I think it’s the way the panels are labelled. I think if it read just “Before” and “Now”, or something like that, it would clearly be about personal experience, funny, maybe relatable.
But with “Shopping as a man/woman” it can interpreted as either personal experience of both sides OR broad sweeping generalisations of what men/women must all experience when shopping. And that second version is the boomer rehash.
I think it’s the way the panels are labelled. I think if it read just “Before” and “Now”, or something like that, it would clearly be about personal experience, funny, maybe relatable.
But with “Shopping as a man/woman” it can interpreted as either personal experience of both sides OR broad sweeping generalisations of what men/women must all experience when shopping. And that second version is the boomer rehash.
I think this is mostly it. The labeling just feels like it immediately conjures up this trope
At a glance, OPs formatting feels like its cut from the same template. “Before/After” would probably help break that connection.
It’s a trans comic so the before/now are clearly implied, to me. “[me] shopping as a guy” vs “[me] shopping as a woman”