As a cis-straight male from America, I feel compelled to say “Normal cultures do.” Show of hands as to those who hate the culture of toxic masculinity?
Not ‘normal’ cultures, but it’s arguably a typical body part to eroticize, as most cultures eroticize the breasts. This is because they’re directly tied to the act of raising children and maternity, and are therefore the closest body part not directly tied to the act of intercourse.
Fertility goddesses and matriarchal societies similarly emphasize breasts as a symbol of femininity.
So before we get all echo-chambery and circle-jerky over toxic masculinity, let’s remember -why- they’re eroticized.
I thought that there was also a theory that human women have larger fat deposits in their breasts to advertise to men that they have that extra fat, so they’re more likely to survive in lean times. You could turn that around and theorize that there could be an instinct to notice such fat deposits.
I am not, however, a scientist by a long shot, so I could be completely off-base on this.
Not that “noticing” something and “eroticizing” it necessarily go hand-in-hand, but I could see how one could turn into the other with a lot of people.
People with larger amounts of estrogen have larger fat deposits in the chest, because relative concentrations of estrogen and testosterone as one of their secondary sex characteristics they affect, cause differences in fat distribution.
Greater concentrations of estrogen causes fat distribution in cheeks (for softer facial feature), butt, and abdominal area (creating breasts). Greater concentrations of testosterone causes fat distribution in belly (aka “beer belly”) and waist, as well as sideways on the chest (creating a “wider chest”).
Mess with the concentrations in any way, it’ll change fat deposits. Mammals in general have subcutaneous fat in general largely because our internal body temperature is typically higher than most environments, so it is crucial cushioning and warmth generation to combat that as we are warm-blooded and thus internally regulate our own temperature.
Has literally nothing to do with sexual signalling, we’ve just eroticized it in the west, largely because we eroticize signals of being “a woman” and it is one of secondary sex characteristics our brains typically use to assume the gender of the people we interact with.
I’m missing the step here between “here are the effects of gender linked hormones on fat distribution” and “has literally nothing to do with sexual signaling”.
Wouldn’t any sexual signal be controlled by such hormones?
@thejeff, sexual signaling is controlled by hormones because no culture has ever sprung up in the absence of the biologic. So yes, “way back in the day” when fertility (linked to strong hormonal production and secondary sexual characteristics) controlled whether humans and cultures lived or died, humans of all cultures developed a preference for large breasts and hips on females, wide shoulders on males, etc. Lots of cultures *lack taboos* about body parts whose development is inherently sex-linked (one reason I can think of off the top of my head is a lack of clothing in the culture) but doesn’t mean those body parts *aren’t sexualized*. Even cultures with little/no clothing (e.g. indigenous cultures of Tierra del Fuego?) retain the concept of an ideally sexually attractive individual, where the basic criteria match up with those of other cultures.
tl;dr: stuff that’s true of “the West” is not necessarily untrue of everywhere else, and in this case it certainly is not.
I thought you were talking about hair at first.
The covering of women’s hair to avoid that the poor, hormon-driven men react to it shows up in several cultures, too.
Though I’m hard put to imagine a hard-wired biological reason why anyone should find hair erotic.
It is something that can easily be changed, bedecked, … so that it makes sense erotizising it (my autocorrect tried ‘erotic phishing’ for that one) is a cultural thing.
Preface: I speak as an American and Muslim woman, but do not claim that my knowledge is absolute. Oversimplification of the subjects below is occurring, and please, do not take my word as gospel about entire groups of people. My viewpoint is narrow. And may not make sense.
At first, this strip didn’t make sense to me. However, thinking of the religious Muslim community I was raised in, it actually makes perfect sense. I can only speak with authority about the one section of culture that does suggest covering one’s head to preserve modesty. Females only, of course. And I’m referring solely to conservative Muslims who follow the teachings of imams (religious leaders) educated in areas of the Middle East and central and Southern Asia. This isn’t even the majority of Muslims in the U.S., and, of course, conservative is a spectrum in and of itself.
To me, this kind of fetishization/demonization of hair, as much as I’m trying to be open minded about it, is a product of severe indoctrination in controlling one’s desires, frequently found in religious communities, but not necessarily reinforced EVERYWHERE. Everything is a case-by-case basis. However, this makes me think of the many rather misogynistic interpretations of head covering that suggest that women are precious things to be wrapped away, not complex beings capable of their own agency. Again, this thought is complex in itself, but Becky’s reference to what she was taught coupled with the fact that she asserts that her brain knows what is erotic reminds me of these boxes that intolerant religious leaders try to force young minds into. Her kink of what lies beneath the hat is not unnatural to me-rather, it is the product of her experiences and upbringing combined with the lustful instinct that manifests itself throughout us in different ways.
Becky is not sinful. I put no value judgements on this. But this strip makes perfect sense to me after thinking of my own experiences!
No apologies necessary. It was an informative perspective, though I’d suggest a much more simple reasoning: the universal appeal of the unrevealed, especially so if it’s your partner, by the second or third power if it’s your first relationship even. Also, it’s funny – this being a webcomic that shouldn’t be underestimated as reasoning to take something down a certain path.
I think both a instances of power being erotic and as power is less easy to to imitate, certain outstanding physical characteristics are the coded as erotic (both by those trying to imitate and those who search for someone like that)
The irony, of course, being that when he started losing his hair in his twenties, I think? he was convinced that was it, his (dating) life was over.
Oh, Pat.
Sir Pat. Mr. Stewart. No.
Also foot massages rock, but I was referring to a body part that would embarrass her more and I think it would be Becky staring at Dina’s feet with lust in her eyes.
^ this is coming from a woman who had an ex who liked to have his elbow licked, so I’m more cool with kinks than most 😉
Worth also noting that folks have erogenous zones everywhere and so those types of interactions can be genuinely erotic and amazing foreplay.
One of my partners has just crazy amount of erogenous zones on their scalp and neck, so when I lightly run fingers over their scalp and gently rub their neck, it’s like super their jam.
More common then one might expect.
Personally I love to have my hair pulled for that very same reason. The feeling of running my fingers over my scalp after I shave my head every year or so is AMAZING for the first day or two as well.
That sed, this is more about eroticizing someone’s scalp/top which I’d say is likely less common, but as rule 36 states – everything can be the subject of a fetish if given the right circumstances (even ducks aren’t immune!).
Back in the days when I went in for the whole wash-and-cut thing at a salon, rather than just going to a barber, the experience was intense. Not sexual, per se, but…
I think it was the combination of being touched somewhere I normally am not, by someone else; at the risk of provoking lewd jokes, it’s not remotely the same when I do it myself. Something about (not) having the kinesthetic/haptic feedback.
Ever had someone else wash your hair? Especially by someone that you could be attracted to. I was’t even trying to sexualize the experience and it felt wonderful. I didn’t want to make things awkward by showing wood, but it was difficult. I stopped going to the salon, because I was sure that my arousal was apparent, and I was embarrassed and didn’t want them to feel like I was a perv.
The early Chinese culture did, binding girl children’s feet in tight bandage until they grew only about half size and twisted in the bargain. Small feet were a desireable trait.
Too bad it crippled the grown woman.
The point was it showed how that woman didn’t ever need to do any manual labor, because of her social status, by way of making her physically incapable of doing so anymore.
It’s an interesting example of willfully crippling someone to make a social statement about their abundance of power/wealth.
OMG! I felt so bad for him the first time the bandana came off…hopefully Dina does not suffer the same fate. Although, the characters here are pretty different, so it should be safe as long as Walky isn’t around…
…. I had a girlfriend in college who went and shaved her head because of some Buddha thing. She wasn’t a believer, just doing something because she felt adventurous.
It was a bit of an awakening. Like, this was the only part of her skin I’d never seen up until then.
I don’t really have a scalp fetish, but there’s no naked as naked as bald naked.
Do you mean “Spiral” or “Spirals”? Because the second I never heard about, but the first is god-awful in it’s anime adaptation.
The art is pretty good, but the story is some of the worst tripe I’ve ever had the misfortune to stumble upon.
Ashley again, eh? You dog, you. Good, good, she deserves more spotlight.
She’s uniquely managed to overtake Susan since she appeared as my favorite character in EGS… my love of Ranma1/2 (thus relateability) surely has nothing to do with it what so ever. Totes.
But I did. And her goings up were rash, inconsiderate, and most out of everything self-absorbed.
