Technically, Han just shot. Han shooting first suggests Greedo shot second.
I… I had to explain how this is a geek thing to my counsellor. That was a thing.
“Nah, I don’t want to talk about lesbianism with some borin’ ol’ professor who probably just read about it in a book or somethin’. I’d rather talk to somebody who’s experienced what I’ve experienced, somebody like Billie, who’s all nervous an’ tense an’ showin’ signs of runnin’ outta patience with me! Heck, if you take the ‘bi’ out of Billie’s name, since y’know, bisexuality ain’t really a thing, an’ just put ‘Les’ in its place, you get like the perfect name for a lesbian! But give my regards to Professor Dabbles N. Bookreadin’ or whoever.”
Once they do, all the drama goes out of the Becky situation. Becky starts to explain what’s happened to her, and after about ten seconds, Leslie cuts her off: “Ah, yes, the ‘Exodus’ situation, and yes, the irony is intended. Here’s a packet of info for you to work on. Take note of the list of people who will put you up until you can find housing on your own, LGBT-friendly businesses to apply for jobs at, and the up-to-date list of upperclasswomen to avoid, at least until you’ve checked out your other options. I’ll make a standing appointment with you for Tuesdays at… let’s see… 2:40 PM to check on how you’re doing, plus of course you can call whenever if there’s an emergency or you just want to talk, although I’d appreciate it if you thought twice before calling on Friday and Saturday nights, here’s some alternative numbers for then. God still loves you and you can get reinforcement from the Episcopalians and UUs on campus about that if you want or need to. Oh, and if you have a picture of your dad or can give a really good description, that would be good too, we have people who keep an eye out for crazy parents.
“You’ll also want to unofficially audit my class. Trust me.”
Just shout “oh no my E-cup breasts have become inexpicably exposed.” and daisy will be there. Also Jo. And all the non-gay male students. And probably the gay ones. And if it’s Billie all the students ever.
Tomorrow’s comic* is just two panels of Becky wandering around, asking “where’s a gal gotta go to find a lesbian?!” to no one in particular in the third panel, and the fourth panel is Daisy leaning in out of nowhere either saying “hello!” or “I know, right?!”
*note: I am not a patreon subscriber cause of money so this is a joke and not a spoiler even if I turn out to be right
It would. Has Joyce ever taken the initiative on intimacy?
She’s shown signs of attraction (physical, whoa-I’m-blushing) for Joe, Ethan, and Billie, but she’s recoiled from those occasions, rather than rolling with them, never mind taking any initiative to make intimacy happen.
Joyce saying “I’ve kissed a girl” sounds more like “please don’t dismiss me” than “I really know what you’re all talking about.”
Ugh. Been there, done that.
I am not sure Billie will be interested… also I think Becky might want to consider looking for a job. Few days have passed but she is probably going to need it.
Galasso does not discriminate based on gender. Galasso does not know what a gender is.
That or she should meet Leslie. I don’t think this Leslie will ever be able to replace SP!Leslie like Amber or Joyce have supplanted their Walkyverse counterparts, but she is still a Leslie and I miss her already.
“And on purpose with the intent of russling your jimmies”
Is that an expression? I feel like that should be an expression. It does seem like something Becky would say, and I grew up in Indiana so I feel like I have an intuitive grasp of hokey (or Hoosier, even) expressions but I could also just be pulling this out of my ass. Hard to tell sometimes.
Yes, yes you are, because most people don’t consider surprise kisses sexual harassment. Dorothy was not accused of sexual harassment after all. Neither was Ruth. (in the comic world)
Dang, Becky has a roof over her head, she gets to sit in on classes, and she’s free to just wander around the campus hanging out with people. Now I feel like a sucker for actually paying for all those years of college… 😉
(Yes, I’m sure it won’t last….just a little bit of sarcasm. Just for fun.)
Yeah, this is going to be a big steaming pile of awkward for a while until Joyce is able to explain the whole crisis of faith thing in a way that’s satisfactory (“I would choose you even if it meant going to hell, but all the same I’m glad you’re not” seems like a good start) and the “HELL YEAH LESBIANS!” rush wears off on Becky and she can set about settling in.
From a drawing out the drama of this storyline point of view, this was probably necessary.
Joyce can bring Becky to her several-hundred-person-from-the-look-of-it Calculus class, fine. No one will notice one extra head. Gender Studies is a much much smaller class (held in a classroom and not a lecture hall, for one thing), so Becky would get noticed very quickly. Bit of a pity though, because Leslie is probably one of the best adults to help them out here.
Personally I’ve sat in all manner of small classes. Sometimes just because I accidentally walked into the wrong room. Seems like pretty reliably professors don’t care if there’s a strange face in one of the seats. I suspect they’re not paid to care about that. If the school wanted a bouncer it’d hire a bouncer.
Sometimes I think people yearning for an education but not necessarily a degree should create a schedule for themselves and just duck out on test days.
I hear schools actually have some program for that if you wanna do it regularly. There’s some word for it where you meet up with them and arrange a timetable, get put on some roster, but you’re not a real student because you’re not paying tuition, so they won’t mark your stuff or give you a diploma/degree.
Come to think of it you’d think that would be something people could abuse when pursuing careers that require heavy amounts of knowledge but don’t care for certification. Maybe I’ve heard wrong.
I wouldn’t call it abuse as much as utilize. Still, you’d miss out on a lot of teacher feedback, workshops, lab and other more administration heavy moments so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Also, there’s plenty of opportunity for that online nowadays. Lots of free MOOCs.
It’s called auditing. Usually you do it on a per class basis while working toward a degree, or as adult education where you already have one.
And you generally do have to pay something, even if it’s not as much as for credit classes. What you don’t have to do is worry about failing and having it impact your gpa, so you can take a much more casual approach to studying.
I dunno, she was chill with Mike being there until he started talking. She’d probably be fine with Becky. Most college teachers don’t give a damn, so long as you’re not interrupting the lesson. Also, a lot of students will add themselves to classes at random points of the year, so it’s easy to assume that “oh that new face must be new to my class.”
The possibility Becky might miss that class fills me with horror.
Realistically, the person most likely to cut through the drama and go directly to “These are support networks who will keep you alive and as safe and sane as possible” is Dr. Leslie.
If she figures out what’s going on, she will be On The Case, and she’s not dim so she’d figure out SOMETHING was going on. This can’t be the first time she’ll have seen something like this on campus.
COME ON UNIVERSE, LESLIE WOULD BE THE ANTI-WILLIS-DOOM CREAM THAT WE NEED TO MEDICINALLY APPLY IN THIS SITUATION.
She’s still awesome, just comfortable enough to have her shields partly down. I actually prefer it this way. She and Joyce has a LOT to process so they have to be honest about what they are feeling.
She’s following Billie around now. The only interaction they had made it pretty clear she finds Becky annoying, but for some reason she thinks they’re friends. She’s just like Joyce!
There comes the Joyce we know and love/hate.
Got a friend and cling to ’em like an octopus.
Becky moved off a bit faster than I expected but, I don’t blame her a bit. Joyce means well, but constantly being told, hinted, told again, that you’re lifestyle is ‘while not a major sin’, not all good either….gets down right old after awhile. Especially if you parents have just dumped you and pulled your college tuition at the same time.
Becky needs to spread her wings. Yeah I know I know…Joyce gave her a place to stay till she gets back on her feet. But that does not means she owns her.
You maybe should consult Billie on that plan first, Becky. I think she’s got a different freckly redhead who kisses girls that she wants to hang with, and I don’t think you’re violent, alcoholic, or depressive enough to get in on that deal.
Also the Gender Studies teacher totally kisses girls, and is also awesome, though much too low on the poll.
The Gender Studies prof totally kisses girls, but I think she has A Thing for dark, curly hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. I just get the feeling that Becky doesn’t seem to quite be that “Type.” I don’t know quite why I feel that way, though.
Leslie made a deal with the dark god of her multiverse to make that not happen.
I don’t really want to see her reduced to just an instrument to motivate Robin’s personal growth again, though, especially since this universe’s Robin doesn’t seem to be a real prize. She’s not just Robin’s lesbian anymore. She’s got a name now! (Even if it is just a dumb pun on “lesbian”.) No one can take that away from her!
But it’d be nice if Leslie had someone, and she’s in a position of authority and enough older than the core cast that there aren’t a lot of compatible people to ship her with without it being kind of sketchy. I dunno, maybe Daisy would be less of a creepster if she were actually getting some?
The problem here is that DoA pairings are (mostly) seen in the Walkyverse. That leaves Leslie with one of two not-very-nice women with black, curly hair, dark eyes, and olive skin: Robin and Malaya. Personally, I’d love to see Leslie-Robin with Robin as the sidekick, but I’ve got to admit that Leslaya would have its own special…charm.
I… didn’t really think this far out honestly. Just tried to make a silly joke about arbitrarily assigning the plot as a “she”… Okay I’ll go away now k thx bye *runs away hastily cursing the day i was born*
Some space’ll probably do them both good anyway. Gonna need some time to work things out and get back in sync with eachother after tense moments like these. They’ll be seeing eachother, they live with eachother, but if they had to hang out all day these little moments would pretty quickly start building up into something nasty.
