So many thank-yous to to Ro Salarin for sharing their personal story about sterilization with all of us today! A longtime veteran in the queer indie comics world (AND MORE), make sure you check out their current project, Spectacle.
Reminders on a few things:
♥ Our pals over at Pink and White (the team that makes Crash Pad <3 ) have a Indigogo for a new film they are making. We’ve chipped in with unique illustrated bookplate copy of Drawn to Sex: The Basics. (That means a copy of the book that comes with an original drawing on the bookplate). We don’t sell these outside of our semi-yearly Kickstarter, so grab it while it’s hot and support a good team with their film!
♥ We’ll be at Seattle’s Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle March 14-17th. Come by and say hi! We’ll be in booth H12 with Helioscope in the Artist Alley!
♥ Finally, our sponsors over at OMGYes are still in the middle of collecting data for their next series/research paper. If you haven’t already discovered OMGYes, check out our review. We LOVE them and would love it if you helped support their work with this survey. It takes about 20 min, but puts you in for a good chance to win a $100 gift card to Good Vibrations. Check it out:
OMGyes and Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are studying how people use sex toys for pleasure! Share your preferences in a survey to help researchers better understand specific sexual behaviors related to sex toys. If you qualify, the survey takes about 20 minutes to complete. After completing the survey, you can enter a raffle for one (1) of Ten (10) $100 Good Vibrations gift cards.
Next week is my sex doll review. Wish me luck 0_o.
↓ Comic Transcript
Bilateral Salpingectomy by Ro Salarian, published February 26, 2019 on https://www.ohjoysextoy.com/bilateral-salpingectomy-rosalarian
Page 1
Ro Salarian draws in a loose, cartoony style with bold black linework and a color palette of orange-pink and purples.
They are a nonbinary person with large cat-eye glasses, tattoos on their upper arms, and dramatic flowing shock of hair that curls down to their shoulders with the sides of their head shaved.
"As a person who has never wanted kids, fertility has always felt like a burden I never asked for." Explains Ro directly to the reader.
Narration: One day at my gynecologist, during a routine procedure...
"Oops." The doctor blankly announces from between Ro's legs.
"Yeeeeeouch!" Shrieks Ro, their socked feet in the stirrups of the gynecological exam table.
"so, um, okay," Nervously the doctor explains to Ro, who is now sitting up and fully clothed, clutching their stomach as they shudder in pain on the exam table. "I accidentally removed your IUD! I'm so sorry!!!"
"Wow. Okay. Cool. Cool. I was wanting to get it removed anyway. So yay?" Ro jokes, smiling through their grimace of pain.
"My bad! We should probably replace it, huh? How about a shiny new copper IUD?" The doctor offers.
"What about more... permanent solutions?" Asks Ro.
Now surrounded by jazzy stars and their long ponytail billowing in an elegant breeze, the doctor asks, "Well, ever heard of a..."
Title: Bilateral Salpingectomy?
Page Two
Standing next to an enormous uterus, Ro explains, "Friends, a salpingectomy is the removal of one or both fallopian tubes, -" Ro cleanly plucks off the left fallopian tube from its connecting points to the womb and the ovary.
Now on the other side of the same uterus, they continue, "- which is very different from getting your 'tubes tied.'" Ro pulls a rope tightly around the furthest edges of the other fallopian tube, pinching them against each other, ensuring no eggs will be able to pass along that tube.
Narration: You keep your uterus, ovaries, and everything else, so it doesn't affect hormone production and you still get your period, which is awesome if you're like me and super sensitive to hormonal changes.
Narration: A salpingectomy is irreversible and permanently cuts off the road between the ovaries and the uterus so sperm will never have access to your eggs.
An isolated roadway runs along the edge of a cliff, but a perfect slice has been cut out of it perpendicularly, leaving a gaping canyon slicing through the road. On one side stnds an anthropomorphic sperm in a bowtie and top hat, carrying a bouquet of flowers.
"But baby-!" The distressed sperm calls across the divide to the group of anthropomorphic eggs on the other side. A sign reads, "BRIDGE OUT" on their side of the canyon.
"Keep your flowers. It's never gonna happen." A disinterested egg replies, not even bothering to look at the sperm on the other side of the divide.
"And a bilateral salpingectomy is a 100% effective form of birth control!" Ro announces to the reader with hearts in their eyes.
Page Three
As Ro lifts up their sleeveless turtleneck just enough to reveal their stomach, their doctor points our two pink dots on either side of their bellybutton, explaining, "The surgery is done laproscopically, which means a small incision in your belly button for a camera, and a small incision at the site of each fallopian tube, each less than an inch long.
Narration: It's a fairly quick outpatient procedure, but it is still a surgery with all the risks that occur anytime someone goes cutting into your body, including:
-Adverse reaction to anesthesia
-Infection
-Internal bleeding
but if you're healthy, the risks are pretty low.
