Lesbians


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Tags: becky, joyce

169 thoughts on “Lesbians

  1. Joyce, you can admit that girls other than Dorothy are hot. It’s not a betrayal.

    1. It is, though.

      1. Is it, though?

      2. Bryy… if you truly believe that you cannot find a person other than your partner attractive, then something incredibly toxic is going on in your life.
        Either you or a partner of yours (now or in the past) has some insanely unrealistic ideas about the human psyche. People cannot control their thoughts – only their actions.

        Edit: Or, I suppose it could be a learned toxicity from a parent or other mentor figure.

        1. Yes, this is (IMO) some lingering (and very toxic) programming that if you have (or admit to) attraction to more than one person, you are an unfaithful hussy.
          And we’ve already seen, on multiple occasions, that Joyce is very good and practiced at editing the past to conform to this Perfect Romance narrative, where she has only ever been in love with her current partner.

        2. There is also the possibility that having grown up with Becky as her best friend, admitting to Becky’s “hotness” would feel incestuous. Though Joyce has rejected her old religious belief(for now) the values in which she was indoctrinated are still there though are evolving, and she has yet to fully incorporate her new ideas into her values. i expect Joyce to go though a period of extreme guilt in the near future as she fully comes to terms with her new reality and her personality and values find their new equilibrium.

        3. I agree with Lazarus. Becky is an only child, so never really primed for feelings of siblinghood. Joyce has older siblings (so was) and because of Becky’s closeness to Joyce’s family growing up, and the ‘Kibbutz Effect’, likely reacts to Becky like another sibling and is therefore unable to respond to her sexually.

      3. I was going to ask how, but yeah, what Rose said.

        1. Welp. Shame on me for thinking an obvious joke post would be obvious.

        2. Apologies, I’m pretty bad at catching those.

    2. I’d say there’s a chance she’s being honest.
      But I remember her interactions with Sal way too well to say that.

      1. And Billie. Or Billie’s cleavage, anyway.

        1. Safe and warm forever…

        2. Isactuallyabear

          And possibly Roz, considering the things she was denying thinking about when referring to her porn video.
          https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/behave-3/

      2. She might think that she is telling the truth here

        1. Dorothy has been pressing her dopamine button a lot lately, so she probably forgot Sal and Billie exist

      3. well, jamie from gws called herself an ‘above the waist lesbian’ altho that circumstance was slightly diff

    3. She may not, in fact, find other girls than Dorothy hot. Though the evidence with both Jennifer and Sal suggests otherwise.

      1. This. Her present denial may be due to continued allegiance to an ideal of very strict monogamy. She can’t be attracted to women other than her partner!

        1. Also, just because you’ve realized you love somebody of the same sex doesn’t mean you’ve consciously recontextualized whatever complicated feelings you had buried before that.

    4. Admit to non-Dorothy possibilities?
      On what grounds?

  2. LIAR

    1. HILARIOUSLY lying. :D

      1. I like your new Avatar photo, it is pretty hillarious (and a bit Janus?).

        1. Thank you! It’s a little Janus, correct, but it’s more specifically Melpomene and Thalia (a.k.a. the Tragedy and Comedy masks of theatre), who are tied to both Janus and Dionysus.

          I’ve always loved Jennifer’s Lucy-van-Pelt frowns but then we got Joyce making kinda the same shape but inverted and I was just “THERE’S the other half! THERE we go!” :D

        2. Oh that is cool. Thank you for teaching me something today.

      2. It occurs to me that it would be amusing (and particularly painful for Becky) if the averting-eyes truth included “Actually, you’re near the top of the list, but when I found our about your orientation I was still in deep denial about my feelings, and then channeled all my ambiguous attention and behaviour to Dorothy while I was being careful not to accidentally lead you on.”.

    2. well at least she didn’t accidentally blurt out anything like “every girl except you”

  3. “Apart from Sal. And Jennifer. And Alice. And…”

    (Proceeds to list every girl in the cast except for Becky)

    1. Look so long as she doesn’t name any redheads she might be in the clear

      1. “And Ruth! Damn, those freckles!”

        1. “IKR?!”

        2. OngoingConversation

          Come on now guys, we already have it on good authority that the freckles are stupid

    2. “Really? You named MARY before me?!”

      1. “Have you seen her wet? Sha had a towel and all, but…”

      2. “Haven’t you heard about hate-fucking?”