Heck, Joyce might even benefit from the ability to ask Leslie some questions while Becky isn’t present.
The real challenge is not God, Butthole-dad or lesbianism – the real challenge is that they were friends as children but are not children any more. Now they have to learn how to be friends as adults. That’s hard and sometimes painful – but lots of people figure it out. They got a good start.
Well Daniel the human told me there are lots of different dimensions out there, so there could be one where it turns out more like my current Gravatar…
He tried telling me about some String Theory thing, which told me the dimension thing, but it just went over my head, so I stopped listening…
Uh yeah. This will be a total disaster probably. I hope that Becky gets it that Mary is not a tolerant person. before she talks openly about lesbians with Billie in the floor. And well i don´t think that Ruth would appreciate an open debate about lesbians on the floor between her secret girlfriend and Becky.
Actually Joyce is a bit clumsy handling the whole thing but Leslie would be a better person to talk to about that stuff than Billie.
Perhaps she could even help with their whole list of other problems. Could jeopardize her career perhaps if she keeps quiet about a non enrolled girl living on campus though.
Yeah, I do feel like Becky and Leslie would hit it off real well. They seem to have pretty similar mindsets.
Billie’s got her hands full trying to manage her relationship with Ruth at the moment – kinda interested in seeing how she’s gonna handle Becky’s ensuing clinginess. (At least, what I’m predicting will be clinginess. I figure there’s a reason she and Joyce are/were best friends for so long, haha.)
…Yeah, I get bored at times, so I poke the net between jobs. There’s some interesting stuff out there about human behavior. Most seem to end up getting messy, don’t know how normal that is tho…
Yeah that’s kinda where I’m seeing this going. Becky’s gonna try to put the moves on Billie, and either
A) Billie flips her shit.
B) Ruth sees, and misinterprets the situation.
C) All of the above.
Maybe I’m being optimistic, but I think Becky really is just looking for somebody to talk to about all this and an excuse to get away from Joyce for a moment.
Yeah, I think so too. And of course she needs to ask Billie if she has any cute friends. Still plenty of room for Drama though (Mary’s name has come up a few times in the comments tread).
Actually not a bad strategy for Becky. Find someone who knows more about the whole lesbian-thing and get some pointers. Her timing and social calibration needs work though.
Isn’t Roz pretty staunchly heterosexual? Her advice on these subjects has historically been pretty poor even when directed at other straight people too. “You need to cut loose! Come meet a rapist!”
I don’t really know that she’d be a great person to talk to here.
To be fair, she didn’t know he was a rapist. And I dunno, I think people think she’s bisexual because she said to her sister that she’d make out with a girl onstage if she was forced to go to the rally. But I think it was more of a threat, and not an announcement of sexual preference.
She didn’t know. That’s the point. She has an irrational faith that the party scene is the be all end all, taking a one size fits all approach that completely glosses over any problems, viewing anybody who would pursue social, sexual, and romantic connections through other channels as repressed stuffy suits.
The last thing Becky needs right now is to be tossed into a room with a bunch of unvetted people, some sexual predators, some not, and left to navigate the situation on her own by a host who blindly believes that no wrong can happen here and any discomfort Becky experiences is just something she needs to get over so she can really start living.
I’ve forgotten about the girl-kissing comment. That makes sense at least.
I don’t think Roz is really into girls – though I’m sure she’d follow through with the threat she made to Robin – but she is (to Riley’s dismay) aggressively open about sex and sexuality. I think she would be a good resource for Becky, except that I don’t think Joyce would let Roz anywhere near her.
It wasn’t even Roz’s party. It was Ron’s. And he didn’t know Ryan, didn’t invite him, and has promised to call the cops if he sees him again.
And Roz may not be a font of gay wisdom, but sex and sexuality are her primary interests and hobby, and she sure knows a lot more than Becky. For instance, she knows that “bisexual” is a thing. And she’s not gonna judge Becky for her sexuality, which Joyce, hard as she’s trying, isn’t managing.
I don’t think Roz is girlfriend material for Becky, but she would be a fount of information both about practicalities and the gay community. You just know Roz would love to help a budding homosexual find her wings, and she knows enough about sex-ed to know about the non-normative stuff (and of course just ways a girl can have sex without involving mandangles).
As for weather they would do sexytimes together, I dunno. I think Roz wouldn’t mind experimenting and make a tutorial of it if the spark is there, but I would have to see them meet to see if there is any chemistry. I really have no idea of how interested Becky is in a one night stand when it comes down to it, and frankly I don’t think she knows either.
I’m not saying the state of affairs is at all tolerable for Becky’s well being; given everything that’s happened to her, overreaction is not just to be expected, it’s probably healthy. (And I do NOT tolerate the homophobic attitudes of Joyce’s fellow congregation; I want those walls smashed)
But Joyce is *trying*. I can respect that. And she is Becky’s host.
Then again, I have no idea how many of my attitudes right now are compromised by my cushy perspective to a highly traumatic period in Becky’s life. This kind of rejection by one’s whole community drives people to suicide.
Maybe it’s just because I’m not exactly what you’d call socially gifted, but it seems to me that “I’d like to go do other things with other people now” isn’t exactly an easy thing to do politely on the best of days anyway. Especially in a situation like here where they immediately start pushing for why you wanna leave, why won’t you stay, and so forth.
At the same time, that is something they need to be able to do if they’re gonna live together. It can’t be a fuss every time one of them wants to step out.
Seems like minor, mostly unavoidable rudeness. The kind of thing that’ll get smoothed over after they’ve lived with eachother for a while and learned not to read too much into everyday things like their comings and goings. Maybe wrap their heads around things like “Okay, we’re a little bit peeved at the moment but we’ll just be glad to see eachother when the day’s done. Nothing of long-term consequence. This too shall pass.”
“I mean, at least it was a kiss with someone that was into it.”
“Wait, you mean Ethan didn’t like it?”
“Um wait no, hold on…”
“Well duh he’s–”
“MIKE SHUT UP SHUT ALL THE WAY UP.”
I’m glad we’re seeing the drama sooner rather than later, because damnnn that was getting awkward haha. But Becky, I really /really/ don’t think Billie is gonna wanna hang out with you. Plus I really wanted to see Becky in a gender studies lesson damn itttt
Wonder how much of the current tension is because of Joyce´s rejection of Becky´s declaration of love. Becky said she loved her her whole life and Joyce is everything to her. That´s not something you can simply brush away.
The whole lesbian angle overshadows it but they are also lifelong friends where one of them wanted more than friendship and the other one wants to keep her friend and help her in her hour of need without encouraging Becky that there is still a chance.
I don’t know if this is insulting, but I kind of feel like that was just momentary confusion. She’d had her big lesbian revelation, it was all new, she was still sorting out her feelings, suddenly she’s in dire straights and needs somewhere to turn, builds up this fantasy where it’s all gonna be so simple because she and her best friend have been in love all along so Joyce will understand it all completely and they can run away and be lesbian bestie lovers together in the big liberal city where people like her father will never bother her.
Just that she didn’t seem nearly as big on the Joyce angle when she and her roommate were having fun and shit hadn’t hit the fan yet. I mean obviously I wouldn’t be privy to her pacing around her room thinking about where she stands with Joyce during the weeks leading up to this but it just seems like the timing of it all tells a certain story.
Could be. The topic dropped quite fast and yeah she wasn´t big on the Joyce angle before she kissed her. OTOH it could be that she had to build up her courage or only considered to be open about it after she got the wrong ideas about Joyce not mentioning boys anymore and hiding Dorothy. She hid her other issues pretty well, too.
I think she see’s how awkward things with Joyce are right now and is trying to get some space. I doubt it has much to do with the rejection and more with Joyce finding reason’s to justify being friends with her which is sweet but mildly insulting. I personally think Becky’s moving a little too fast though. She could’ve benefitted from meeting Leslie.
I find Becky a very confusing character. I’m one of those people who has a lot of difficulty in telling what characters are feeling if it’s not shown obviously, and I have a lot of trouble understanding Becky. Is the whole closeted-to-super-duper-gay in like twelve hours thing a coping mechanism? Is Becky likely as okay with Joyce’s rejection as she’s making out, or is she just in denial? I know that a lot answers to these questions are guess-work, but any theories would be much appreciated as I’m struggling to understand Becky high is making a lot of the storyline quite difficult!
My keys to understand Becky (which are nothing more than my guesswork) are (in no particular order)
– She’s just as homeschooled, ignorant and religious and Joyce.
– She’s a rebel against authority, the less socialized of the pair.
– She’s a very good liar, very good at projecting a persona, very good at hiding her true thoughts and feelings. She has probably cultivated that skill for a very long time.
– She’s gay, and for the first time in her life in a situation where that’s not a cause for immediate ostracization.
– She’s 18 years old and for the first time in her life in a situation where she can socialize with people outside a very suffocating box.
– She’s got an awesome, flippant, bubbly personality.
– She’s just as good as Joyce as making friends, just look at her interaction with Walky.