She has zanily exposed herself to all of campus while she should have been hiding, kissed her hardcore Christian almost-sister friend, because in her head she ‘must’ have loved her the same way she did, just up and decided Dorothy is her enemy despite her kindness to her – so no, I checked, and for the most part I don’t like her.
That said all I needed to tip the balance there is just one thing I like, and cute, weird, innocent and goofy hat fetishes count.
I’m glad to hear you’re coming around, but your complaint about the time she kissed Joyce irks me. I agree it was a crappy thing to do, especially the way it was completely sprung on her without warning, but that particular, very literal interpretation of what she said bothers me.
That kiss happened in the days immediately after she’d fled to IU from the girl who kissed her, then turned against her, from the school that had kicked her out for being a lesbian, and from the father who wanted to force into conversion “therapy” (torture), to the only person in her life she could hope to still be on her side, I find it rather easy to imagine why she might be rather frantic and distraught and not making the best decisions.
When she was saying “You have to feel the same way“, she wasn’t speaking from some sense of entitlement, that Joyce had any obligation to feel the same, but because she’d been desperately clinging to the idea that Joyce secretly felt the same way as a single ray of hope left to her that anything was going be okay. She was convinced that it was the only reason Joyce wouldn’t turn against her as well, and she could not bear the thought of losing her on top of literally everything else. Given how close we’ve seen Joyce and Becky are, the amount of fear and pain she was feeling at the time must have been unbelievable for her to have thought for a moment that could ever happen.
I honestly am confused at how her words there would be taken literally.
They weren’t. What you said is quite right, and I have gotten the same impression as well. You have not considered I would be bothered by that too, however.
Putting your hopes upon other people before they promised you help is nothing sort of disgusting and I don’t condone it – among other reasons I’ve done so and I’m still carrying the weight of that mistake on my back.
Whether it originates from entitlement is beside the point. I don’t like self-absorbed behavior period. I don’t particularly care where it comes from, unless knowing specifics is necessary for a given person to stop doing it.
I’m just glad she doesn’t make a habit of it and only resorts to it when she is severely distressed.
That you considered how she was at her lowest point, desperately clinging to the tiniest shred of hope that might allow her to keep her head above water, and still hold it against her like it was a thing she chose to do, actually makes it seem really cold.
I’m sorry that you’ve had bad experiences with this, but I don’t see what else Becky could have done. Joyce was literally the only person left she could go to, and the fool’s hope that Joyce might have feelings for her may well have been the only thing that kept her head above water long enough to find some kind of safety.
Without that imagined ray of sunshine, she might well have given up entirely, and I don’t want to imagine what would have happened to her. Running away from home is a scary thing, even when your dad is a butthole like Ross. If she hadn’t felt some hope that Joyce would help her, she might not have had the courage to make a break for it. She might have escaped, but not gone to IU, just so she wouldn’t have to know that Joyce would turn on her as well, and ended up living on the streets. Worse, she might even have simply gone with him.
I don’t know what your situation was, and it’s none of my business. I’m sure it sucked I’m sorry for that. But I honestly feel that without that hope, Becky might not be alive.
Within the imagined ray of sunshine lies the issue.
She didn’t NEED to imagine any sunshine. She could have gone to Joyce with a light heart if she believed her to be her friend, and nothing would have changed sans a different tone of coming out and Joyce being spared a very unfortunate case of lip contact.
Joyce has loved her, cared for her, taken care of her and nurtured her for the majority of her life. A Joyce is a selfless and compassionate person, and she has a love for her likes of which many people before us have never known. She didn’t NEED to invent a baseless little fantasy that Joyce will declare her eternal secret love to her after their first kiss. She just needed to trust the friend she knew she had.
Having SOME form of hope to hold onto was necessary to keep her happy, and perhaps, alive. I don’t dispute that. The form of hope she has chosen however, is false, fragile, was ultimately shattered like anyone could have foretold, and stinks putrid of her own failings as a human being.
Even in our dark world there is plenty of hope to go around without building ones out of cards and wishing really hard they don’t collapse from a breeze.
Thus. In summary. I claim not she should have had no hopes for her own future, but I hold within my right to not like putting hopes in baseless hopes very much.
Also, I really wish I could just edit these posts and fix the numerous mistakes I’ve just made. ‘putting hopes in hopes’
I do hope you understand the point never the less.
I think you’re assuming more conscious, rational volition involved that is at all realistic. You can’t always choose what hopes you cling to. Someone drowning will clutch at whatever looks like it might float. If there’s only one thing to hold on to, that’s what they’re gonna hold on to.
Becky’s inability to trust that Joyce would still be there for her was not because she didn’t have enough faith, but because she was that afraid. Not only had they both been raised (quite successfully) to believe that homosexuality to be a horrible sin, but everything else in her life that seemed good and steady had been swept away all at once. At that point every single person who’d found out she was a lesbian had rejected her. The girl she’d kissed, whatever friends she’d made at Anderson, the school itself, and even her own father. She was not by any means a poor friend to have been afraid that Joyce might do the same. Especially since fear is not rational. Anything less than 100% confidence in Joyce would have left the door open, simply do to the sheer weight of how awful it would be .
I got put on academic probation for a semester, which is nowhere near that level of life-upheaval. It would have taken me away from my college friends for a few months. My reaction and subsequent decisions were not even a tiny bit rational. I hid it from my family all summer because I was too ashamed and rather than taking some community college classes over the summer or something that might’ve actually helped, I finished a final paper for a single-credit class I’d gotten an “Incomplete” in, hoping that would fix everything. It did not.
Panic, fear and despair make good, rational decision making extremely difficult. When your life has reached “fleeing your only family with nothing but the clothes on your back”, I can’t imagine you have any real choice in what hopes you cling to to survive. “Maybe Joyce loves me” felt like it would float, so she grabbed it and held on, and thankfully it lasted until Joyce and Dina pulled her out of the water.
You don’t have to explain Becky’s emotions every time.
No, not as in I’m agitated by it, it’s just a waste of your time and I consider your time valuable. Even had you not told me, I had the empathy to pick up on what Becky feels. It’s not necessary to repeat it over and over again.
Back onto the rest of your point. Trust is not a rational decision, either. Also, I don’t expect either Becky or Joyce to make rational decisions, as. You know. Extremely religious Young Earth Creationists.
My point is that, when she cracked under pressure – which is bound to happen every once in a while and no one should be blamed for it, per se – she defaulted to that piece of drek as her last hope.
A decent person doesn’t just make rational decisions. Their emotions and conscience should point the way as well. Doubly so for a person as religious as her, for whom what they feel, as well as their convictions, are their primary moral guidance.
She failed spectacularly at even that. Which is not by any means her FAULT, mind. I doubt her father OR her mother provided her with a healthy example or let her learn healthy responses from elsewhere.
But you have to take responsibility for your own actions. Regardless of what happened or was done to you.
Distress is a mitigating factor. Mitigating factors don’t make the mistake go away. It shouldn’t be FORGIVEN on the basis she was scared out of her mind. It makes the mistake understandable, yes, but forgiveness comes when you earn it, and Becky didn’t try to redeem herself in any way, or even just say sorry.
Which circles back to my main point that she is inconsiderate and too caught up in herself to even notice she should have at least said something.
‘Sorry for the sexual assault’ is already pretty weak. What should I think of a person who can’t be bothered to do even that? It was days ago. She calmed down. The immediate threat is gone. If the cause of her actions was just her fear, her distress, and not any self-importance, why isn’t she the slightest bit apologetic?
Signs say she isn’t saying sorry since she still doesn’t notice she should have. Joyce is, frankly, putting up with a lot of bullshit.
Ah. And do mind I remember the apology she has made for kissing Joyce, SINCE Joyce was roofied not long ago.
Before she was told that, she thought what she did was a-okay enough not to say a thing, which just supports my point, really.
I still disagree, but I think I at least somewhat understand now, and it’s looking like that’s as close as we’re gonna get to agreement without resorting to gladiatorial combat.
I’m sorry if this argument has gotten at all stressful for you, because I definitely seem to have gotten myself riled up a bit.
Thank you so much for the concern<3 And no, I am happy as I can be~! I become passionate in such discussions, and passion births a good natural high. I'm better off than when we started. Anything I can do to help you feel better?
JOYCE: “I’ve changed my religious beliefs, punched out a butthole with a gun, alienated half my family, and broken into a house to support you in this ‘liking girls’ thing, but, really, a scalp fetish? That’s a bridge too far. I mean, it’d be one thing if you were lusting after Billie’s bountiful cleavage, or Sal’s luxurious waves of hair, or Dorothy’s… …. um, where was I?”