A nurse suspends a fluid bag onto one of those hospital IV coat racks made for that purpose while Ro sits on a medical table, waiting for their surgery. Their hair is covered by a medical cap and their bottom is exposed in the back of their drafty surgical gown. "Oh boy I hate IVs!" is captioned by their raised hand, which shows off the IV inserted into the top of their hand.
In horror, Ro (back in their regular clothes again) reads a cascading hospital bill, saying, "This is one of the most expensive forms of birth control if you're in the USA and don't have insurance (mine was about 22k) but my insurance covered it 100% and I had a pretty Obamacare plan. Thanks, Obama!"
An anthropomorphic cancerous cell baring a sword and sporting a medieval-type helmet is halted in their tracks at the moat that surrounds "Ovary Castle", which is also in the process of pulling up its drawbridge. A triumphant egg smiles down at the thwarted cancer cell from atop one of the castle walls.
Narration: Another cool thing about the procedure is that it reduces the risk of ovarian cancer, which often starts in the fallopian tubes.
Page Four
Looking simultaneously annoyed and unimpressed, Ro gestures towards another doctor as they explain, "Now, if you're unlucky like me, you might encounter roadblocks like bad doctors who refuse to do it."
The doctor gesticulates wildly as they rant, "But what if you change your mind and sue me later? You're too young to know for sure that you don't want kids. Where is your husband? We need his consent too!"
Tilting their head back in frustration, Ro grimaces, "Sigh. It's very frustrating."
Narration: Several doctors even told me:
The previous doctor composes himself and smugly informs Ro, "Legally, I can't do this unless you're at least 30, married, and have had two kids already."
Narration: While there are medical guidelines that patients be at least 21 (not 30), there are no laws as far as marital status or number of kids required to be eligible for sterilization. Most of the time when a doctor says they can't, what they means is they won't.
Narration: My doctor just had me sign a waiver and wait a month. A friend of mine even had hers done without a waiting period.
Ro's hand is show signing a waiver that reads, "I promise I know what I'm asking for and I will not sue you on the off chance I change my mind someday."
Narration: Luckily more and more doctors are trusting their patients to make their own informed decisions.
Page Five
Narration: When I woke up, I was immediately filled with a sense of relief that I would never have to worry about pregnancy ever again.
As they awaken in their hospital bed with the IV still attached to their hand, Ro says to themself, "Ah dang I forgot to ask if I could take home my tubes in a jar."
Now back home, Ro reclines on their couch with a little star of pain springing off their tummy because a big black cat is trying to curl up there.
"Scrambles I love you but please stop trying to stand on my guts." Implores Ro of their feline companion.
Narration: I was laid up on the couch with Vicodin for a couple days in a medium amount of pain.
Full recovered and dancing, Ro address the audience, "After two weeks, I was back to dancing and having sex, sex that was a lot less anxiety inducing because I didn't have pregnancy on my mind. This was the right procedure for me, and I'm glad I kept trying for it until I found a doctor who listened to me."
Transcribed by Erika Moen on March 31, 2025 for OhJoySexToy.com
Page 1
Ro Salarian draws in a loose, cartoony style with bold black linework and a color palette of orange-pink and purples.
They are a nonbinary person with large cat-eye glasses, tattoos on their upper arms, and dramatic flowing shock of hair that curls down to their shoulders with the sides of their head shaved.
"As a person who has never wanted kids, fertility has always felt like a burden I never asked for." Explains Ro directly to the reader.
Narration: One day at my gynecologist, during a routine procedure...
"Oops." The doctor blankly announces from between Ro's legs.
"Yeeeeeouch!" Shrieks Ro, their socked feet in the stirrups of the gynecological exam table.
"so, um, okay," Nervously the doctor explains to Ro, who is now sitting up and fully clothed, clutching their stomach as they shudder in pain on the exam table. "I accidentally removed your IUD! I'm so sorry!!!"
"Wow. Okay. Cool. Cool. I was wanting to get it removed anyway. So yay?" Ro jokes, smiling through their grimace of pain.
"My bad! We should probably replace it, huh? How about a shiny new copper IUD?" The doctor offers.
"What about more... permanent solutions?" Asks Ro.
Now surrounded by jazzy stars and their long ponytail billowing in an elegant breeze, the doctor asks, "Well, ever heard of a..."
Title: Bilateral Salpingectomy?
Page Two
Standing next to an enormous uterus, Ro explains, "Friends, a salpingectomy is the removal of one or both fallopian tubes, -" Ro cleanly plucks off the left fallopian tube from its connecting points to the womb and the ovary.