– She has just taken a leap from a cliff. Whatever happens next she’s never coming up there again. She’s both scared of what comes next and happy that she never has to be back in that situation again.
– She loves Joyce, both romantically and as a friend. She’s just as hurt and confused as Joyce that their relationship is changing, and just as Joyce she tries to find a way to keep the good things but is unsure how to go about it, while she’s also not compromising on her sexuality.
– She really, really wants to touch some giblets.
It is a sort of coping mechanism and one that I’ve seen a lot among my friends after they came out. It’s also a way to assert your identity that you probably don’t feel 100% comfortable with yet. It seems to me like she’s seeking out a community in Billie for the same reason. She’s still very unsure of everything and she’s hoping Billie has the experience to help her make sense of it.
As for the Joyce thing…I think she is hurt, but she’s trying to make light of it so she doesn’t have to face the hurt. She’s still holding out hope that Joyce will realize she is gay for Becky after all, I think, which is why she keeps making jokes about how she finds Joyce super hot. I think right now she’s just trying to cope with her identity, rejection, estrangement from her family, and she’s tamping it down with jokes. It’ll probably come out in a big meltdown later.
I’m not sure if this is a phrase that is consistent among the gay community, but myself and my other bi/lesbian/pan friends call her behavior the baby dyke phase. Hell, we even like to show each other photos from OUR baby dyke phases. Basically, it’s when a person first discovers they are gay, and they go nuts about it. They are totally gung ho. A lot of girls turn super butch for a spell (or forever, depends), wear all sorts of pride stickers and such, and are always talking about how super gay they are. I think that is what is going on with Becky right now. (I also apologize to others who are uncomfortable with the d word)
It’s actually more simple than all that.
She’s been raised hyperconservative; more than just a rejection of that and self-assertion, a lot of people, especially those raised in conservative settings, will rush into the role they believe they’re supposed to now fill.
So, bisexuals/gays will assert themselves loudly, because that’s what they believe they’re expected to do [and that’s not something that the image of the gay community and gay bars really attempt to dissuade belief in, either, so early interactions with like-oriented people can amplify that impression]; transgenders will rush into transexual [ie, post-operation] contemplation and action, without thinking it through, because they believe it’s a mandatory conclusion to transgender assertion [and, admittedly, does tend to help you fit in a lot easier, both into transgender communities and non, which is enticing to most people].
Becky annoys the heck out of me at the moment [in large part because she’s like most people that are newly alternative-sexual, and they’re super into the supposed image, but haven’t actually changed their heteronormative thinking any, and so still react to paradigms outside of straight-gay as being disturbing*], but I can’t say I can’t see why she’s acting the way she is.
*I’ve gotten a ton of diss about my asexuality, almost entirely from homosexuals. Which makes sense, since to them, their sexuality is their major defining factor, it’s their conflict and their self-assertion. Stating that asexuality is also a possibility seems like a slap in the face to many of them (and so they’ve told me, the ones who don’t just claim I’m lying because sex is super important).
I got the impression she simply forgot what the word was, being one of those words she blocked out previously as being unimportant and blasphemous.
Just because the root of the word seems simple, doesn’t mean it wasn’t as foreign a word to her as Sillimanite would be to most of us.
Just because you’ve heard the word before, doesn’t mean you’d be able to come up with it off-hand.
I was under the impression that she was grasping for ANY word that would convince Becky to stay. She just couldn’t trump “lesbian” once it’d been thrown out there.
Typically black eyes in a comic/manga works as a substitute for brown eyes, same as blue hair acts as a substitute for black hair to distinguish different black haired individuals apart.
I mean, unless the sclera and iris are both black, then you’re dealing with someone possessed.
Maybe in a moment of understanding Joyce will finally notice that Becky has green eyes. The symbolism of this will be conveyed visually by making Becky’s green eyes visible to the audience.
Becky’s not gonna be around for gender studies? But, but, it’ll be like a year or something before they have gender studies again! Don’t miss out on this, Becky!
Not really related today’s strip but I had a thought on Becky’s future. I`m not sure what time of year it is in DoA but Becky could end up doing late enrollment. And then her roommate is……………MARY dun dun dun dun dun dun dun!
Gender Studies in the 21st century…..now more difficult than calculus.
That’s a lot of Genders to study….not sure if I missed any.
Agender
•Androgyne
•Androgynous
•Bigender
•Cis
•Cisgender
•Cis Female
•Cis Male
•Cis Man
•Cis Woman
•Cisgender Female
•Cisgender Male
•Cisgender Man
•Cisgender Woman
•Female to Male
•FTM
•Gender Fluid
•Gender Nonconforming
•Gender Questioning
•Gender Variant
•Genderqueer
•Intersex
•Male to Female
•MTF
•Neither
•Neutrois
•Non-binary
•Other
•Pangender
•Trans
•Trans*
•Trans Female
•Trans* Female
•Trans Male
•Trans* Male
•Trans Man
•Trans* Man
•Trans Person
•Trans* Person
•Trans Woman
•Trans* Woman
•Transfeminine
•Transgender
•Transgender Female
•Transgender Male
•Transgender Man
•Transgender Person
•Transgender Woman
•Transmasculine
•Transsexual
•Transsexual Female
•Transsexual Male
•Transsexual Man
•Transsexual Person
•Transsexual Woman
•Two-Spirit
I admit that I am deeply ignorant on the more subtle details of gender identity (I never realized how many identifiers for trans people there were) but… Two Spirit? That’s a new one.
It’s specific to some aboriginal cultures. From what I understand, beyond a gender identity it’s a specific role in the community that comes with specific responsibilities. It seems to have some spiritual significance to it, so when non-aboriginal people claim it for themselves that’s a form of appropriation, just from what I hear. I’m not like well-read on this or anything.
That’s a lot of possibilities. I knew humans were interesting & diverse, but this was definitely unexpected! Glad Daniel the Human told me I don’t HAVE to remember all those types, just respect them like any other human. Then he told me he had a friend a while ago who was a male bisexual furry. Would that count as another possibility?
Can’t we just eliminate “race” and “culture” and everything that makes humans different from one another (aka me)? Things are so simple until someone asks me to try to understand something that doesn’t directly impact my life! (sorry for being hostile, I just hate this attitude and think it usually comes from a place of privilege)
People who complain about the thing you complained about in the way you complained about it are usually doing so from a favored social position. It’s kind of an established cliche. For example, “Why do we even need to TALK about race, why can’t we all just be PEOPLE???” is something white folks say when they’re irritated from being reminded that problems still exist for groups of people who are not them. It’s often used to make important discussions about these things shut down. It also makes it sound like these other folks are mere inconveniences to you. You can frame the same kind of question at those who are not within the majority in other arenas, like sexuality or gender. It’s become a major pet peeve, and so I suggest not saying stuff like that out loud.
I’m not so much against the people as I am against being unable to use pronouns, and against the words creating so much restriction and confusion. But then, I view gender as simply deciding two things: pronouns and lockerrooms. Lockerrooms are one’s own buisness, but pronouns are friggen annoying, and which one are you even supposed to use for Asexual?
I think I understand why we need to talk about everything else, but it seems like separating the genders actually does more harm than good – limits clothing choices, shoe types, complicates shoe sizes, creates disturbing stereotypes, and sets which superheroes are available at Bed Bath and Beyond (For that last one, I’m not kidding. All the heroes are males. White males at that). With Race, you at least have the historical baggage that comes with the genealogy, and having differences in sexuality does make sense at first, but if we could get past the idea of gender, you can throw a lot of trouble out the window.
What if characters, whoever they were, were just designed to look attractive (Both slender and buff Batmen alike), instead of having a target audience like “Girls” and “Boys”?
I guess what I’m trying to say is that there doesn’t seem to be a problem (that I know of) when you remove the dividers from the “gender” box. Males and Females alike come about evenly from all portions of upbringings (with exceptions), so the problems that we have are more societal as a whole instead of following down the gender line to the individual as cultural, racial, or other problems do.
I would also hope to see less “she deserved it if…” arguments because poorly informed commentators would not know if the victim were male or female. I would HOPE this would make the situation better, not worse, but hey – I might be completely clueless and just want not to struggle over pronouns when talking about two transgenders I know to two people who don’t really know them well enough to know they are actually transgenders.
I think Willis was talking to me, but it attached to yours somehow. Either that, or Lia who was sarcastically repeating what I was saying. (Her reasoning for why I said what I did was off, I was complaining about how difficult having multiple names for a single idea (In this case, person likes people which falls into desirable criteria) which vary in degree and level and different types of criteria – even when those names don’t particularly have any use beyond separating people)
No, because Race and Culture carry more weight to them as traditions and historical conditions are passed down. Indeed, individual mindsets are crafted by the factors of culture and upbringing as affected by one’s racial lineage. There are also affects of the mind involved which create more important topics to discuss.
My problem with Gender is that it seems to create more problems than it does open discussions – males get harassed for showing interest in pink or for playing with dolls or kitchen sets, girls get pushed around for being “weak” because they are girls, people trip over pronouns if someone chooses to change between the two… there seems to be little good or conversation which comes out of it.