I really hope this was meant to be some sort of variation of “I’ve Got a Dream” from Tangled. Otherwise, I just look silly with this follow up.
And she doesn’t seem to care just what you think!
And though for now, she chews the fat
She’s wants to get under that hat
Cause way down deep inside, she’s got a kink.
I have kinks like you, no doubt
Just not quite so roundabout
If it’s taking things off, it’s his shirt while I’m carried
A tall boy with a strong chest
Who won’t ogle a girl’s breasts
And will rub his thing on my tummy once we’re married
That’s Becky’s hand covering her mouth though. I think she’s just confused and probably a little disappointed that all Becky wants is to look at Dina’s scalp. She’s been in attack mode for a while and was probably prepared to support Becky and Dina’s relationship even if she was a little sad when Becky talked about their relationship becoming more physical.
Hmm, that could be. Their skin tones are too similar to be sure, but that would make more sense.
I still say its a smile. I read her yesterday more as trying to suppress shock / horror, as she’d been raised to respond to premarital and/or girl-on-girl hanky-panky. She’s totally okay with Dorothy and Walky doin’ it like rabbits by this point, and even asked Dorothy what it was like, so I don’t think she’s at all afraid for Becky’s soul, or anything else that would give her reason to feel sad.
The Cat in the Hat had a Cat in his Hat, and in that Cat’s Hat was the Cat in the Hat
idk if anyone else has read that one, but that’s what that makes me think of
What one thinks they see, or what they almost see, is often more erotic and stimulating than that which one clearly sees. Which goes to prove that despite what most people may claim, the most erotic zone in the human body is within the brain.
Third act twist: it turns out Dina’s “Hide in Plain Sight” ability only works with something covering her head. By taking off the hat and not replacing it, it will make her visible to Modula.
Willis probably never reads these, but I just felt like mentioning that this is the only webcomic I can keep coming back to and always have a good time. All my favorite ones are either dead, or the story/writing are going off the rails. Its impressive considering how long he’s been doing these. And all the iterations.
I’m in the same boat pretty much. The only other webcomic I still follow with a storyline is called Flaky Pastry, which I highly recommend.
It occurs to me that I don’t know if Willis has any rules about promoting other webcomics (I wasn’t paid or anything). Just delete my comment if there is and sorry!
I don’t think it’s a concern unless it’s spamming the chat or whatever
Like, promotional bots would be bad, but a recommendation probably isn’t prohibited
Great strip.
I love Becky and Dina together, but worry that if Becky dosn’t get a move on, she’s going to chew that lip of hers right off.
I also love Joyce’s interaction here, hell, she is so far from the first time someone said sex in front of her, it is amazing.
Love the faces.
Okay, I know about innumerable fetishes and angles on human sexuality; more than I’m comfortable with, really. However, this is the first time I’ve ever read someone claim that a hat is erotic clothing!
From her expression, I think that we’ve found the limits of Joyce’s empathy… and maybe her ability to comprehend too! :-S
Actually that’s what I like about Joyce in the first panel — she’s not scandalized, she’s just baffled. She’s past freaking out about Becky’s sexuality. Before she would have thought this was some kind of freaky lesbian thing she’d never heard of and be horrified by it.
OK, so just to clear things up here, and basically repeat what Cerberus said yesterday:
The hat itself is not all that erotic. Dina’s uncovered hair is in itself not that erotic.
But Becky -does- see it as something very, very intimate, to be allowed to see a part of Dina that Dina is deliberately choosing to hide from everyone else at all times. And this is true. If Dina only takes off her hat or hoodie to reveal her head, it -will- be an act of trust for her. it will mean something special to her. It will be something she will only do for a very special someone (and Becky hopes to be that someone, of course).
And to be allowed that intimacy, to be allowed that secret that nobody else has been allowed, to be allowed that level of trust from a person you really, really like… Now -that- is the intensely erotic part!
And that is what Joyce fails to see, and why she thinks she’s the voice of reason; when she really isn’t.
The only sort of correction I want to make to your comment is that I don’t think Dina is deliberately hiding the top of her head. It’s entirely possible she just likes wearing the hat. Of course, whether that’s true or not is entirely irrelevant to Becky thinking she’s hiding it.
Yeah, Joyce is definitely not getting what the big deal is. She’s clearly less repressed than Becky, but she’s also had even less experience with relationships (at least not ones where this kind of intimacy was ever going to happen), so it’s not at all surprising that she doesn’t understand how Becky’s this worked up over bits that are not generally classified as “naughty”.
dear becky: as an adult with an akward transition myself, i really hope you have realized masturbating is a thing you can do. it only helps a little, but it helps
You know, panel 4 perfectly explains an awful lot of human sexuality. Victorian chaps found woman’s ankles titillating, because they wore floor-length dresses all the time, and there are tribes in certain parts of the world where the women walk around topless all day, every day, and the men there are genuinely baffled (and pityingly amused) by the idea that westerners find breasts arousing.
Maybe humans are just wired to consider any body part that’s typically covered up “sexual”.
Ever wonder why Adam and Eve only produced offspring after they started wearing fig leaves? Spider-Man’s costume completely covers his entire body. It’s really no wonder Mary Jane preferred him over Peter Parker.
Basically, if an area is covered up in “general society”, then the baring of it is inherently seen as a “private act” and thus frequently seen as an act of intimacy. And intimacy is frequently powerfully romantic and/or erotic.
I am loving the role reversal with Joyce being the one going, “Wait, why are you getting all flustered about this?”
I think it really shows how much Joyce has grown – she’s able now to think critically about information she’s presented (first-chapter Joyce would’ve got all flustered because Becky was flustered and started screaming about premarital hanky-panky or something like that) and realize when someone isn’t exactly making sense.
On the other hand: It shows that Becky was every bit as affected as Joyce was by their upbringing, just that Becky is often better at hiding it.
I love the reversal too. It makes me wonder if we might end up seeing Becky’s freak-out face at some point.
Though I don’t think Becky actually hides her sexual repression, so much as it doesn’t show as obviously. She’s loud, funny, not at all shy (at least not in situations we’ve seen her in), and able to talk about sex just fine. People tend to assume those things indicate someone is also more comfortable actually performing a sex (or otherwise getting physically intimate), but that is definitely not necessarily true.
Remember the movie R.I.P.D. ( Rest in Pieces Department)? The cowboy lawman is turned on by the ankles on women simply because women from his time and place kept them covered up! XD
Panel 1: Aw, Becky not wanting to get caught objectifying Dina’s sexy sexy follicles. It’s so adorkable. I love these two’s relationship.
Panel 2: Joyce: Your fetish is not my fetish and that’s okay.
Panels 3-5: I unironically love this so much. Like, Becky is deconstructing her own fetish, introspecting on what it is that’s driving her wild about Dina’s scalp, and analyzing it with the facts about her life.
And it shows how much she has the mentality of a scientist, looking for the why in everything, trying to break down the origin of the data she has before her.
Plus, it just breaks your heart. Becky told to cover up, keep the boys from staring, victim-blaming horseshit that made her responsible for the actions of others. She took it all to heart, but, on the other hand, she made something out of it. Or her brain did.
And the beautiful part of it is she’s not wrong. This is powerfully erotic to her and so what? She doesn’t have to be sexual and intimate in the same way as everyone else. Her and Dina are going in to everything with so little preconceptions and building something totally their own.
And there is intimacy, vulnerability, trust, in Dina exposing her head because she literally doesn’t do it ever. Her showing her head would be major thing and that’s emotionally powerful, so why not sexually powerful as well.
Panel 6: Aw, Dina is being adorable. And that joke, that nice inversion of the standard model of objectification.
But I mostly want to focus on Becky. We’ve seen that Becky has taken consent to heart and hard after her misstep with Joyce and learning all about Joyce’s attack. And she’s practiced it so well with Dina so far.
So, I’m expecting Becky to be sexually tortured by this, but to respect Dina’s boundaries, to work up the courage to ask her, to try and beat around the bush at first, but have to be blunt for Dina to understand.
And I’m so excited to see it. These two are the most adorables of the Dooooofuses.
Huh. I just totaled the votes on the hottest three DoA women, and it only totals 251. That means at least 24.5% and as many as 49% of voters didn’t vote for 3 characters–about a quarter to a half. Only 13.5% to 29% didn’t vote for two guys.
I just kinda find this interesting. I wonder if it means that the comic audience skews straight female/gay male.
