His name is Lennan. His best friend is Smallsy.
Lennan has a turbulent homelife – he looks up to his father, a powerful policeman, but holds on to the secret about the harm Lennan’s dad causes his mother behind closed doors.
Smallsy is Lennan’s rock. Smallsy helps Lennan navigate it all and helps him understand how to be a better man.
This is the story of Lennan and Smallsy created by author and cartoonist Sara Yan. The Lennan and Smallsy comics are one of the first of its kind – educating readers about domestic violence, toxic masculinity and, overall, being a good human through fun, entertaining comic strips.
“People don’t usually expect cartoons to have any kind of power,” Yan told Women’s Agenda recently. “And that’s exactly how they do.”
Where it began
Sara Yan grew up in Queensland and has always nurtured her artistic side. She loves movies, books, comics and all things creative. She studied to be a nutritionist and was happily working in the field – that is until her life was turned upside down.
“A lot of people say they’re victim survivors of DV – I’m one of those,” she said.
Yan entered what would become an abusive relationship with her ex partner. Once she emerged from her unsafe situation, she had the opportunity to participate in a victim support program.
“On the one hand, I was really touched to have that chance to heal and connect with other people in that space,” she said.
“But another part of me was quite furious.”
Yan was angry because there were so many avenues for victim-survivors of abuse to help them recover from domestic violence – yet very few to address the aggressors perpetrating the abuse.
“Are we just going to keep pouring out symptomatic treatment for DV survivors – healing victims, rescuing victims, educating people on victims?” she said.
“Where is the accountability to address the people who are causing the problem, who are doing the harm?”
It was at this point in her life, perhaps the hardest period to date, that she decided to do something about.
That’s when two young boys came into her life: Lennan and Smallsy.
The story of Lennan and Smallsy
After her experience with domestic violence, Yan returned to her love of movies, television and stories – and decided to take a turn in her career.
“And it’s been a hell of a turn,” she said. “I just noticed in cinema and film and television… there’s very little representation about (domestic violence) in the arts beyond something that’s kind of sensationalised for cheap views. So I just thought that was a hole that could be filled with potentially amazing consequences.”
Yan filled the gap in the arts and literature sector with the Lennan and Smallsy comics. The comics follow a non-linear storyline starring two school-aged boys who are best friends – Lennan and Smallsy.
While Smallsy grew up with two loving, progressive parents and is becoming a confident young man, Lennan has trouble in adolescence. His father, a powerful policeman, is a huge role model in his life, but Lennan knows about how his father abuses his mother. It’s a secret that eats him up inside and causes him grief as he goes through school and navigates relationships.
Each comic strip – around four squares per comic – features different characters and their interactions with one another, which ultimately send a message about toxic masculinity, conversations around domestic and family violence, and so much more.
“I find that as a visual medium, comics can teach people something in two seconds. The brain subconsciously and rapidly processes images,” Yan said. “Essentially anyone could pick up a comic from either a few years ago that I’ve written or just yesterday, and they would quickly get the message about what it pertains to.”
Yan has been writing since 2019, and in July last year, she published Volume 1 of the Lennan and Smallsy Comics. While Yan’s core audience is Gen Z, Yan hopes people of all ages can learn something from the Lennan and Smallsy comics.
“I wanted something palatable, something easily relatable for people around that sort of age bracket,” she said.
“It’s fair to say the younger group will appreciate it more, but the stories themselves – they relate on a personal level to any human.”
Healthy Masculinities Project
Last October, the federal government announced a three-year trial project tackling harmful messages of toxic masculinity on social media.
The government has funded the trial with $3.5 million to run both face-to-face and online presentations at schools, sporting clubs and other community organisations. The project will teach school-aged boys about respectful relationships not just with their peers, but also with themselves.
As a key stakeholder in the space of educating young people about healthy masculinities, Yan was thrilled with the government’s announcement.
“I was really excited to hear that this had been erected because it was something that was more addressing the cause, rather than swooping up and reducing victims or, what personally offends me, teaching girls how to project themselves,” she said.
But Yan warned the trial should not “preach to the choir” – that is, the trial should be aimed at people who need to be educated on the subject. She said the project should also be delivered in a way that’s engaging for young people.
“I’m cautiously optimistic about the trials,” Yan said. “I think if they take a novel approach to it, it’s going to be very promising.”
“I just think they have to watch that they don’t preach to the choir in the sense that people who are already inclined to that way are going to be more receptive than the mainstream middle, who maybe don’t know yet how important it is.”
The Healthy Masculinities Project would go a long way for someone like Lennan. Most of what Lennan believes about being a man comes from the male role model in his life: his abusive father. It seeps in to how he treats other people, in particular Justine.
As high-profile misogynists like Andrew Tate grow in prominence around the world, everyone could benefit from the Healthy Masculinities Project.
Or, perhaps, a best friend like Smallsy.