Admittedly, I might just be beyond the boarders of where those discussions do take place, but other than pronouns, bathrooms, and locker rooms, I haven’t seen much that gender affects.
…that’s… sort of an odd way to list it. I mean first of all, if it’s a list of genders you don’t need to differentiate between cis and trans at all, let alone between “cis” and “cisgender” or “trans”, “transsexual” and “transgender”, so you can knock out about… 28 (by my count) of those terms right there and replace them with “male” and “female”. And “intersex” certainly shouldn’t be on there, that’s just a variety of medical conditions that affect the genitalia. Of course, most of these terms would be important to learn in a gender studies course, but if that’s your entire curriculum, I would hardly say it’s more difficult than calculus. I learned everything on that list just from personal experience in the queer community, and it was way easier than the intro level calc course i’m currently taking.
I’m just having trouble understanding what your intention was here I guess?
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BUT DID YOU LIKE IT
DaisyINQUIRING MINDS MUST KNOWAnd will Ethan mind it?
(I’m so sorry.)
Only if she’s kissing other hot gay dudes.
It probably doesn’t mean she’s in love tonight
Can you feel the love?
Tonight, at the latest.
As long as she introducing him to these other hot gay dudes, I suspect he’d get over it.
David Willis – the secret Katy Perry fan. 🙂
Or Jill Sobule, the original and better one. 🙂
Word.
Daisy and Becky is a v good idea though.
IT BEGINS.
LES-BEGINS! 😀
…Damn, that’s good.
LES-BEAN! <3
Except she’s not going to meet her, since she’s ditching Gender Studies. =P
Becky is skipping out on her opportunity to meet Les Bean, though.
Joyce must have such a reputation by now…
Walky will tell everyone, I bet.
Unless Dotty stops him…
Front page it is!
Call her Dotty and you die…or is that a different Dot?
More like he’ll tell two friends…
Oh, haha, I thought you meant his hands! But I guess he only needs to tell one of those.
Your dialogue and picture make me think you are Joyce of the future.
Oh Cheese, I totally forgot about that!
Who could ever forget this: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/other-guys/
Nice Shezow avatar (as of 19th Jan. 2015)
Kiitti =^_^=
Enpä olisi arvannut. O_o *Mind is blown.*
Well I do know the Finnish word for thanks at least. 😀
She don’t give a damn ’bout her bad reputation! *music noises*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ppoxzaRTc Appropriate Musinc Noises
The queen of the drunks swings both ways! Tell everyone.
Sierra already knew that she is a friend of Dorothy and Joyce has confirmed it!
Will Becky be the wedge in Ruth and Billie’s relationship? Will Joyce kiss Becky? Tune in tomorrow! Same Dumb-Time. Same Dumb-Website!
I lost. v.v It’s cows. Dairy cows being released in winter. And it didn’t ever load, so I was spared watching it.
You lost out on cows playing like puppies, and now you can never see it
It’s right up there with my other favourite cow video, Jazz For Cows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXKDu6cdXLI
Lier. I watched it on my phone, so there.
Her mother?
No, Becky actually kissed her, I’d forgotten. I think that happened anyway. Checking archives.
She may not know it, but if she’s kissed Jocelyn…
I thought of the wrong thing when I read that. I didn’t know Jocelyn was into her sister.
GO ON, JOYCE~
Wait, when did Joyce kiss a girl? Did I miss that strip?
It was Becky.
When Becky kisse her
She kissed Becky.
Technically she didn’t kiss a girl as much as it was the other way around, but details ruin all the fun.
Han shot first!
Word of God (Harrison Ford) on that one.
I’ve seen a pic of that George Lucas human wearing a shirt that said “Han shot first” . After being told about Star Wars, it made a lot more sense…
Technically, Han just shot. Han shooting first suggests Greedo shot second.
I… I had to explain how this is a geek thing to my counsellor. That was a thing.
Actually, it suggests that Greedo intended to shoot. Whether he got the chance to or not is irrelevant, it’s like the old Western standoff thing.
Did we mention that it was Becky?
Alas, never the Leslie/Becky may meet
But- But that’s all I wanted out of life!
I wanted Daisy to meet her. I think that woman is gonna explode.
Who’s gonna lesplode?
“Nah, I don’t want to talk about lesbianism with some borin’ ol’ professor who probably just read about it in a book or somethin’. I’d rather talk to somebody who’s experienced what I’ve experienced, somebody like Billie, who’s all nervous an’ tense an’ showin’ signs of runnin’ outta patience with me! Heck, if you take the ‘bi’ out of Billie’s name, since y’know, bisexuality ain’t really a thing, an’ just put ‘Les’ in its place, you get like the perfect name for a lesbian! But give my regards to Professor Dabbles N. Bookreadin’ or whoever.”
Added to headcanon.
You are eerily good at getting inside Willis’s characters, T. I love it.
Hah, that was good.
I was just thinking that. Why would Billie want to talk to her? She seemed a little annoyed by Becky.
Hey, yeah… Bi-llie and Les-lie…
Once they do, all the drama goes out of the Becky situation. Becky starts to explain what’s happened to her, and after about ten seconds, Leslie cuts her off: “Ah, yes, the ‘Exodus’ situation, and yes, the irony is intended. Here’s a packet of info for you to work on. Take note of the list of people who will put you up until you can find housing on your own, LGBT-friendly businesses to apply for jobs at, and the up-to-date list of upperclasswomen to avoid, at least until you’ve checked out your other options. I’ll make a standing appointment with you for Tuesdays at… let’s see… 2:40 PM to check on how you’re doing, plus of course you can call whenever if there’s an emergency or you just want to talk, although I’d appreciate it if you thought twice before calling on Friday and Saturday nights, here’s some alternative numbers for then. God still loves you and you can get reinforcement from the Episcopalians and UUs on campus about that if you want or need to. Oh, and if you have a picture of your dad or can give a really good description, that would be good too, we have people who keep an eye out for crazy parents.
“You’ll also want to unofficially audit my class. Trust me.”
She knows. She was there. She did say “someone ELSE.”
I wouldn’t take relationship advice from Billie, Becky.
I wouldn’t take relationship advice from any of these losers. They’re all 18. What the hell do they know?
Enough to get accepted into the college, at least.
To be fair though, the most ambitious one is dating Walky… so, it’s kind of a wash really.
Getting into college is the easy part. Getting through it and getting your degree is the true test of strength and an ability to deal with bullshit.
NOOOOOOOOOOOO! DAISY IS NEEDED! WILLIS!!!
I’ll light the Daisy signal! Okay, here she comes now.
“Hi, I’m Daisy!”
Shit, wrong one. We need a more specific signal.
Use the chest window one!
No, no, wait a sec. Daisy^2; This might have potential.
Just shout “oh no my E-cup breasts have become inexpicably exposed.” and daisy will be there. Also Jo. And all the non-gay male students. And probably the gay ones. And if it’s Billie all the students ever.
Tomorrow’s comic* is just two panels of Becky wandering around, asking “where’s a gal gotta go to find a lesbian?!” to no one in particular in the third panel, and the fourth panel is Daisy leaning in out of nowhere either saying “hello!” or “I know, right?!”
*note: I am not a patreon subscriber cause of money so this is a joke and not a spoiler even if I turn out to be right
god is on vacation with his lovely wife
Wait, what? Am I forgetting something here?
Oh, right, it was Becky. Wouldn’t that more being kissed by a girl though?
It would. Has Joyce ever taken the initiative on intimacy?
She’s shown signs of attraction (physical, whoa-I’m-blushing) for Joe, Ethan, and Billie, but she’s recoiled from those occasions, rather than rolling with them, never mind taking any initiative to make intimacy happen.
Kissing Ethan at Galasso’s, thereby sending herself into an angst-ridden tizzy and rushing to the toilet.
Right. I forgot about that. Sadly, it only reinforces the point that Joyce is out of her depth right now.
Specifically,
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/03-men-are-from-beck-women-are-from-clark/temple/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/belong-here/
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/curiosity/
Joyce saying “I’ve kissed a girl” sounds more like “please don’t dismiss me” than “I really know what you’re all talking about.”
Ugh. Been there, done that.
I love when even Mike doesn’t see it coming.
I am not sure Billie will be interested… also I think Becky might want to consider looking for a job. Few days have passed but she is probably going to need it.
“few days”? Becky arrived yesterday…
it has only been 1 day
PLEASE tell me she gets hired by Galasso. We just lost an entire webcomic about people who work for Galasso, I need to fill the hole in my heart.
And hey, Connie might be single and looking.
She is used to repression and handing over her will to a benevolent/malevolent other… (Yes, I mean God)
Galasso does not discriminate based on gender. Galasso does not know what a gender is.
That or she should meet Leslie. I don’t think this Leslie will ever be able to replace SP!Leslie like Amber or Joyce have supplanted their Walkyverse counterparts, but she is still a Leslie and I miss her already.
This is the morning after the confession to Joyce, this is literally Becky’s second day there.
That’s right, just give Mike more ammunition!