Now on the other side of the same uterus, they continue, "- which is very different from getting your 'tubes tied.'" Ro pulls a rope tightly around the furthest edges of the other fallopian tube, pinching them against each other, ensuring no eggs will be able to pass along that tube.
Narration: You keep your uterus, ovaries, and everything else, so it doesn't affect hormone production and you still get your period, which is awesome if you're like me and super sensitive to hormonal changes.
Narration: A salpingectomy is irreversible and permanently cuts off the road between the ovaries and the uterus so sperm will never have access to your eggs.
An isolated roadway runs along the edge of a cliff, but a perfect slice has been cut out of it perpendicularly, leaving a gaping canyon slicing through the road. On one side stnds an anthropomorphic sperm in a bowtie and top hat, carrying a bouquet of flowers.
"But baby-!" The distressed sperm calls across the divide to the group of anthropomorphic eggs on the other side. A sign reads, "BRIDGE OUT" on their side of the canyon.
"Keep your flowers. It's never gonna happen." A disinterested egg replies, not even bothering to look at the sperm on the other side of the divide.
"And a bilateral salpingectomy is a 100% effective form of birth control!" Ro announces to the reader with hearts in their eyes.
Page Three
As Ro lifts up their sleeveless turtleneck just enough to reveal their stomach, their doctor points our two pink dots on either side of their bellybutton, explaining, "The surgery is done laproscopically, which means a small incision in your belly button for a camera, and a small incision at the site of each fallopian tube, each less than an inch long.
Narration: It's a fairly quick outpatient procedure, but it is still a surgery with all the risks that occur anytime someone goes cutting into your body, including:
-Adverse reaction to anesthesia
-Infection
-Internal bleeding
but if you're healthy, the risks are pretty low.
A nurse suspends a fluid bag onto one of those hospital IV coat racks made for that purpose while Ro sits on a medical table, waiting for their surgery. Their hair is covered by a medical cap and their bottom is exposed in the back of their drafty surgical gown. "Oh boy I hate IVs!" is captioned by their raised hand, which shows off the IV inserted into the top of their hand.
In horror, Ro (back in their regular clothes again) reads a cascading hospital bill, saying, "This is one of the most expensive forms of birth control if you're in the USA and don't have insurance (mine was about 22k) but my insurance covered it 100% and I had a pretty Obamacare plan. Thanks, Obama!"
An anthropomorphic cancerous cell baring a sword and sporting a medieval-type helmet is halted in their tracks at the moat that surrounds "Ovary Castle", which is also in the process of pulling up its drawbridge. A triumphant egg smiles down at the thwarted cancer cell from atop one of the castle walls.
Narration: Another cool thing about the procedure is that it reduces the risk of ovarian cancer, which often starts in the fallopian tubes.
Page Four
Looking simultaneously annoyed and unimpressed, Ro gestures towards another doctor as they explain, "Now, if you're unlucky like me, you might encounter roadblocks like bad doctors who refuse to do it."
The doctor gesticulates wildly as they rant, "But what if you change your mind and sue me later? You're too young to know for sure that you don't want kids. Where is your husband? We need his consent too!"
Tilting their head back in frustration, Ro grimaces, "Sigh. It's very frustrating."
Narration: Several doctors even told me:
The previous doctor composes himself and smugly informs Ro, "Legally, I can't do this unless you're at least 30, married, and have had two kids already."
Narration: While there are medical guidelines that patients be at least 21 (not 30), there are no laws as far as marital status or number of kids required to be eligible for sterilization. Most of the time when a doctor says they can't, what they means is they won't.
Narration: My doctor just had me sign a waiver and wait a month. A friend of mine even had hers done without a waiting period.
Ro's hand is show signing a waiver that reads, "I promise I know what I'm asking for and I will not sue you on the off chance I change my mind someday."
Narration: Luckily more and more doctors are trusting their patients to make their own informed decisions.
Page Five
Narration: When I woke up, I was immediately filled with a sense of relief that I would never have to worry about pregnancy ever again.
As they awaken in their hospital bed with the IV still attached to their hand, Ro says to themself, "Ah dang I forgot to ask if I could take home my tubes in a jar."
Now back home, Ro reclines on their couch with a little star of pain springing off their tummy because a big black cat is trying to curl up there.
"Scrambles I love you but please stop trying to stand on my guts." Implores Ro of their feline companion.
Narration: I was laid up on the couch with Vicodin for a couple days in a medium amount of pain.
Full recovered and dancing, Ro address the audience, "After two weeks, I was back to dancing and having sex, sex that was a lot less anxiety inducing because I didn't have pregnancy on my mind. This was the right procedure for me, and I'm glad I kept trying for it until I found a doctor who listened to me."
Transcribed by Erika Moen on March 31, 2025 for OhJoySexToy.com