“It’s a special kind of privilege to be born into the body you wanted, to embrace the essence of your gender even as you recognize what you are up against,” a wise young woman wrote. And yet, as Margaret Mead knew and Shonda Rhimes attested, what one is up against might often eclipse any appreciation of that privilege — especially in a culture where unconscious biases run rampant even among the best-intentioned of us.

In 2009, Chinese-born German graphic designer Yang Liu explored cultural differences in minimalist pictogram infographics. Five years later, she returns with Man meets Woman (public library) — a romp through the challenges of communication between the sexes and the cultural baggage of gender models, a contemporary caricature that reads like the modern-day, grownup version of the 1970 satirical gem I’m Glad I’m a Boy! I’m Glad I’m a Girl!

The stereotypical roles and exchanges Liu depicts are sometimes funny because they’re true, sometimes offensive because they’re true, but mostly tragic (not even tragicomic) because they’re false and limiting and toxic, and yet persist anyway — the peril of all stereotypes.

Liu writes:

We are living in an age of constant social change, in which the subject of the sexes … is rapidly evolving in people’s consciousness. Each generation re-assesses and questions the role models currently in place…

It is interesting to see how Man/Woman clichés have indeed changed in our daily lives and to what extent the attributes that were assigned to the sexes in the past, often centuries ago, are still relevant in today’s society. And to consider which desirable role models are already rooted in our thinking but are still in the process of transformation.

While the book is primarily focused on heterosexual gender norms, Liu does offer a few funny and poignant diptychs about LGBT relationships and the presence of gay and lesbian couples in pop culture:

Complement Man meets Woman with Susan Sontag on how stereotypes imprison us, a wonderful proto-feminist children’s book from 1935, and a pause-giving French short film about sexism, then revisit this excellent and urgently necessary read on our unconscious biases.