    3. I love that Becky of all people is making Joyce question her greater sexuality.

  4. I mean, she’s only been out to herself for a few days or something, she’ll figure out who else is hot eventually.

  5. 🙄

    1. Hater containment thr- *I am shot by a cannon*

      1. nice joke, happy April fools!
        also do enjoy the full moon tonight (tommorrow)? I know I will >:D

        1. Thanks for the pointer on the Moon and happy April Fools! Did your MRI provide good news?

        2. I do not know of the results of that
          but the circulatory system CT scan of my leg (rather invasive, not gonna talk too much about it) thankfully revealed that there was no “pipe problem”
          glass half full ;-;

        3. Here’s to your glass running over!

        4. Very crossed fingers for you!

      2. More like shot by the canon, amirite??

        1. You are right.

      3. Meanwhile I’m liking this one largely because Becky is actually reacting to Joyce the way Joyce deserves, which is a breath of fresh air.

        1. apocryphascribe

          Agreed, I’m liking where this is going.

    2. also off topic but for some reason when you wrote that I just imagined Jax from amazing digital circus riding a bike and just shooting ya ass XD

      (yes i am very out of it on a gummy, was my first day of PT and I need to CONK OUT X-X)

    3. Don’t look at the shortpacked update

      1. I thought it was funny

      2. at this point I really want to see Mx. Willis’ vision of this bowling manga

      3. I wish we got to see more codependency or whatever you’d call their dynamic. Frankly, I think we missed out on Joe+Joyce problems too. Feels like there were some story hooks that got dropped in order to get the whole “bisexual lighting” tear gas scene.

        1. Yeah idk if this person thought the shortpacked strip was somehow a dig against me personally (?), a little codependency is not a dealbreaker in a ship for me, my OTP is literally Billie/Ruth

        2. Would be SO weird if they did, like. Not all of the complaints about Joyce/Dorothy have been either “it’s too codependent” or “it’s incest”.
          .
          Those people do definitely exist and they’ve been real loud in the comments on occasion, but there are plenty of other angles of criticism here, and that comic isn’t about anything you’ve ever said that I’ve seen, Dot.
          .
          Maybe if Robin was complaining that the ‘ship is boring?? But I find it hard to imagine a version of that that’s, well, got enough material to make a comic about.

      4. I’ve been trying to look at the Shortpack site for the traditional update, but I haven’t been able to get it to load.

      5. https://www.anime-planet.com/manga/tags/bowling interestingly enough there is a manga about bowling, i’ve only seen it feature in like friend hangouts/group dates but not a focus i’d totally watch an epic ygo dramatic anime style of a bowling animatino too

  6. Joyce, you know Sal and Jennifer and Ruth. There is literally no way Dorothy is the only one you find hot.

  7. Not exactly sure what you expected here joyce… you little liar lol

  8. Joyce, you’ve gotta get the last bits of fundie out of your mind.

    Chances are your girlfriend will agree with you on most girls you think are hot, so don’t sweat it.

    1. One of the greatest joys of being part of a “two bi girls” relationship is the fact that you can gush about people you find hot with your partner.

  9. Next strip: Sal walks by

  10. *Looks at all of Dumbing of Age*
    ­
    Are you. Are you sure about that.

    1. Hey, Joyce’s statements about her thoughts and feelings have always been 100% reliable and accurate.

      1. I remember when a few people in the comments were getting mad at Ruth because Ruth told Joyce that Joyce definitely wasn’t asexual because that was “defining her sexuality”

        And it was like… what comic are you reading.

        Glad we’re not doing it this time around

  11. “None.”
     
    Just kidding, April Fools!”

    1. ope

        1. Rose By Any Other Name

          Y’all are doing the Pornlord’s work.

        2. Everybody **** the dinosaur.

    2. …You know, I’m wondering how ANYBODY was surprised that Joyce ended up with a woman

      1. Was anyone other than Joyce or Becky surprised about it, actually? I mean, among the cast members close enough to notice the signs, which would be the ones not in LEO?

      2. “I don’t know. It’s a mystery!”

      3. I don’t think anyone was, in-story. Out of story, I don’t know, denial and rationalization are powerful forces.

      4. Probably less of a surprise to them. Joyce has obviously had some sort of attraction for women, but readers have been privy to Joyce’s thought bubbles (at least through the fall semester). And the sexual fantasies in them were of men.