And, of course, I posted this just a bit more than an hour before the new comic, so no one probably saw it. I even tried to find it on the next comic, and thought it’d been deleted.
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BITEY
Somehow, I think if Becky was staring at Dinah’s chest, Joyce would be LESS embarrassed. ^_^
Wouldn’t you be?
Well yeah, that’s a fairly standard body part to eroticize. But the top of someone’s head? That’s a little off-beat.
(Apparently either Firefox or WordPress not recognize the word “eroticize”?)
But her brain is under there! Her big sexy brain! O_O
Ooooooh, nice point
Beck’s a sapiosexual now, there’s no turning back
That just makes me think of sapient pearwood and the mental imagery of someone doin’ it with the Luggage is horrifying
Wouldn’t last long doing it with ‘THAT’ luggage 🙂
Why, imagine a little luggage trudging after every nice doa-character.
Wouldn’t that be worth the risk?
😃👀😬
Most of these kids have enough luggage trundling after them already.
Plus, Mike with Luggage?
Maybe if the Luggage was into the person? I dunno, I’m not gonna kinkshame Luggage if it’s consenting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf-2msaWYqE
Scientists once believed the Dinasaurus had a second brain in its butt, as a single head brain couldn’t possibly hold all those dinosaur facts.
So Becky should be staring at Dina’s butt.
Well yeah, that’s a fairly standard body part to eroticize.
In some cultures, anyway.
As a cis-straight male from America, I feel compelled to say “Normal cultures do.” Show of hands as to those who hate the culture of toxic masculinity?
Not ‘normal’ cultures, but it’s arguably a typical body part to eroticize, as most cultures eroticize the breasts. This is because they’re directly tied to the act of raising children and maternity, and are therefore the closest body part not directly tied to the act of intercourse.
Fertility goddesses and matriarchal societies similarly emphasize breasts as a symbol of femininity.
So before we get all echo-chambery and circle-jerky over toxic masculinity, let’s remember -why- they’re eroticized.
Ah good. Nice to know that it’s not cause of that then.
I thought that there was also a theory that human women have larger fat deposits in their breasts to advertise to men that they have that extra fat, so they’re more likely to survive in lean times. You could turn that around and theorize that there could be an instinct to notice such fat deposits.
I am not, however, a scientist by a long shot, so I could be completely off-base on this.
Not that “noticing” something and “eroticizing” it necessarily go hand-in-hand, but I could see how one could turn into the other with a lot of people.
Thus the term “Reubenesque”!
Actually, it’s “Rubenesque”, after the Flemish Baroque artist Rubens, who was fond of painting full-figured women.
People with larger amounts of estrogen have larger fat deposits in the chest, because relative concentrations of estrogen and testosterone as one of their secondary sex characteristics they affect, cause differences in fat distribution.
Greater concentrations of estrogen causes fat distribution in cheeks (for softer facial feature), butt, and abdominal area (creating breasts). Greater concentrations of testosterone causes fat distribution in belly (aka “beer belly”) and waist, as well as sideways on the chest (creating a “wider chest”).
Mess with the concentrations in any way, it’ll change fat deposits. Mammals in general have subcutaneous fat in general largely because our internal body temperature is typically higher than most environments, so it is crucial cushioning and warmth generation to combat that as we are warm-blooded and thus internally regulate our own temperature.
Has literally nothing to do with sexual signalling, we’ve just eroticized it in the west, largely because we eroticize signals of being “a woman” and it is one of secondary sex characteristics our brains typically use to assume the gender of the people we interact with.
I’m missing the step here between “here are the effects of gender linked hormones on fat distribution” and “has literally nothing to do with sexual signaling”.
Wouldn’t any sexual signal be controlled by such hormones?
@thejeff, sexual signaling is controlled by hormones because no culture has ever sprung up in the absence of the biologic. So yes, “way back in the day” when fertility (linked to strong hormonal production and secondary sexual characteristics) controlled whether humans and cultures lived or died, humans of all cultures developed a preference for large breasts and hips on females, wide shoulders on males, etc. Lots of cultures *lack taboos* about body parts whose development is inherently sex-linked (one reason I can think of off the top of my head is a lack of clothing in the culture) but doesn’t mean those body parts *aren’t sexualized*. Even cultures with little/no clothing (e.g. indigenous cultures of Tierra del Fuego?) retain the concept of an ideally sexually attractive individual, where the basic criteria match up with those of other cultures.
tl;dr: stuff that’s true of “the West” is not necessarily untrue of everywhere else, and in this case it certainly is not.
I thought you were talking about hair at first.
The covering of women’s hair to avoid that the poor, hormon-driven men react to it shows up in several cultures, too.
Though I’m hard put to imagine a hard-wired biological reason why anyone should find hair erotic.
It is something that can easily be changed, bedecked, … so that it makes sense erotizising it (my autocorrect tried ‘erotic phishing’ for that one) is a cultural thing.
Well, at least one of those cultures also requires men to cover their forearms, so it seems the human body is just kinda sexy all over…
Preface: I speak as an American and Muslim woman, but do not claim that my knowledge is absolute. Oversimplification of the subjects below is occurring, and please, do not take my word as gospel about entire groups of people. My viewpoint is narrow. And may not make sense.
At first, this strip didn’t make sense to me. However, thinking of the religious Muslim community I was raised in, it actually makes perfect sense. I can only speak with authority about the one section of culture that does suggest covering one’s head to preserve modesty. Females only, of course. And I’m referring solely to conservative Muslims who follow the teachings of imams (religious leaders) educated in areas of the Middle East and central and Southern Asia. This isn’t even the majority of Muslims in the U.S., and, of course, conservative is a spectrum in and of itself.
To me, this kind of fetishization/demonization of hair, as much as I’m trying to be open minded about it, is a product of severe indoctrination in controlling one’s desires, frequently found in religious communities, but not necessarily reinforced EVERYWHERE. Everything is a case-by-case basis. However, this makes me think of the many rather misogynistic interpretations of head covering that suggest that women are precious things to be wrapped away, not complex beings capable of their own agency. Again, this thought is complex in itself, but Becky’s reference to what she was taught coupled with the fact that she asserts that her brain knows what is erotic reminds me of these boxes that intolerant religious leaders try to force young minds into. Her kink of what lies beneath the hat is not unnatural to me-rather, it is the product of her experiences and upbringing combined with the lustful instinct that manifests itself throughout us in different ways.
Becky is not sinful. I put no value judgements on this. But this strip makes perfect sense to me after thinking of my own experiences!
Good lord, apologies for the long-ass post!
No apologies necessary. It was an informative perspective, though I’d suggest a much more simple reasoning: the universal appeal of the unrevealed, especially so if it’s your partner, by the second or third power if it’s your first relationship even. Also, it’s funny – this being a webcomic that shouldn’t be underestimated as reasoning to take something down a certain path.
What the hell kind of thread did I start due to a self-deprecating joke? Not that it’s bad, mind you.
I thought I had put “in our culture” in there. Apparently my brain failed me. Curse you brain!
Also I appear to have left out the “does” in front of “not” in the parenthetical. Stupid tricksy brainses.
that profile picture fits just perfectly
Bruce Willis.
Patrick Stewart.
Maybe you don’t eroticize baldness. But you know SOMEONE does.
Don’t forget Mr. Clean
Dirty your thoughts with Mr. Clean!
…..
…. I don’t know whether that works or not.
it sure does (sorta)
Yul Brynner. (What?! He was a serious sex symbol before I got married)
I heard that the physical appereance of Professor X was based on him, that makes him more than just a sex symbol.
I think both a instances of power being erotic and as power is less easy to to imitate, certain outstanding physical characteristics are the coded as erotic (both by those trying to imitate and those who search for someone like that)
Telly Savalas. Who loves ya, baby?
I don’t think people find Patrick Stewart sexy because he is bald, generally speaking. I think people find baldness sexy because of Patrick Stewart.
Well, it was a fetish long before he came along. Yul Brynner, as Opus pointed out.
The irony, of course, being that when he started losing his hair in his twenties, I think? he was convinced that was it, his (dating) life was over.
Oh, Pat.
Sir Pat. Mr. Stewart.
No.
well it not a ‘proper’ word used that way… (too many bad spellings on internet!! :O )
try these.. 🙂 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/s/eroti
heard of ‘rule 34’ ?? well there is also ‘rule 36’.. :/
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rule+36
in the old days, the only uncovered part was ankles, so…. 😛
Just the tip!
