Marc loved documents about documents. This cartoon is a send-up of the often absurd ways that official systems represent human complexity. Once considered a fixed category, gender, for many people, is more fluid. So what is a dutiful record-keeper to do but verify with each person his/her/their preferred designation?
It is unclear whether the Human Resources clerk in the comic is serving, respecting or policing the individual employee. Such ambiguity intrigued Marc. How do institutional procedures shape personal identity? Among other possibilities, acts of gender declaration can transfer power from the collective to the individual, and vice versa.