      5. at least she had an option to be herself
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzuHS3snKMA
        shows like this exist, after all

  12. give her time, she’ll find some that she’ll have to admit are hot lol

  13. lmao nice try becky shes still got like four layers of repression on her. She had to climb a TREE after admitting she found a giant muscular man hot enough to wanna bite his ass. It’ll Take Her A While.

    We’re in for a week (comic time) of Dorothy Is The Singular Magic Exception before she sees Sal doing roller derby practice and some buttons connect.

  14. Perfect April Fools Comic, because Joyce is absolutely fooling herself here.

    1. i kinda half expected a panel of charlie just standing there silently but chill for four panels

  15. “Please be so fr rn, Joyce,” as I believe the kids are saying.

  16. “I do, however, find Joe very hot”
    “that’s not how ‘lesbian’ works”

    1. Don’t trust Joyce to talk with you about hot women.

  17. Off to a great start there, Joyce.

  18. Nah. I think Becky needs a break from this. I was on Joyce’s side with the impassioned reaffirmation of friendship but’ c’mon. You immediately give her nothing. This is just torture. What are we doing here?

    1. Ok so there is this thing called “a joke”, stop if i am going too fast.

      1. Please slow down I don’t understand.

      2. Are we meant to just ignore huge chunks of the strips as not really happening because of The Joke? Do these not happen in universe and are silely for our benefit? Or in the DoAverse do people get periodically get possessed and make a humorous (often only to an outside, omniscient observer) comment and everyone just accepts this and ignores it?
        .
        To quote someone else:
        “Because even though the comic wants the characters and The Joke to be seperate, they aren’t. 50%+ of every page is The Joke, the characters are their jokes. You cannot remove that from them.”

        1. I don’t care.

        2. Ah, good ol’ anti-intellectualism

        3. Namadás, if you don’t care, why did you comment in the first place.

          That’s a weird dodge. If you’re not ready for the analysis, I suggest you don’t initiate.

        4. Sometimes you need to remember that you are reading a comic strip and the Rule of Funny applies. It isnt anti intellectualism to understand how the medium and genre of a work shape our interpretation of it.

        5. @Dandi_Andi – I was meaning nadamás’ “i don’t care” is anti-intellectual because yes, there is the rule of funny, but at the same time this is a continuous narrative strip that references things that happened a decade ago in real time. Saying dialogue is just in service to The Joke and shouldn’t be taken as part of a character’s actions, and them saying “I don’t care” when I brought that up is a classic thought termination on the lines of omg let people enjoy things.
          .
          So my position is, when a character acts kinda like a jerk for the sake of a joke, are we meant to ignore it because it’s to make The Joke work, or do we accept it as happening because this is a continuous narrative?
          .
          And if it is the former, how do we define which jokes are excluded and which aren’t? There is no clear indication of what we, as readers, are meant to take as just serving the rule of funny vs character dialogue, so why would a reader assume something a character says is, what? Meant to be ignored? Not taken seriously? I mean they say it on page, there is no inference or interpretation: the dialogue is coming out of Joyce’s mouth in this case.
          .
          Yes, it sets up a joke, but it also shows us that Joyce is being an asshole when she acts like what Becky always wanted was for them to talk about what girls were hot with each other (rather than them being a couple), then refusing to engage with the very premise she herself set up. That is both a joke and will hopefully lead to some plot movement. But if we’re just meant to ignore that Joyce said “None” because it’s a joke then the entire strip falls apart because what? We imagine she said Sal and Jennifer? We imagine a totally different conversation where none of this happened?
          .
          Which is to say either we get arbitrary panels that aren’t, in fact, part of the canon and in no way informed by the characters in them (with no indication which ones they may or may not be).
          .
          Or we take everything on page as canon.
          .
          And if we are able to just discard entire parts of the story because there are things ‘called “a joke”’ then what is the point of having a cohesive story at all?