She’s in good company on liking dome scalp 😉
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/04-just-hangin-out-with-my-family/missed/
Better that than her feet 😉
Feet are at least ticklish, which can be fun! ^_^
Also foot massages rock, but I was referring to a body part that would embarrass her more and I think it would be Becky staring at Dina’s feet with lust in her eyes.
^ this is coming from a woman who had an ex who liked to have his elbow licked, so I’m more cool with kinks than most 😉
Now, I’m just trying to figure what could possibly be done, erotically, to the top of someone’s head…
Palm to scalp contact. Finger to scalp contact. Forehead to scalp contact. Lip to scalp contact. Boob to scalp contact. Tigh to scalp contact.
…I’d be willing to try all of those, sounds like some neat snuggling.
…Stomach to scalp contact. Overarm to scalp contact. Shoulder to scalp contact…
12567
Belly to belly suplex?
Sorry, that list started to sound like wrestling moves! 😉
Pretty much.
Worth also noting that folks have erogenous zones everywhere and so those types of interactions can be genuinely erotic and amazing foreplay.
One of my partners has just crazy amount of erogenous zones on their scalp and neck, so when I lightly run fingers over their scalp and gently rub their neck, it’s like super their jam.
More common then one might expect.
Personally I love to have my hair pulled for that very same reason. The feeling of running my fingers over my scalp after I shave my head every year or so is AMAZING for the first day or two as well.
That sed, this is more about eroticizing someone’s scalp/top which I’d say is likely less common, but as rule 36 states – everything can be the subject of a fetish if given the right circumstances (even ducks aren’t immune!).
Back in the days when I went in for the whole wash-and-cut thing at a salon, rather than just going to a barber, the experience was intense. Not sexual, per se, but…
I think it was the combination of being touched somewhere I normally am not, by someone else; at the risk of provoking lewd jokes, it’s not remotely the same when I do it myself. Something about (not) having the kinesthetic/haptic feedback.
These http://www.orgasmatron.com.au/ were popular for a while.
The best noogie ever!
Petting. Nuzzling. Scritching. Any sort of touching is sensual, thus potentially erotic.
Ever had someone else wash your hair? Especially by someone that you could be attracted to. I was’t even trying to sexualize the experience and it felt wonderful. I didn’t want to make things awkward by showing wood, but it was difficult. I stopped going to the salon, because I was sure that my arousal was apparent, and I was embarrassed and didn’t want them to feel like I was a perv.
I’m reminded of this note in Gone Home:
http://gonehome.wikia.com/wiki/Dealing_With_Roots
aaaaand I should have read all the way down.
The early Chinese culture did, binding girl children’s feet in tight bandage until they grew only about half size and twisted in the bargain. Small feet were a desireable trait.
Too bad it crippled the grown woman.
I uh
I don’t think that was generally considered a negative side effect. At the time.
The point was it showed how that woman didn’t ever need to do any manual labor, because of her social status, by way of making her physically incapable of doing so anymore.
It’s an interesting example of willfully crippling someone to make a social statement about their abundance of power/wealth.
Joyce’s last panel face is best.
5th is 2nd.
The “enough of this shit” face, at last.
That is the truth.
She did not expect to be cast as the voice of reason, but she rose to the task
I love seeing smiley-Dina
if dina is just a hat that means billie is just drinking problems
wait
Slightly too much distilling of characterization.
was that a pun?
Yes.
Truly the characters are much more of a mixture.
Please Willis, NSFW scalp based slip shine
Joyce is gonna walk in on Becky someday watching Head & Shoulders commercials in her underwear.
“I can explain!”
I’d read that.
And then somebody shows her a hair washing ASMR…
*48 hours later*
Joyce: Becky, I really want to get back into my room. What have you even been doing in there for the past two days?
I… I think I need to research this… purely for science, of course!
One of my friends has ASMR. She said it’s just tingly and relaxing. She’s a big fan of Bob Ross 😛
i think the point was that she would be using it for non-ASMR purposes.
Purposes that her youth pastor would not approve of.
*cough-cough*
Ironically, Girls with Slingshots – which is re-running old strips – is re-running a plotline about this exact same extremely niche subject. Who knew?
I thought of that same thing!
OMG! I felt so bad for him the first time the bandana came off…hopefully Dina does not suffer the same fate. Although, the characters here are pretty different, so it should be safe as long as Walky isn’t around…
I did, yesterday. 😛 🙂
I’ve never heard of a scalp fetish before
Probably wasn’t until you challenged it. At least, I think that’s how rule 34 works.
….
…. I had a girlfriend in college who went and shaved her head because of some Buddha thing. She wasn’t a believer, just doing something because she felt adventurous.
It was a bit of an awakening. Like, this was the only part of her skin I’d never seen up until then.
I don’t really have a scalp fetish, but there’s no naked as naked as bald naked.
There’s no naked as naked as skinned naked.
There’s no naked as naked as renaissance autopsy naked.
There’s no naked as naked as skeleton naked.
Two person coffins are really like 7th base. Just gotta coordinate things realllll close
So Relt was going about 20-25 mph and Paul over here kicked it right up to at least 85
oh god. If only I could record and post how hard I am laughing right now
SO CLOSE to blowing 1955’s collective minds.
I actually read a horror manga about this. From the same guy who did the holes and spirals manga
junjo ito?
Do you mean “Spiral” or “Spirals”? Because the second I never heard about, but the first is god-awful in it’s anime adaptation.
The art is pretty good, but the story is some of the worst tripe I’ve ever had the misfortune to stumble upon.
Humans are interesting…
Nanny said, “Funny to think of our Magrat being married and everything.”
“What do you mean, everything?”
“Well, you know – married,” said Nanny. “I gave her a few tips. Always wear something in bed. Keeps a man interested.”
“You always wore your hat.”
— Lords & Ladies, by Sir Terry Pratchett.
Nice! that was exactly what I was referencing
Oh, yes, totally a thing. Usually expresses itself as an attraction to bald men.
Attraction to bald _women_ is rarer, but does happen.
Bald women are pretty hot, given the right accessories/clothing styles. They have an air of adventure, charisma and uniqueness about them.
Becky, if you bite your lip any harder, you’re going to tear it off.
[Insert Overused Comment Here]
Dina looks younger than even Riley in the last panel.
It’s the suddenly-Joyce-size pupils cranking the adorable past 11.
Ashley again, eh? You dog, you. Good, good, she deserves more spotlight.
She’s uniquely managed to overtake Susan since she appeared as my favorite character in EGS… my love of Ranma1/2 (thus relateability) surely has nothing to do with it what so ever. Totes.
I think this is the first time that line was used when somebody wasn’t standing on their head O_O
So amused.
Joyce’s expression in that last panel: priceless.
“She’s got eyes up there, too! Get off my case!” might be my new favorite line in this thing.
Especially if their T-shirt or pants has eyes on them.
Look at her eyes, not Monkey Master’s.
Her shirt has writing on it, I’m just septentrigintuple checking for spelling errors.
Dina has eyes
EVERYWHERE
honestly? i get it
Reminds me of when Dina covered her face at Joyce’s dorm party. Everyone who spoke with her maintained eye contact with her hat.
Dina will NOT stop being adorable Mr. Willis! Even if she’s bald under that hat 😛
I’m pretty sure WE’ve seen her without it.
What does a dream about a scalp even feel like. How do you know it’s a sexy dream.
I assume you are aroused while it goes on. Maybe you rub your parts in it also? It’s not a thing I have, per say, but I can see myself enjoying it.
that sounds like it would be mad itchy, no matter what you got down there
It would be? I suppose if the hair short and the the ends of the follicles touch you, yes, but otherwise, hair is smooth.
+is, -the
Why can’t you edit these
You hump the scalp, clearly.
Okay, Becky went on my like-o-meter from zero to “oh my god I wish her to be happy so much”; – ;
Becky was at zero up until now? O_o Pardon my incredulity, but you must not have witnessed much of her doings up until now then.
But I did. And her goings up were rash, inconsiderate, and most out of everything self-absorbed.
She has zanily exposed herself to all of campus while she should have been hiding, kissed her hardcore Christian almost-sister friend, because in her head she ‘must’ have loved her the same way she did, just up and decided Dorothy is her enemy despite her kindness to her – so no, I checked, and for the most part I don’t like her.
That said all I needed to tip the balance there is just one thing I like, and cute, weird, innocent and goofy hat fetishes count.
I’m glad to hear you’re coming around, but your complaint about the time she kissed Joyce irks me. I agree it was a crappy thing to do, especially the way it was completely sprung on her without warning, but that particular, very literal interpretation of what she said bothers me.