“Ok, kissed a girl other than present company…”
“And on purpose with the intent of russling your jimmies”
Is that an expression? I feel like that should be an expression. It does seem like something Becky would say, and I grew up in Indiana so I feel like I have an intuitive grasp of hokey (or Hoosier, even) expressions but I could also just be pulling this out of my ass. Hard to tell sometimes.
The power of lesbians has made walks better!
The power of lesbians compels you!
Oh, look, Walky’s back to normal. And all it took was a very unexpected statement from Joyce.
Nothing like a christian girl revealing she’s had a lesbian kiss to wake you up out of a depression.
And to straighten your hair apparently
Umm… damn you sexuality terms?
That’s good ol’ melodramatic Walky for you. “My life is ruuuuuuined… Oh, let’s tease Joyce instead.”
Same thing when he and Dorothy had a hiccup and he first met Becky.
I kissed a girl and I didn’t like it.
I think I may have hurt her feelings.
Wait come back!
am I pulling the drama tag if I think Becky is going to suddenly find herself accused of sexual harassment?
The drama tag for this strip was pulled loooooonnnggg ago, my friend.
It was pulled by default.
Yes, yes you are, because most people don’t consider surprise kisses sexual harassment. Dorothy was not accused of sexual harassment after all. Neither was Ruth. (in the comic world)
Actually, Billie tried to report Ruth, she just made the mistake of going to Daisy and getting kissed again.
Well looky there, turns out you’re right! I should’ve looked at that arc again just to be sure.
Also, Walky jokingly threatened Dorothy with a sexual harassment claim after she kissed him, if I remember correctly.
“I can make other friends here?”
Dang, Becky has a roof over her head, she gets to sit in on classes, and she’s free to just wander around the campus hanging out with people. Now I feel like a sucker for actually paying for all those years of college… 😉
(Yes, I’m sure it won’t last….just a little bit of sarcasm. Just for fun.)
The money is for that piece of fancy paper at the end.
And the letters of recommendation…and the letters of recommendation.
lmao Walky is so happy suddenly after being so morose the last couple of days xD
**HOURS
***minutes
Not for us though^^
True. I’m just trying to keep all the time condensation on lockdown, at least for my own benefit. THE DEMANDS OF CANON ARE RIGOROUS BUT ESSENTIAL.
Just remember, a lot of people here are on a very short fuse …
Yeah, this is going to be a big steaming pile of awkward for a while until Joyce is able to explain the whole crisis of faith thing in a way that’s satisfactory (“I would choose you even if it meant going to hell, but all the same I’m glad you’re not” seems like a good start) and the “HELL YEAH LESBIANS!” rush wears off on Becky and she can set about settling in.
At least that comment placed some life back into Walky.
A surprisingly faster treatment than McNuggets.
From a drawing out the drama of this storyline point of view, this was probably necessary.
Joyce can bring Becky to her several-hundred-person-from-the-look-of-it Calculus class, fine. No one will notice one extra head. Gender Studies is a much much smaller class (held in a classroom and not a lecture hall, for one thing), so Becky would get noticed very quickly. Bit of a pity though, because Leslie is probably one of the best adults to help them out here.
Many teachers don’t mind sit-ins, or even welcome them – so long as they don’t disrupt the class. Remember when Mike tagged along for gender studies?
Personally I’ve sat in all manner of small classes. Sometimes just because I accidentally walked into the wrong room. Seems like pretty reliably professors don’t care if there’s a strange face in one of the seats. I suspect they’re not paid to care about that. If the school wanted a bouncer it’d hire a bouncer.
I like your attitude to education.
“Huh? Wrong room again. I wonder what I will learn today.”
Sometimes I think people yearning for an education but not necessarily a degree should create a schedule for themselves and just duck out on test days.
I hear schools actually have some program for that if you wanna do it regularly. There’s some word for it where you meet up with them and arrange a timetable, get put on some roster, but you’re not a real student because you’re not paying tuition, so they won’t mark your stuff or give you a diploma/degree.
Come to think of it you’d think that would be something people could abuse when pursuing careers that require heavy amounts of knowledge but don’t care for certification. Maybe I’ve heard wrong.
I wouldn’t call it abuse as much as utilize. Still, you’d miss out on a lot of teacher feedback, workshops, lab and other more administration heavy moments so I wouldn’t recommend it.
Also, there’s plenty of opportunity for that online nowadays. Lots of free MOOCs.
True, the internet does change the entire situation.
It’s called auditing. Usually you do it on a per class basis while working toward a degree, or as adult education where you already have one.
And you generally do have to pay something, even if it’s not as much as for credit classes. What you don’t have to do is worry about failing and having it impact your gpa, so you can take a much more casual approach to studying.
I dunno, she was chill with Mike being there until he started talking. She’d probably be fine with Becky. Most college teachers don’t give a damn, so long as you’re not interrupting the lesson. Also, a lot of students will add themselves to classes at random points of the year, so it’s easy to assume that “oh that new face must be new to my class.”
EVERYONE is fine with Mike until he starts talking.
IIRC, she didn’t even mind Mike talking until Dorothy complained about harassment. She was pretty whatever about Mike in general up until then.
The possibility Becky might miss that class fills me with horror.
Realistically, the person most likely to cut through the drama and go directly to “These are support networks who will keep you alive and as safe and sane as possible” is Dr. Leslie.
If she figures out what’s going on, she will be On The Case, and she’s not dim so she’d figure out SOMETHING was going on. This can’t be the first time she’ll have seen something like this on campus.
COME ON UNIVERSE, LESLIE WOULD BE THE ANTI-WILLIS-DOOM CREAM THAT WE NEED TO MEDICINALLY APPLY IN THIS SITUATION.
If Joyce can actually bring herself to say “that word,” she could always ask on Becky’s behalf.
I’m suddenly imagining Joe offering her fifty bucks to actually say “lesbian”
YES! Come on, Becky, you NEED to meet Dr. Leslie Bean!
“Realistically, the person most likely to cut through the drama…”
And this is precisely why that won’t happen for a while.
LOLing for-fucking-ever at Mike and Walky….
Becky stop being sad and go back to being awesome right this second.
She’s still awesome, just comfortable enough to have her shields partly down. I actually prefer it this way. She and Joyce has a LOT to process so they have to be honest about what they are feeling.
Walked right into that one, huh Becky.
Sure, Joyce, now you flaunt having kissed a girl, when it’s convenient. 😀
She’s such a tease.
But if you skip Gender Studies you won’t get to meet Dorothy! Dorothy’s the best!
What the hecky, Becky. You miss both Dorothy and Leslie. It’s like you mess with the fans on purpose.
Cometathinkofit, Leslie would make a good (non-romantic) mentor to newly out Becky.
Apparently becoming a lesbian is like becoming a Jedi.
It 100% is.
“The technique is strong in this one…”
Goddamnit Becky!
She’s following Billie around now. The only interaction they had made it pretty clear she finds Becky annoying, but for some reason she thinks they’re friends. She’s just like Joyce!
That last sentence is spot on! Joyce and Sal is a good comparison.
I just love how Walky is snapped out of his funk by Joyce’s line at the end
Funk?
I thought that was walkys smitten-face
Similar, but no. This one was caused by failing the test.
Elsewhere on campus, Daisy jolts up in her seat, for some reason wishing she was somewhere else.
There comes the Joyce we know and love/hate.
Got a friend and cling to ’em like an octopus.
Becky moved off a bit faster than I expected but, I don’t blame her a bit. Joyce means well, but constantly being told, hinted, told again, that you’re lifestyle is ‘while not a major sin’, not all good either….gets down right old after awhile. Especially if you parents have just dumped you and pulled your college tuition at the same time.
Becky needs to spread her wings. Yeah I know I know…Joyce gave her a place to stay till she gets back on her feet. But that does not means she owns her.
You maybe should consult Billie on that plan first, Becky. I think she’s got a different freckly redhead who kisses girls that she wants to hang with, and I don’t think you’re violent, alcoholic, or depressive enough to get in on that deal.
Also the Gender Studies teacher totally kisses girls, and is also awesome, though much too low on the poll.
These aren’t exactly good times for Becky. They could probably just offer her a bottle and see where this goes if they were so inclined.
Though an angry drunk Becky coming home at the end of the night would probably be downright catastrophic.
The Gender Studies prof totally kisses girls, but I think she has A Thing for dark, curly hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. I just get the feeling that Becky doesn’t seem to quite be that “Type.” I don’t know quite why I feel that way, though.
See Roz’s sister.
Leslie would love to, yes.
Leslie can do better than sleazy hypocrite Robin.
But we want our ships packed short in this dumbing of age
Well, we could always ship Leslie-Malaya, then.
Leslie made a deal with the dark god of her multiverse to make that not happen.
I don’t really want to see her reduced to just an instrument to motivate Robin’s personal growth again, though, especially since this universe’s Robin doesn’t seem to be a real prize. She’s not just Robin’s lesbian anymore. She’s got a name now! (Even if it is just a dumb pun on “lesbian”.) No one can take that away from her!