        6. @Gotthammer
          Yes, i know what you were calling anti intellectual. I’ve seen this argument before and I find it speciois and not really worth engaging with seriously. It relies on an all or nothing interpretation of the text that rejects the audience’s ability to practice a little discernment. It’s like watching Bojack Horseman and refusing to accept Hollyhock using chloroform as a joke about abrupt sitcom transitions

        7. Rose By Any Other Name

          @Gotthammer (and ignoring all the stuff that came after the original post about what is and isn’t a joke)
          While everything you said is correct, when the comic ends with a pithy joke, it often picks up in the very next comic addressing the situation more seriously.
          My take isn’t that the one line joke is to be ignored, but rather it is a brief aside before the character gets serious and actually says what they mean. And the timing of the break is “for the audience” whereas for the characters in-universe, there is no break.
          Having to wait 3 seconds after a pithy one liner vs waiting 24 hours creates a very different tone.
          So, in this case, Joyce makes a stupid (if funny and ironic) denial – but her first line tomorrow may be to immediately backpedal with a line like “… except for Sal. And Jennifer.” Or maybe with “… but then, before Dorothy, I didn’t know what being attracted to other girls felt like. Maybe I am?”
          So when people say “it was just a joke” I feel like what they mean is more “the timing/cut was the joke – we won’t know what her actual answer is until tomorrow”.

        8. I’m telling you, this is a Jecklian discussion of a Hydian problem.

      3. It sometimes boggles my mind how people don’t seem to realize that one of nada’s schticks is “throwing out a super-contrarian one-liner” which can safely be ignored as it’s a good signal there’s no productive discussion to follow.

        1. What the does that even mean? I don’t have fucking “schticks” i literally just says what’s on my mind. I thanks you that you don’t go around fucking lying because you don’t know shit about me.

          You having this chip on your shoulder about me it’s weird as fuck and it’s honestly starting to piss me off. How that for a “one liner”.

        2. Your lack of commas is disturbing.

        3. If I had a chip on my shoulder, I’d call out that particular pattern of behavior you have that I find incredibly mean-spirited a LOT more often than I do.

        4. “Pattern of behavior” would you get off your damn high horse about something you made up.

        5. Naw. I’ll continue to post pretty much whatever I want to post, and it will continue to be just fine.

      4. @Adept I will initiate whatever i damn please and care about whatever i wish to thanks you very much.

    2. I’d go one step further.
      Becky does need some space. And while Joyce and Dorothy aren’t responsible for Becky being bummed about Joyce again, they are responsible for how they’re reacting to Becky needing some space. They are telling her she should act like they’re used to, to not take some time and space, but be good ol’ jokester Becky.

  19. Joyce that is a bald-faced lie, we have seen you be homoerotic with both Sal and Jennifer before (not undeservedly)

  20. Guess she’s just Dorothysexual after all…
    (Well, plus tall muscular dudes)

  21. “Except for Sal. And Billie. And…”

  22. Joyce is mistaken about which women she thinks are hot, or my full legal name isn’t Tyler Alan Fitzpatrick, Jr.

    1. Someday you will have to answers for your sins Fitzpatrick.

      1. No, not at all.. Sins Fitzpatrick is his father.

        1. Though it’s also possible you might be confusing him with his evil twin, Sinx Alan Fitzpartrick, the third.

        2. I like the idea that my evil twin has the same middle name as me and is somehow “the third” when I’m only “junior”. It implies some kind of intergenerational shenaniganery, like we had different fathers (both from the Fitzpatrick line) but still got born at the same time. That or my evil twin is also my son and “Sins” is her nickname.

        3. I hadn’t considered that last possibility.

        4. I am also in awe of “shenaniganery.”

      2. Nuh-uh, my sins are hella epic.

  23. Joyce is not good at this.

  24. Joyce, you liar, we know Sal is also on your list. You may not be SEXUALLY attracted to her, but we all know you at least find her aesthetically pleasing.

  25. I hate you for this hover text, Willis! Now it’s in my head! 😱

    1. the alt-text destroyed my sould a little, having seen it sung live. NGL.

      1. of course the edit function decides not to work now.

  26. well, that’s a lie, she’s attracted to billie and sal ‘above the neck’ or whatever XD; (plus i’m sure there are ppl similar to dorothy out there too)

  27. Sorry Joyce, pretty sure she wanted to grow up and be lesbians AT each other. Just not the same.

  28. Joyce’s romance-pilled brain is once again returning lies and self-delusion.

  29. I mean she only JUST realized that her feelings for Dorothy were attraction. Give her some time.

    Has Becky been attracted to women other than Dina and Joyce though? I wonder if she might be demisexual, since I’m aspec and think it would be neat.