That kiss happened in the days immediately after she’d fled to IU from the girl who kissed her, then turned against her, from the school that had kicked her out for being a lesbian, and from the father who wanted to force into conversion “therapy” (torture), to the only person in her life she could hope to still be on her side, I find it rather easy to imagine why she might be rather frantic and distraught and not making the best decisions.
When she was saying “You have to feel the same way“, she wasn’t speaking from some sense of entitlement, that Joyce had any obligation to feel the same, but because she’d been desperately clinging to the idea that Joyce secretly felt the same way as a single ray of hope left to her that anything was going be okay. She was convinced that it was the only reason Joyce wouldn’t turn against her as well, and she could not bear the thought of losing her on top of literally everything else. Given how close we’ve seen Joyce and Becky are, the amount of fear and pain she was feeling at the time must have been unbelievable for her to have thought for a moment that could ever happen.
I honestly am confused at how her words there would be taken literally.
They weren’t. What you said is quite right, and I have gotten the same impression as well. You have not considered I would be bothered by that too, however.
Putting your hopes upon other people before they promised you help is nothing sort of disgusting and I don’t condone it – among other reasons I’ve done so and I’m still carrying the weight of that mistake on my back.
Whether it originates from entitlement is beside the point. I don’t like self-absorbed behavior period. I don’t particularly care where it comes from, unless knowing specifics is necessary for a given person to stop doing it.
I’m just glad she doesn’t make a habit of it and only resorts to it when she is severely distressed.
That you considered how she was at her lowest point, desperately clinging to the tiniest shred of hope that might allow her to keep her head above water, and still hold it against her like it was a thing she chose to do, actually makes it seem really cold.
I’m sorry that you’ve had bad experiences with this, but I don’t see what else Becky could have done. Joyce was literally the only person left she could go to, and the fool’s hope that Joyce might have feelings for her may well have been the only thing that kept her head above water long enough to find some kind of safety.
Without that imagined ray of sunshine, she might well have given up entirely, and I don’t want to imagine what would have happened to her. Running away from home is a scary thing, even when your dad is a butthole like Ross. If she hadn’t felt some hope that Joyce would help her, she might not have had the courage to make a break for it. She might have escaped, but not gone to IU, just so she wouldn’t have to know that Joyce would turn on her as well, and ended up living on the streets. Worse, she might even have simply gone with him.
I don’t know what your situation was, and it’s none of my business. I’m sure it sucked I’m sorry for that. But I honestly feel that without that hope, Becky might not be alive.
Within the imagined ray of sunshine lies the issue.
She didn’t NEED to imagine any sunshine. She could have gone to Joyce with a light heart if she believed her to be her friend, and nothing would have changed sans a different tone of coming out and Joyce being spared a very unfortunate case of lip contact.
Joyce has loved her, cared for her, taken care of her and nurtured her for the majority of her life. A Joyce is a selfless and compassionate person, and she has a love for her likes of which many people before us have never known. She didn’t NEED to invent a baseless little fantasy that Joyce will declare her eternal secret love to her after their first kiss. She just needed to trust the friend she knew she had.
Having SOME form of hope to hold onto was necessary to keep her happy, and perhaps, alive. I don’t dispute that. The form of hope she has chosen however, is false, fragile, was ultimately shattered like anyone could have foretold, and stinks putrid of her own failings as a human being.
Even in our dark world there is plenty of hope to go around without building ones out of cards and wishing really hard they don’t collapse from a breeze.
Thus. In summary. I claim not she should have had no hopes for her own future, but I hold within my right to not like putting hopes in baseless hopes very much.
Also, I really wish I could just edit these posts and fix the numerous mistakes I’ve just made. ‘putting hopes in hopes’
I do hope you understand the point never the less.
I think you’re assuming more conscious, rational volition involved that is at all realistic. You can’t always choose what hopes you cling to. Someone drowning will clutch at whatever looks like it might float. If there’s only one thing to hold on to, that’s what they’re gonna hold on to.
Becky’s inability to trust that Joyce would still be there for her was not because she didn’t have enough faith, but because she was that afraid. Not only had they both been raised (quite successfully) to believe that homosexuality to be a horrible sin, but everything else in her life that seemed good and steady had been swept away all at once. At that point every single person who’d found out she was a lesbian had rejected her. The girl she’d kissed, whatever friends she’d made at Anderson, the school itself, and even her own father. She was not by any means a poor friend to have been afraid that Joyce might do the same. Especially since fear is not rational. Anything less than 100% confidence in Joyce would have left the door open, simply do to the sheer weight of how awful it would be .
I got put on academic probation for a semester, which is nowhere near that level of life-upheaval. It would have taken me away from my college friends for a few months. My reaction and subsequent decisions were not even a tiny bit rational. I hid it from my family all summer because I was too ashamed and rather than taking some community college classes over the summer or something that might’ve actually helped, I finished a final paper for a single-credit class I’d gotten an “Incomplete” in, hoping that would fix everything. It did not.
Panic, fear and despair make good, rational decision making extremely difficult. When your life has reached “fleeing your only family with nothing but the clothes on your back”, I can’t imagine you have any real choice in what hopes you cling to to survive. “Maybe Joyce loves me” felt like it would float, so she grabbed it and held on, and thankfully it lasted until Joyce and Dina pulled her out of the water.
You don’t have to explain Becky’s emotions every time.
No, not as in I’m agitated by it, it’s just a waste of your time and I consider your time valuable. Even had you not told me, I had the empathy to pick up on what Becky feels. It’s not necessary to repeat it over and over again.
Back onto the rest of your point. Trust is not a rational decision, either. Also, I don’t expect either Becky or Joyce to make rational decisions, as. You know. Extremely religious Young Earth Creationists.
My point is that, when she cracked under pressure – which is bound to happen every once in a while and no one should be blamed for it, per se – she defaulted to that piece of drek as her last hope.
A decent person doesn’t just make rational decisions. Their emotions and conscience should point the way as well. Doubly so for a person as religious as her, for whom what they feel, as well as their convictions, are their primary moral guidance.
She failed spectacularly at even that. Which is not by any means her FAULT, mind. I doubt her father OR her mother provided her with a healthy example or let her learn healthy responses from elsewhere.
But you have to take responsibility for your own actions. Regardless of what happened or was done to you.
Distress is a mitigating factor. Mitigating factors don’t make the mistake go away. It shouldn’t be FORGIVEN on the basis she was scared out of her mind. It makes the mistake understandable, yes, but forgiveness comes when you earn it, and Becky didn’t try to redeem herself in any way, or even just say sorry.
Which circles back to my main point that she is inconsiderate and too caught up in herself to even notice she should have at least said something.
‘Sorry for the sexual assault’ is already pretty weak. What should I think of a person who can’t be bothered to do even that? It was days ago. She calmed down. The immediate threat is gone. If the cause of her actions was just her fear, her distress, and not any self-importance, why isn’t she the slightest bit apologetic?
Signs say she isn’t saying sorry since she still doesn’t notice she should have. Joyce is, frankly, putting up with a lot of bullshit.
Ah. And do mind I remember the apology she has made for kissing Joyce, SINCE Joyce was roofied not long ago.
Before she was told that, she thought what she did was a-okay enough not to say a thing, which just supports my point, really.
I still disagree, but I think I at least somewhat understand now, and it’s looking like that’s as close as we’re gonna get to agreement without resorting to gladiatorial combat.
I’m sorry if this argument has gotten at all stressful for you, because I definitely seem to have gotten myself riled up a bit.
Thank you so much for the concern<3 And no, I am happy as I can be~! I become passionate in such discussions, and passion births a good natural high. I'm better off than when we started. Anything I can do to help you feel better?
It’s just a backdrop.
I’ve heard about lots of fetishes, but never heard of scalp fetish.
Apparently Dina needs some advice from Nanny Ogg re:wearing something with a SO or lover… “I always wear my hat.”
JOYCE: “I’ve changed my religious beliefs, punched out a butthole with a gun, alienated half my family, and broken into a house to support you in this ‘liking girls’ thing, but, really, a scalp fetish? That’s a bridge too far. I mean, it’d be one thing if you were lusting after Billie’s bountiful cleavage, or Sal’s luxurious waves of hair, or Dorothy’s… …. um, where was I?”
Talking about what Joyce likes about Dorothy.
Freckles.
BRAIN.
Everything. She’s the perfect cinnamon roll.
+1
Oh Becky~
You’ve got a kink!
(She’s got a kink!)
You’ve got a kink!