But it’d be nice if Leslie had someone, and she’s in a position of authority and enough older than the core cast that there aren’t a lot of compatible people to ship her with without it being kind of sketchy. I dunno, maybe Daisy would be less of a creepster if she were actually getting some?
The problem here is that DoA pairings are (mostly) seen in the Walkyverse. That leaves Leslie with one of two not-very-nice women with black, curly hair, dark eyes, and olive skin: Robin and Malaya. Personally, I’d love to see Leslie-Robin with Robin as the sidekick, but I’ve got to admit that Leslaya would have its own special…charm.
Billie just needs to give in and start collecting freckly red-heads.
Ruth can be her ace in the hole that she uses to win new freckly red-heads from all the other collectors. Becky still needs some training.
The plot, she thickens.
I wouldn’t throw a gender on plot until the plot identifies as one. Gender’s gettin a bit tricky in this plotline already.
I don’t see how. Everybody in this story arc is cisgender, with nothing bringing that into question unless I’ve missed something pretty big.
That is unless Jocelyn makes an appearance…
But she didn’t, right? So where’s this coming from?
Yeah, I don’t really see how gender is an “issue” in our plot line. Is Jocelyn the only one you’re talking about, or…?
I… didn’t really think this far out honestly. Just tried to make a silly joke about arbitrarily assigning the plot as a “she”… Okay I’ll go away now k thx bye *runs away hastily cursing the day i was born*
No no no! Don’t leave! *hugs* It was just an honest question, I didn’t mean to scare you away! I wasn’t trying to be mean, I really just was curious!
I’sokay. I come back. no worries. I’m just super afraid of offending people.
I thought you meant Carla … she _could_ show up …
She has shown up in the previous chapter, which one could asume to be part of the current plot.
Stop your fat shaming!
Some space’ll probably do them both good anyway. Gonna need some time to work things out and get back in sync with eachother after tense moments like these. They’ll be seeing eachother, they live with eachother, but if they had to hang out all day these little moments would pretty quickly start building up into something nasty.
Heck, Joyce might even benefit from the ability to ask Leslie some questions while Becky isn’t present.
Becky will find out in due time the score with Billie, right now she doesn’t know. She just knows that she is drawn to her.
So what the Hell, if she doesn’t take a hint, then we will know that Becky and Joyce are alike in the respect that they don’t take hints too well.
Can’t blame for Becky for looking for someone to reciprocate her feelings. Or at least her life style choice.
Best case scenario: Billie sends her down to the news paper office to get her out of her hair and score one with Daisy.
Worst case scenario: Wild dogs eat Becky’s fermurs.
What I actually think will happen: Becky will blab to loudly about giblets and trigger an incident with Mary.
Coconuts knocking together in a drunken stupor.
I’ve been watching that show over again
I think I’ll cry if this all leads to more mistakes over the coming months that finally culminates in their friendship breaking apart.
They already demonstrated their friendship is more important than God. I think they’ll work it out.
The real challenge is not God, Butthole-dad or lesbianism – the real challenge is that they were friends as children but are not children any more. Now they have to learn how to be friends as adults. That’s hard and sometimes painful – but lots of people figure it out. They got a good start.
You were kissed BY a girl Joyce. Unless you kissed her back and we weren’t aware!
Well Daniel the human told me there are lots of different dimensions out there, so there could be one where it turns out more like my current Gravatar…
He tried telling me about some String Theory thing, which told me the dimension thing, but it just went over my head, so I stopped listening…
But does BILLIE wanna hang out with you
All signs point to no.
she does need to rush home and make sure ruth hasn’t killed herself
Uh yeah. This will be a total disaster probably. I hope that Becky gets it that Mary is not a tolerant person. before she talks openly about lesbians with Billie in the floor. And well i don´t think that Ruth would appreciate an open debate about lesbians on the floor between her secret girlfriend and Becky.
Actually Joyce is a bit clumsy handling the whole thing but Leslie would be a better person to talk to about that stuff than Billie.
Perhaps she could even help with their whole list of other problems. Could jeopardize her career perhaps if she keeps quiet about a non enrolled girl living on campus though.
Yeah, I do feel like Becky and Leslie would hit it off real well. They seem to have pretty similar mindsets.
Billie’s got her hands full trying to manage her relationship with Ruth at the moment – kinda interested in seeing how she’s gonna handle Becky’s ensuing clinginess. (At least, what I’m predicting will be clinginess. I figure there’s a reason she and Joyce are/were best friends for so long, haha.)
Way to keep it on the down low
Like… what if Joyce is actually *not* talking about Becky here? There could be hidden depths that we haven’t even considered.
Well, about a week ago, she was like a week away from openly admittin’ she wants to shove her face between Dorothy’s le-… , Maybe at a Christmas party, she & some other girls got some of the adult’s eggnog instead of the kids stuff, & things got a bit silly till they heard the adults coming, or something to that effect…
…Yeah, I get bored at times, so I poke the net between jobs. There’s some interesting stuff out there about human behavior. Most seem to end up getting messy, don’t know how normal that is tho…
Look at Walky here. He starts off all shell shocked and then she drops that bomb.
Whelp, time to get chewed out by Billie and (possibly) Ruth. Becky has her next few appearances cut out for her.
Oh my god Billie does NOT need one more girl trying to kiss her. :@
Yeah that’s kinda where I’m seeing this going. Becky’s gonna try to put the moves on Billie, and either
A) Billie flips her shit.
B) Ruth sees, and misinterprets the situation.
C) All of the above.
Maybe I’m being optimistic, but I think Becky really is just looking for somebody to talk to about all this and an excuse to get away from Joyce for a moment.
Yeah, I think so too. And of course she needs to ask Billie if she has any cute friends. Still plenty of room for Drama though (Mary’s name has come up a few times in the comments tread).
Actually not a bad strategy for Becky. Find someone who knows more about the whole lesbian-thing and get some pointers. Her timing and social calibration needs work though.
Then she should talk to Mary’s personal demonspawn, Roz.
Isn’t Roz pretty staunchly heterosexual? Her advice on these subjects has historically been pretty poor even when directed at other straight people too. “You need to cut loose! Come meet a rapist!”
I don’t really know that she’d be a great person to talk to here.
To be fair, she didn’t know he was a rapist. And I dunno, I think people think she’s bisexual because she said to her sister that she’d make out with a girl onstage if she was forced to go to the rally. But I think it was more of a threat, and not an announcement of sexual preference.
She didn’t know. That’s the point. She has an irrational faith that the party scene is the be all end all, taking a one size fits all approach that completely glosses over any problems, viewing anybody who would pursue social, sexual, and romantic connections through other channels as repressed stuffy suits.
The last thing Becky needs right now is to be tossed into a room with a bunch of unvetted people, some sexual predators, some not, and left to navigate the situation on her own by a host who blindly believes that no wrong can happen here and any discomfort Becky experiences is just something she needs to get over so she can really start living.
I’ve forgotten about the girl-kissing comment. That makes sense at least.
Not only did she not know, she tried to direct Joyce to therapy after the event.
Oh, well nevermind then. No harm no foul I guess.
Roz didn’t even invite Joyce to the party. She invited Dorothy and an unspecified “plus one”, for which Joyce nominated herself, which Roz wasn’t even aware of until just before the Ryan thing went down.
I don’t think Roz is really into girls – though I’m sure she’d follow through with the threat she made to Robin – but she is (to Riley’s dismay) aggressively open about sex and sexuality. I think she would be a good resource for Becky, except that I don’t think Joyce would let Roz anywhere near her.
She probably didn’t personally invite Ryan either. Didn’t know what the heck was going on in that little shindig she arranged.
I really don’t see her being some font of gay wisdom that could help Becky out.
It wasn’t even Roz’s party. It was Ron’s. And he didn’t know Ryan, didn’t invite him, and has promised to call the cops if he sees him again.
And Roz may not be a font of gay wisdom, but sex and sexuality are her primary interests and hobby, and she sure knows a lot more than Becky. For instance, she knows that “bisexual” is a thing. And she’s not gonna judge Becky for her sexuality, which Joyce, hard as she’s trying, isn’t managing.
I don’t think Roz is girlfriend material for Becky, but she would be a fount of information both about practicalities and the gay community. You just know Roz would love to help a budding homosexual find her wings, and she knows enough about sex-ed to know about the non-normative stuff (and of course just ways a girl can have sex without involving mandangles).
As for weather they would do sexytimes together, I dunno. I think Roz wouldn’t mind experimenting and make a tutorial of it if the spark is there, but I would have to see them meet to see if there is any chemistry. I really have no idea of how interested Becky is in a one night stand when it comes down to it, and frankly I don’t think she knows either.
Ruth: “You flipping your shit after kissing a girl was OUR thing, Billie!”
Yup that’s just the right statement to bring Walky out of his stupor.
All things aside, she’s being very rude to her host, and it’s barely been a night.
If Joyce were Hannibal, she’d be on a one way trip to the Rolodex strip.
I’m not saying the state of affairs is at all tolerable for Becky’s well being; given everything that’s happened to her, overreaction is not just to be expected, it’s probably healthy. (And I do NOT tolerate the homophobic attitudes of Joyce’s fellow congregation; I want those walls smashed)
But Joyce is *trying*. I can respect that. And she is Becky’s host.
