity and the sometimes terrifying world the women will create. The characters grieve dead male icons like David Bowie and Bob Dylan.
In Woman World, the women seem happy to be able to contribute their own creativity. They don’t necessarily grieve deeply the loss of male influence, although some characters do wonder about it. At one point, two characters are reading old magazines about “Famous Artists”, “Famous Classical Musicians”, and “Famous 20th Century Playwrights” and one complains about the lack of female representation. The other reassures her that in a world without men, female creativity is no longer sidelined.
Fashion & Self-Expression
In my post about Y: The Last Man, I briefly touched on how women’s personal fashion choices might change in the absence of men. This was on full display in Woman World.
One of the characters in Woman World spends all of her time naked because she feels like it, and nobody cares. No one calls her promiscuous, they just accept that is how she feels most comfortable. Even with a bold choice like that, there is no judgment. They also stopped wearing high heels in Woman World.
Emotional Healing
The lone man in Y: The Last Man is shocked that some women would be happy about the loss of men. Didn’t they just lose their fathers, brothers, uncles, teachers, etc.? But I am guessing those women didn’t have great experiences with those male figures and now the door is wide open. Freedom and power are finally theirs.
In Woman World, they use Father’s day as a day of remembrance and connection to men. They show curiosity toward their male ancestors, but the emotional and ideological distance is palpable.
Imagining a New World Order
I find it serendipitous that I read Y: The Last Man first, followed by Woman World. The male perspective- in authorship, narration, and timing of events- dominates the first. Whereas, in Woman World, men no longer play a primary role.
Reading the two in this order felt like a natural succession: from the immediate chaos of losing men, to a world that has slowly reshaped itself without them.
It underscores the sense that patriarchy would likely linger even if men disappeared, gradually fading over time as women build a society for themselves.
It also speaks to an unfortunate reality. This natural succession is only “natural” because that is how our world developed. If women would have built their world from the start, then there wouldn’t need to be a transition in narrative or story.
Even in this blog post about a book entirely about women, I have shared considerable space for men. Ironic, isn’t it? Perhaps that is my own engrained patriarchy? Or perhaps it is just me working through the complexities of having to imagine a world very different from the one we live in.
Messy Bun Book Lover
Read Woman World → https://amzn.to/4nctBDU
Read Y: The Last Man → https://amzn.to/42Mcdyz
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