(She’s got a kink!)
I really hope this was meant to be some sort of variation of “I’ve Got a Dream” from Tangled. Otherwise, I just look silly with this follow up.
And she doesn’t seem to care just what you think!
And though for now, she chews the fat
She’s wants to get under that hat
Cause way down deep inside, she’s got a kink.
No no, sorry boys, I don’t sing.
Assuming that is Joyce, I offer the following:
I have kinks like you, no doubt
Just not quite so roundabout
If it’s taking things off, it’s his shirt while I’m carried
A tall boy with a strong chest
Who won’t ogle a girl’s breasts
And will rub his thing on my tummy once we’re married
Well the quote was Flynn’s, and Sarah’s personality seems to more match his than Joyce’s, imo.
It got better!
Unfortunately, continuing the song would go very badly very quickly.
Really? I think it would be absolutely hilarious
Too many cooks?
(probably not, that’s just what popped into my head)
Just rehashing the song from the kink episode of American Dad, which itself was a parody of “I’ve got a Dream” from Tangled.
……
…. this is gonna be a weeeeeeird slipshine.
Okay, that is definitely a smile Joyce is hiding in panel 1. She’s come so far from freaking out about them!
To me her whole demeanor just says “C’mon, Becky, that’s not where the good stuff is! You know this!”
Or alternatively: “No, Becky! The hat stays on!“
That’s Becky’s hand covering her mouth though. I think she’s just confused and probably a little disappointed that all Becky wants is to look at Dina’s scalp. She’s been in attack mode for a while and was probably prepared to support Becky and Dina’s relationship even if she was a little sad when Becky talked about their relationship becoming more physical.
Hmm, that could be. Their skin tones are too similar to be sure, but that would make more sense.
I still say its a smile. I read her yesterday more as trying to suppress shock / horror, as she’d been raised to respond to premarital and/or girl-on-girl hanky-panky. She’s totally okay with Dorothy and Walky doin’ it like rabbits by this point, and even asked Dorothy what it was like, so I don’t think she’s at all afraid for Becky’s soul, or anything else that would give her reason to feel sad.
HEAD SHAMPOOING SLIPSHINE COMING SOON
Who else remembers the “Herbal Essences” commercials that really could have used a disclaimer, “does not actually cause orgasms”?
To be fair, it really did sell me one of those bottles! (I think?)
I nominate Joyce’s line in the last panel for next book title.
Seconded!!!
Becky wants to run barefoot through Dina’s hair. It’s a combination fetish, you wouldn’t understand. 😀
+several
Dina is so cute!!!!!!
Whoa, this strip is getting too kinky for me!!!
So her pastor caused her to have a hat kink. Or rather, a hat-hiding-heads kink
…Huh
It’s less hat-hiding-head kink, and more unbidden-forbidden-hidden kink.
Great job saving her from sins there, youth pastor
If you want to stop kids from doing something, just tell them they ought to do it and then don’t check.
joyce is soooo done lmao shes like becky becky just… have sex with dina oh my god #dead
“Smooching, Becky! Get to it!”
i wanna smooch a girl like becky tbh or more honestly i want a girl like becky to smooch me
This is basically the most reasonable thing anyone has ever said.
This… might just be my favorite fucking strip of all time.
This might just be my favorite not-fucking strip of all time.
Well, you’re gonna be disappointed Becky. Because you see, under Dina’s hat…is another hat!!!
It’s hats all the way down.
Careful now, you wouldn’t want her to get the vapors.
Disappointed? That’s going to be like fetish to the googleplex.
The 500 Hats of Dina Saruyama
The Cat in the Hat had a Cat in his Hat, and in that Cat’s Hat was the Cat in the Hat
idk if anyone else has read that one, but that’s what that makes me think of
What one thinks they see, or what they almost see, is often more erotic and stimulating than that which one clearly sees. Which goes to prove that despite what most people may claim, the most erotic zone in the human body is within the brain.
And her brain is in the area under her hat! No wonder Becky wants some scalp action. 😉
That is one-half of the Theiss Titillation Theory proposed by TV tropes
The other half is that the sexiness is also directly proportional to how close the outfit looks to letting something slip out
I absolutely love that Joyce actually turns to look and see if she can detect the “mystique” herself.
Also that Becky thinks it would be so powerful as to transcend sexual preference. She’s so adorable when she’s flustered
“I now identify as hat-sexual.”
“I don’t think that’s a thing.”
“Rule 51”
“What?”
“That’s not really how girl-on-girl hanky panky works… Right?”
I also love how it looks like Becky is saying that due to your avatar 🙂
…I like all of these people. They are awesome. I want them to be happy.
This…this is kinda sodded up lol.
Punchline: That’s actually Dina’s head. THERE IS NO HAT.
*pop*
Turns out she has a bald spot due to study stress.
Doooooooooooooooooofuses.
Never change 🙂
Third act twist: it turns out Dina’s “Hide in Plain Sight” ability only works with something covering her head. By taking off the hat and not replacing it, it will make her visible to Modula.
So if this doesn’t work out, guess we need to set Becky up with a nice Muslim girl.
Although not all of us (in fact, most, probably) don’t wear headscarves, I am dying of laughter at your comment 😆
Joyce is going to ask Dina to talk off her hat, she does, and Becky goes nuts.
Would that count as a threesome?
Willis probably never reads these, but I just felt like mentioning that this is the only webcomic I can keep coming back to and always have a good time. All my favorite ones are either dead, or the story/writing are going off the rails. Its impressive considering how long he’s been doing these. And all the iterations.
Anyway.
Actually, he puts tons of work into reading the comments.
I’m sure he knows and is glad for it. Also, your tears feed him, or something like that.
I’m in the same boat pretty much. The only other webcomic I still follow with a storyline is called Flaky Pastry, which I highly recommend.
It occurs to me that I don’t know if Willis has any rules about promoting other webcomics (I wasn’t paid or anything). Just delete my comment if there is and sorry!
I don’t think it’s a concern unless it’s spamming the chat or whatever
Like, promotional bots would be bad, but a recommendation probably isn’t prohibited
Nothing is so desirable as forbidden fruit.
Rotten fruit? Less so.
What if the rotten fruit is forbidden?
Great strip.
I love Becky and Dina together, but worry that if Becky dosn’t get a move on, she’s going to chew that lip of hers right off.
I also love Joyce’s interaction here, hell, she is so far from the first time someone said sex in front of her, it is amazing.
Love the faces.
Great job encouraging the boys in your church to become entitled misogynist assholes, Youth Pastor Powers.
Well… that is his job.
So those things Becky said about horns and frills and stuff… She wasn’t kidding.
And when we jokingly compared her to a Jaeger a while back we were more spot on than we thought.
NIZE HAT!!!!!!!
Becky would make a fine Jaeger.
Nah…Becky is trying to MAKE Dina lose her hat.
But if she absconds with it afterwards…
Abstinence-only sex education and unintentional reverse psychology – a dangerous combo.
… you ain’t right, Becky.
Prefrontal headypetty!
Becky certainly has the hots for unobtainable things.
I can’t stop staring at Dina’s face.
Actually I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mystique wear a real hat.
(Ba-dum-tish!)
Wait, a bitty (asian) dinosaur bat? You mean that Dina’s spirit animal is Yi qi?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_(dinosaur)
Okay, I know about innumerable fetishes and angles on human sexuality; more than I’m comfortable with, really. However, this is the first time I’ve ever read someone claim that a hat is erotic clothing!
From her expression, I think that we’ve found the limits of Joyce’s empathy… and maybe her ability to comprehend too! :-S
a hat is very erotic, my good commentor
Especially in the absence of everything else :3
Actually that’s what I like about Joyce in the first panel — she’s not scandalized, she’s just baffled. She’s past freaking out about Becky’s sexuality. Before she would have thought this was some kind of freaky lesbian thing she’d never heard of and be horrified by it.
It IS a freaky lesbian thing she’s never heard of.
This is the most amazing thing ever omg
So Becky has a scalp fetish? … Eh, no weirder than feet fetishes, I guess. Enjoy nomming on Dina’s head like a zombie, Becky. 😉
This is the best strip ever.
Becky you innocent little marshmallow!!!
Too good for this sinful world. So pure.
“Her eyes are down there” and you’ll never ever hear that line again XD
OK, so just to clear things up here, and basically repeat what Cerberus said yesterday:
The hat itself is not all that erotic. Dina’s uncovered hair is in itself not that erotic.