Then again, I have no idea how many of my attitudes right now are compromised by my cushy perspective to a highly traumatic period in Becky’s life. This kind of rejection by one’s whole community drives people to suicide.
Maybe it’s just because I’m not exactly what you’d call socially gifted, but it seems to me that “I’d like to go do other things with other people now” isn’t exactly an easy thing to do politely on the best of days anyway. Especially in a situation like here where they immediately start pushing for why you wanna leave, why won’t you stay, and so forth.
At the same time, that is something they need to be able to do if they’re gonna live together. It can’t be a fuss every time one of them wants to step out.
Seems like minor, mostly unavoidable rudeness. The kind of thing that’ll get smoothed over after they’ve lived with eachother for a while and learned not to read too much into everyday things like their comings and goings. Maybe wrap their heads around things like “Okay, we’re a little bit peeved at the moment but we’ll just be glad to see eachother when the day’s done. Nothing of long-term consequence. This too shall pass.”
What I wish tomorrow’s dialog would be like:
“I mean a girl that liked it”
“…I think I kinda did like it…”
“!”
“I mean, at least it was a kiss with someone that was into it.”
“Wait, you mean Ethan didn’t like it?”
“Um wait no, hold on…”
“Well duh he’s–”
“MIKE SHUT UP SHUT ALL THE WAY UP.”
Poor Joyce gets two first kisses and niether of them went very well.
I guessing later that night…
__
l\
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Curses, almost worked… 😛
Wow Walky bounces back fast.
Glad to see something pulled Walky out of his funk. XD
I’m glad we’re seeing the drama sooner rather than later, because damnnn that was getting awkward haha. But Becky, I really /really/ don’t think Billie is gonna wanna hang out with you. Plus I really wanted to see Becky in a gender studies lesson damn itttt
Think Becky meant voluntarily.
and I’ve liked it, lalala
Walky looks like he’s had waaaaaay too much caffeine
The power of girls kissing. Walky with instant recovery! Even Mike does a walk back.
Wonder how much of the current tension is because of Joyce´s rejection of Becky´s declaration of love. Becky said she loved her her whole life and Joyce is everything to her. That´s not something you can simply brush away.
The whole lesbian angle overshadows it but they are also lifelong friends where one of them wanted more than friendship and the other one wants to keep her friend and help her in her hour of need without encouraging Becky that there is still a chance.
I don’t know if this is insulting, but I kind of feel like that was just momentary confusion. She’d had her big lesbian revelation, it was all new, she was still sorting out her feelings, suddenly she’s in dire straights and needs somewhere to turn, builds up this fantasy where it’s all gonna be so simple because she and her best friend have been in love all along so Joyce will understand it all completely and they can run away and be lesbian bestie lovers together in the big liberal city where people like her father will never bother her.
Just that she didn’t seem nearly as big on the Joyce angle when she and her roommate were having fun and shit hadn’t hit the fan yet. I mean obviously I wouldn’t be privy to her pacing around her room thinking about where she stands with Joyce during the weeks leading up to this but it just seems like the timing of it all tells a certain story.
Could be. The topic dropped quite fast and yeah she wasn´t big on the Joyce angle before she kissed her. OTOH it could be that she had to build up her courage or only considered to be open about it after she got the wrong ideas about Joyce not mentioning boys anymore and hiding Dorothy. She hid her other issues pretty well, too.
Well time will tell.
I think she see’s how awkward things with Joyce are right now and is trying to get some space. I doubt it has much to do with the rejection and more with Joyce finding reason’s to justify being friends with her which is sweet but mildly insulting. I personally think Becky’s moving a little too fast though. She could’ve benefitted from meeting Leslie.
Aw. Friends not connected by the hip anymore. Becky’s growing up so fast *sniff*. …you can still be friends, Joyce. That’s OK.
Aw. Friends not connected by the hip anymore. Becky’s growing up so fast *sniff*. …you can still be friends, Joyce. That’s OK.
That’s not exactly where Becky wants them to be connected.
Mike’s face is the exact blend of glee and mild disgust you’d expect. Poor Joyce.
That look of mild disgust just means he’s turned on.
I find Becky a very confusing character. I’m one of those people who has a lot of difficulty in telling what characters are feeling if it’s not shown obviously, and I have a lot of trouble understanding Becky. Is the whole closeted-to-super-duper-gay in like twelve hours thing a coping mechanism? Is Becky likely as okay with Joyce’s rejection as she’s making out, or is she just in denial? I know that a lot answers to these questions are guess-work, but any theories would be much appreciated as I’m struggling to understand Becky high is making a lot of the storyline quite difficult!
My keys to understand Becky (which are nothing more than my guesswork) are (in no particular order)
– She’s just as homeschooled, ignorant and religious and Joyce.
– She’s a rebel against authority, the less socialized of the pair.
– She’s a very good liar, very good at projecting a persona, very good at hiding her true thoughts and feelings. She has probably cultivated that skill for a very long time.
– She’s gay, and for the first time in her life in a situation where that’s not a cause for immediate ostracization.
– She’s 18 years old and for the first time in her life in a situation where she can socialize with people outside a very suffocating box.
– She’s got an awesome, flippant, bubbly personality.
– She’s just as good as Joyce as making friends, just look at her interaction with Walky.
– She has just taken a leap from a cliff. Whatever happens next she’s never coming up there again. She’s both scared of what comes next and happy that she never has to be back in that situation again.
– She loves Joyce, both romantically and as a friend. She’s just as hurt and confused as Joyce that their relationship is changing, and just as Joyce she tries to find a way to keep the good things but is unsure how to go about it, while she’s also not compromising on her sexuality.
– She really, really wants to touch some giblets.
It is a sort of coping mechanism and one that I’ve seen a lot among my friends after they came out. It’s also a way to assert your identity that you probably don’t feel 100% comfortable with yet. It seems to me like she’s seeking out a community in Billie for the same reason. She’s still very unsure of everything and she’s hoping Billie has the experience to help her make sense of it.
As for the Joyce thing…I think she is hurt, but she’s trying to make light of it so she doesn’t have to face the hurt. She’s still holding out hope that Joyce will realize she is gay for Becky after all, I think, which is why she keeps making jokes about how she finds Joyce super hot. I think right now she’s just trying to cope with her identity, rejection, estrangement from her family, and she’s tamping it down with jokes. It’ll probably come out in a big meltdown later.
I’m not sure if this is a phrase that is consistent among the gay community, but myself and my other bi/lesbian/pan friends call her behavior the baby dyke phase. Hell, we even like to show each other photos from OUR baby dyke phases. Basically, it’s when a person first discovers they are gay, and they go nuts about it. They are totally gung ho. A lot of girls turn super butch for a spell (or forever, depends), wear all sorts of pride stickers and such, and are always talking about how super gay they are. I think that is what is going on with Becky right now. (I also apologize to others who are uncomfortable with the d word)
It’s actually more simple than all that.
She’s been raised hyperconservative; more than just a rejection of that and self-assertion, a lot of people, especially those raised in conservative settings, will rush into the role they believe they’re supposed to now fill.
So, bisexuals/gays will assert themselves loudly, because that’s what they believe they’re expected to do [and that’s not something that the image of the gay community and gay bars really attempt to dissuade belief in, either, so early interactions with like-oriented people can amplify that impression]; transgenders will rush into transexual [ie, post-operation] contemplation and action, without thinking it through, because they believe it’s a mandatory conclusion to transgender assertion [and, admittedly, does tend to help you fit in a lot easier, both into transgender communities and non, which is enticing to most people].
Becky annoys the heck out of me at the moment [in large part because she’s like most people that are newly alternative-sexual, and they’re super into the supposed image, but haven’t actually changed their heteronormative thinking any, and so still react to paradigms outside of straight-gay as being disturbing*], but I can’t say I can’t see why she’s acting the way she is.
*I’ve gotten a ton of diss about my asexuality, almost entirely from homosexuals. Which makes sense, since to them, their sexuality is their major defining factor, it’s their conflict and their self-assertion. Stating that asexuality is also a possibility seems like a slap in the face to many of them (and so they’ve told me, the ones who don’t just claim I’m lying because sex is super important).
Wait, is Mary in gender studies with Joyce? If so, I sense a future conflict… Also, Roz teasing Joyce a bit.
I know Roz and Dotty are in the GS class. Not so sure about Mary.
Somehow I don’t peg Mary to spend their time with liberal crap like that.
I guess I should’ve put “liberal crap” in quotation marks.
Mike is awesome.
How does Becky know Billie is gay?
Joyce told her.
How does Joyce know Billie is gay?
She was there for the thing with Alice.
Billie had a kissing booth and didn’t limit it to males only.
Billie isn’t gay. She’s bisexual.
Billie’s not gay, she’s bi.
Does Joyce think lesbian is a swear word? She can say gay, why can’t she say lesbian?
I think she’s just having trouble adjusting to circumstances and doesn’t like to say such a blatant reminder of what is going on.