But Becky -does- see it as something very, very intimate, to be allowed to see a part of Dina that Dina is deliberately choosing to hide from everyone else at all times. And this is true. If Dina only takes off her hat or hoodie to reveal her head, it -will- be an act of trust for her. it will mean something special to her. It will be something she will only do for a very special someone (and Becky hopes to be that someone, of course).
And to be allowed that intimacy, to be allowed that secret that nobody else has been allowed, to be allowed that level of trust from a person you really, really like… Now -that- is the intensely erotic part!
And that is what Joyce fails to see, and why she thinks she’s the voice of reason; when she really isn’t.
Also, Dina in the last panel: SUPER-ADORABLE!
The only sort of correction I want to make to your comment is that I don’t think Dina is deliberately hiding the top of her head. It’s entirely possible she just likes wearing the hat. Of course, whether that’s true or not is entirely irrelevant to Becky thinking she’s hiding it.
It wouldn’t surprise me either way. I mean, both her parents wear hats.
“No, I said: Are…You…Ready?!”
Yeah, Joyce is definitely not getting what the big deal is. She’s clearly less repressed than Becky, but she’s also had even less experience with relationships (at least not ones where this kind of intimacy was ever going to happen), so it’s not at all surprising that she doesn’t understand how Becky’s this worked up over bits that are not generally classified as “naughty”.
damn you willis. Eye am dead
dear becky: as an adult with an akward transition myself, i really hope you have realized masturbating is a thing you can do. it only helps a little, but it helps
It definitely helps to release the tension. When they tell you that you were supposed to be the one bringing the cinnamon rolls.
I’m so confused.
They never mentioned the cinnamon rolls again. Also works for marshmallows.
That makes even less sense.
uhhhhh… I mean I guess you could use semen for glaze? That’s kinda kinky.
She was likely told it was a sin, though. 8~-({
I honestly would not be surprised if she’s not heard of it, and that Sarah has to tell her about it.
I mean, Joyce didn’t know what a dildo even was.
I’ve been called four eyes before, but it wasn’t like this.
She has some fabulous plumage under it.
I thought that it’s typically the male of the species that has the plumage, to entice the females as to their, what, prowess?
Joyce has some snark today 😀
Yeah I’m liking this new Joyce and I have to agree with her completely in this strip
You know, panel 4 perfectly explains an awful lot of human sexuality. Victorian chaps found woman’s ankles titillating, because they wore floor-length dresses all the time, and there are tribes in certain parts of the world where the women walk around topless all day, every day, and the men there are genuinely baffled (and pityingly amused) by the idea that westerners find breasts arousing.
Maybe humans are just wired to consider any body part that’s typically covered up “sexual”.
Ever wonder why Adam and Eve only produced offspring after they started wearing fig leaves? Spider-Man’s costume completely covers his entire body. It’s really no wonder Mary Jane preferred him over Peter Parker.
And Lois to Superman, since she doesn’t even notice Clark.
There’s a social reasoning for it.
Basically, if an area is covered up in “general society”, then the baring of it is inherently seen as a “private act” and thus frequently seen as an act of intimacy. And intimacy is frequently powerfully romantic and/or erotic.
I am loving the role reversal with Joyce being the one going, “Wait, why are you getting all flustered about this?”
I think it really shows how much Joyce has grown – she’s able now to think critically about information she’s presented (first-chapter Joyce would’ve got all flustered because Becky was flustered and started screaming about premarital hanky-panky or something like that) and realize when someone isn’t exactly making sense.
On the other hand: It shows that Becky was every bit as affected as Joyce was by their upbringing, just that Becky is often better at hiding it.
I love the reversal too. It makes me wonder if we might end up seeing Becky’s freak-out face at some point.
Though I don’t think Becky actually hides her sexual repression, so much as it doesn’t show as obviously. She’s loud, funny, not at all shy (at least not in situations we’ve seen her in), and able to talk about sex just fine. People tend to assume those things indicate someone is also more comfortable actually performing a sex (or otherwise getting physically intimate), but that is definitely not necessarily true.
You want me to WHAT?
That last panel is my favorite in possibly this entire comic’s run
I just noticed, did Becky sleep in Dina’s bed? What with Billy back in her bed and all.
No, she still slept in Billie’s bed, and Billie slept in Ruth’s.
Becky spent the night in Billie’s bed as Billie spent the night in a depressive funk on Ruth’s bed:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/joint/
You know, I honestly think I missed that one, because I didn’t remember it at all.
Remember the movie R.I.P.D. ( Rest in Pieces Department)? The cowboy lawman is turned on by the ankles on women simply because women from his time and place kept them covered up! XD
Comic Reactions:
Panel 1: Aw, Becky not wanting to get caught objectifying Dina’s sexy sexy follicles. It’s so adorkable. I love these two’s relationship.
Panel 2: Joyce: Your fetish is not my fetish and that’s okay.
Panels 3-5: I unironically love this so much. Like, Becky is deconstructing her own fetish, introspecting on what it is that’s driving her wild about Dina’s scalp, and analyzing it with the facts about her life.
And it shows how much she has the mentality of a scientist, looking for the why in everything, trying to break down the origin of the data she has before her.
Plus, it just breaks your heart. Becky told to cover up, keep the boys from staring, victim-blaming horseshit that made her responsible for the actions of others. She took it all to heart, but, on the other hand, she made something out of it. Or her brain did.
And the beautiful part of it is she’s not wrong. This is powerfully erotic to her and so what? She doesn’t have to be sexual and intimate in the same way as everyone else. Her and Dina are going in to everything with so little preconceptions and building something totally their own.
And there is intimacy, vulnerability, trust, in Dina exposing her head because she literally doesn’t do it ever. Her showing her head would be major thing and that’s emotionally powerful, so why not sexually powerful as well.
Panel 6: Aw, Dina is being adorable. And that joke, that nice inversion of the standard model of objectification.
But I mostly want to focus on Becky. We’ve seen that Becky has taken consent to heart and hard after her misstep with Joyce and learning all about Joyce’s attack. And she’s practiced it so well with Dina so far.
So, I’m expecting Becky to be sexually tortured by this, but to respect Dina’s boundaries, to work up the courage to ask her, to try and beat around the bush at first, but have to be blunt for Dina to understand.
And I’m so excited to see it. These two are the most adorables of the Dooooofuses.
Dofuses indeed. Becky is wonderful in this and, just as you note, highly scientific.
All of this.
You and your comments continue to be a joy. Thank you.
That is probably the best riff on “my eyes are up here” that I ever hope to see.
When I saw this page’s name was ‘Bitty’ I could only think of Check, Please!
What a good, gay webcomic. Ahhhh.
Oooh, is that actually a queer dude comic?
I don’t give a shit about hockey (I’m a bad Canadian, I know) but queer dudes? I’m in.
Can’t wait for The Backstagers to finally get collected in TPB. It’s like Lumberjanes for queer dudes!
It is 100% a queer dude comic and I love it, definitely check it out! I think Willis RT’d something about it once, meaning he’s aware of it as well.
And Joyce is finally able to flip the teasing tables! THAT LAST PANEL IS QUITE POSSIBLY THE BEST ONE IN THE ENTIRE COMIC
that joyce face
This is so cute, I’m just gonna melt into a little puddle and *blublublublublublooorp*
I enjoyed the inverted “My eyes are up here” joke, but Becky’s follow-up secondary punchline was one of the funniest things I’ve read in awhile.
Agreed and agreed
Did Becky ever see Ethan with the hat? Will she be consumed with jealousy?
I got under your girlfriend’s hat, a story of love, betrayal and Triceratop hoodies.
If Mike and Ethan had a mindswap…
Looked through book 5 and checked the tags. No, Becky never saw Ethan with the T. Rex hat.
Will this revelation lead to their first fight?
Will Becky realize it is her own fault because when she fired Ethan as Joyce boyfriend she drove him into Dina’s
armshat?Tune in next
weekdecade, same DoA time, same DoA website!Huh. I just totaled the votes on the hottest three DoA women, and it only totals 251. That means at least 24.5% and as many as 49% of voters didn’t vote for 3 characters–about a quarter to a half. Only 13.5% to 29% didn’t vote for two guys.
I just kinda find this interesting. I wonder if it means that the comic audience skews straight female/gay male.
And, of course, I posted this just a bit more than an hour before the new comic, so no one probably saw it. I even tried to find it on the next comic, and thought it’d been deleted.
someone’s been in the bathroom with pictures of Sinead o conner.
The fetish Becky is dreaming about is called a hairjob, BTW.