I got the impression she simply forgot what the word was, being one of those words she blocked out previously as being unimportant and blasphemous.
Just because the root of the word seems simple, doesn’t mean it wasn’t as foreign a word to her as Sillimanite would be to most of us.
Just because you’ve heard the word before, doesn’t mean you’d be able to come up with it off-hand.
I was under the impression that she was grasping for ANY word that would convince Becky to stay. She just couldn’t trump “lesbian” once it’d been thrown out there.
Walky and Mike though.
Does Becky not have an eye color?
Sure she does, the same as Mike and Walky and almost all characters except for Joyce and her family.
Typically black eyes in a comic/manga works as a substitute for brown eyes, same as blue hair acts as a substitute for black hair to distinguish different black haired individuals apart.
I mean, unless the sclera and iris are both black, then you’re dealing with someone possessed.
Or, y’know, this hilariousness:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBkJa679ffE
???
I know, this is the first I heard of it, too.
Maybe in a moment of understanding Joyce will finally notice that Becky has green eyes. The symbolism of this will be conveyed visually by making Becky’s green eyes visible to the audience.
Mike and Walky are here representing 95% of heterosexual and bisexual males.
O.O How do you forget your name?
Also… that makes me almost not want to deal with heterosexual and bisexual males. Almost.
Walky, shut up go find and bang Dorothy
or, you know, ask her for math tutoring. Either works.
I think that “bang” was supposed to be a euphemism for math tutoring here.
I thought we agreed the euphamism was “journalism.”
Naa, they help each other study, She helps him with the maths, then he helps her with the “Journalism”…
Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more, say no more…
LOL, just remembered a Possible training method that might work on Walky. Should keep him out of the first-fail-grade-funk too…
You said more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7HycFnH26U 😛
?.?
Hey Willis quick question: since Joyce is autobiographical, did you have a closeted gay friend come onto you?
His first (I think?) girlfriend later realized she was gay.
Becky’s not gonna be around for gender studies? But, but, it’ll be like a year or something before they have gender studies again! Don’t miss out on this, Becky!
True. It has been about a week since Walky said Joyce was a week away from diving for clams dumbing-verse time, & that was posted October 19, 2013. Admittedly, not all classes are shown, but if it only come up once a week, then it could be a bit of a wait for the next one real-time…
Gender studies is MWF, so we only have three days in-verse to wait. So about a year unless Willis skips again.
Not really related today’s strip but I had a thought on Becky’s future. I`m not sure what time of year it is in DoA but Becky could end up doing late enrollment. And then her roommate is……………MARY dun dun dun dun dun dun dun!
It’s Friday of Week Four, so late Septemberish. Mary is already Roz’s roommate.
Gender Studies in the 21st century…..now more difficult than calculus.
That’s a lot of Genders to study….not sure if I missed any.
Agender
•Androgyne
•Androgynous
•Bigender
•Cis
•Cisgender
•Cis Female
•Cis Male
•Cis Man
•Cis Woman
•Cisgender Female
•Cisgender Male
•Cisgender Man
•Cisgender Woman
•Female to Male
•FTM
•Gender Fluid
•Gender Nonconforming
•Gender Questioning
•Gender Variant
•Genderqueer
•Intersex
•Male to Female
•MTF
•Neither
•Neutrois
•Non-binary
•Other
•Pangender
•Trans
•Trans*
•Trans Female
•Trans* Female
•Trans Male
•Trans* Male
•Trans Man
•Trans* Man
•Trans Person
•Trans* Person
•Trans Woman
•Trans* Woman
•Transfeminine
•Transgender
•Transgender Female
•Transgender Male
•Transgender Man
•Transgender Person
•Transgender Woman
•Transmasculine
•Transsexual
•Transsexual Female
•Transsexual Male
•Transsexual Man
•Transsexual Person
•Transsexual Woman
•Two-Spirit
I admit that I am deeply ignorant on the more subtle details of gender identity (I never realized how many identifiers for trans people there were) but… Two Spirit? That’s a new one.
It’s specific to some aboriginal cultures. From what I understand, beyond a gender identity it’s a specific role in the community that comes with specific responsibilities. It seems to have some spiritual significance to it, so when non-aboriginal people claim it for themselves that’s a form of appropriation, just from what I hear. I’m not like well-read on this or anything.
That’s a lot of possibilities. I knew humans were interesting & diverse, but this was definitely unexpected! Glad Daniel the Human told me I don’t HAVE to remember all those types, just respect them like any other human. Then he told me he had a friend a while ago who was a male bisexual furry. Would that count as another possibility?
Can we please just eliminate gender all together? Things are so simple until someone adds WORDS into the mix.
Can’t we just eliminate “race” and “culture” and everything that makes humans different from one another (aka me)? Things are so simple until someone asks me to try to understand something that doesn’t directly impact my life! (sorry for being hostile, I just hate this attitude and think it usually comes from a place of privilege)
Privilege? huh?
People who complain about the thing you complained about in the way you complained about it are usually doing so from a favored social position. It’s kind of an established cliche. For example, “Why do we even need to TALK about race, why can’t we all just be PEOPLE???” is something white folks say when they’re irritated from being reminded that problems still exist for groups of people who are not them. It’s often used to make important discussions about these things shut down. It also makes it sound like these other folks are mere inconveniences to you. You can frame the same kind of question at those who are not within the majority in other arenas, like sexuality or gender. It’s become a major pet peeve, and so I suggest not saying stuff like that out loud.
I’m not so much against the people as I am against being unable to use pronouns, and against the words creating so much restriction and confusion. But then, I view gender as simply deciding two things: pronouns and lockerrooms. Lockerrooms are one’s own buisness, but pronouns are friggen annoying, and which one are you even supposed to use for Asexual?
I think I understand why we need to talk about everything else, but it seems like separating the genders actually does more harm than good – limits clothing choices, shoe types, complicates shoe sizes, creates disturbing stereotypes, and sets which superheroes are available at Bed Bath and Beyond (For that last one, I’m not kidding. All the heroes are males. White males at that). With Race, you at least have the historical baggage that comes with the genealogy, and having differences in sexuality does make sense at first, but if we could get past the idea of gender, you can throw a lot of trouble out the window.
What if characters, whoever they were, were just designed to look attractive (Both slender and buff Batmen alike), instead of having a target audience like “Girls” and “Boys”?
I guess what I’m trying to say is that there doesn’t seem to be a problem (that I know of) when you remove the dividers from the “gender” box. Males and Females alike come about evenly from all portions of upbringings (with exceptions), so the problems that we have are more societal as a whole instead of following down the gender line to the individual as cultural, racial, or other problems do.
I would also hope to see less “she deserved it if…” arguments because poorly informed commentators would not know if the victim were male or female. I would HOPE this would make the situation better, not worse, but hey – I might be completely clueless and just want not to struggle over pronouns when talking about two transgenders I know to two people who don’t really know them well enough to know they are actually transgenders.
I’m sorry….
Could someone point out exactly where I complained about something?
(Other than the fact that calculus is hard and so is memorizing 20+ subcategories of persons on the street.)
I think Willis was talking to me, but it attached to yours somehow. Either that, or Lia who was sarcastically repeating what I was saying. (Her reasoning for why I said what I did was off, I was complaining about how difficult having multiple names for a single idea (In this case, person likes people which falls into desirable criteria) which vary in degree and level and different types of criteria – even when those names don’t particularly have any use beyond separating people)
No, because Race and Culture carry more weight to them as traditions and historical conditions are passed down. Indeed, individual mindsets are crafted by the factors of culture and upbringing as affected by one’s racial lineage. There are also affects of the mind involved which create more important topics to discuss.
My problem with Gender is that it seems to create more problems than it does open discussions – males get harassed for showing interest in pink or for playing with dolls or kitchen sets, girls get pushed around for being “weak” because they are girls, people trip over pronouns if someone chooses to change between the two… there seems to be little good or conversation which comes out of it.
Admittedly, I might just be beyond the boarders of where those discussions do take place, but other than pronouns, bathrooms, and locker rooms, I haven’t seen much that gender affects.
…that’s… sort of an odd way to list it. I mean first of all, if it’s a list of genders you don’t need to differentiate between cis and trans at all, let alone between “cis” and “cisgender” or “trans”, “transsexual” and “transgender”, so you can knock out about… 28 (by my count) of those terms right there and replace them with “male” and “female”. And “intersex” certainly shouldn’t be on there, that’s just a variety of medical conditions that affect the genitalia. Of course, most of these terms would be important to learn in a gender studies course, but if that’s your entire curriculum, I would hardly say it’s more difficult than calculus. I learned everything on that list just from personal experience in the queer community, and it was way easier than the intro level calc course i’m currently taking.
I’m just having trouble understanding what your intention was here I guess?
EDIT: my wording about intersex people may not have been the best. Maybe replace genitalia with “sexual anatomy”.
Intention?
Not my list, just something I found. I guess someone out there thinks its important to break it all down like this.
If it were up to me I’d limit it to dudes and dudettes. 😉
why would you want to do that?
actually what the hell am i asking for I know what’s goin on. peace out
Because dudettes is a cool word.