    1. There is the nameless girl that Becky was caught in bed with that led to her getting booted from her hyper-religious college, so there were at least THREE girls Becky was attracted to.

      I am quite amazed that this girl hasn’t made any other appearances. Pretty much every character in Joyce and Becky’s backstories have come back to haunt them one way or another, but Becky’s almost-first time hookup? Not even a whisper in the wind…

      1. Kaitlin did make an appearance in a Patreon strip. But that was back in 2015. She was very clearly, very utterly entirely over Becky and very straight and never meant any of it anyway and very definitely didn’t feel anything for Becky and never did feel anything for Becky and, did I mention, was very clearly straight.

        So yeah, she should be showing up any day now.

        1. She also showed up in a more recent bonus strip where she seems to have a crush on her new roommate.

      2. Hey Joyce was the one who brought it up.

    2. I’m pretty sure she’s also verbally noted the hotness factor of some of the other female cast members, including just about all the ones on Joyce’s unacknowledged list.

      1. She mentions to Dina that Jennifer is hot in this strip.

        https://www.dumbingofage.com/comic/omnisexual/

  30. Just commenting that I get the reference of the alt text. Another 90s fundie kid!

    1. In this house we stan Smitty.

      *checks to make sure he hasn’t done anything questionable since my childhood*

      …In this house we are moderate fans of Smitty’s music but find his politics suspect.

  31. Joyce should probably take a look down in the comments section so she can see us point out her ogling Billie’s chest or looking up Alice on bluesky and thinking ‘she’s *very* pretty.’ I mean she would deny it to death but at least it’d be a funny “SHUT UP I DID NOT GOODBYE THINKING ABOUT JOE’S CHEST NOW”

  32. Yeah… Joyce definitely isn’t being honest (to herself?) about Billiefer, and probably Sal.

    1. She’s not being honest bout anyone, frankly. Note how she’s calling ehrself a lesbian despite her multiple and strong attractions to men. The story she is telling herself and everyone, fully knowing it to be untrue but needing it to be true Because Purity is ‘I fell in love with Dorothy at first sight and have never ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER found anyone else even slightly attractive even for a second, Dorothy is the only hotness I have ever seen or ever will see’.

  33. That’s a lie Joyce. You’ve definitely found both Billie and Sal hot.

  34. Make it last forever, friendship never ends

  35. it’s April Fool’s (or Day of Lie, where I live). Have you a Joyce that’s terrible at lying.

  36. I believe the term is Demisexual. Only attracted to someone after having established an emotional bond.

    1. Does it really apply if you establish emotional bonds at the drop of a hat? Because Joyce does do that, unless someone is so off-putting that she can’t manage it. Or Danny.

    2. Demisexual is *a* term, but it’s not one I think applies to Joyce.

      1. Maybe omnisexual

  37. OOF. That Michael W. Smith song reference in the tooltip hits different when all of your old churchy memories of singing it involve someone’s funeral. :(

    1. I still love the song, though, except for the “if the lord’s the lord of them” bit. The rest of the lyrics are fine, but that line implies that you can’t be friends with someone forever unless you’re a Christian.

  38. And then Sal walks by wearing the Amazagirl costume despite there being no logical reason the suit would fit her.

    1. Sal could fit in it because she’s Sal.

  39. I’m a demisexual Joyce truther

    1. Well i’m a demisexual Joyce faker!

  40. Oh,. yeah, happy birthday, Walky!

    (And Sal, I guess, though it’s my headcanon that Sal is the older twin by just enough that her birthday is late on March 31st. But the family has always celebrated on Walky’s. For Reasons.)

  41. She’s not lying. She fully believes she is only gay for Dorothy. She was even doubting herself over it earlier that she’s not really bisexual because she only wants one woman.

    She’s wrong, but she’s not lying. She just hasn’t unpacked enough to understand that she’s wrong.

    1. I don’t know, tht expressin in the last panel reads as ‘determined’ to me. Joyce has decided that her story with Dorothy is ‘we fell in love at first sight and I have never ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER been attracted to anyone else EVER not even for a second, Dorothy is the only hotness I have ever seen and will ever see’.

      She knows she’s lying. She just thinks the story she’s telling herself and everyone can fix that.

      1. Joyce’s “fairy tale fantasy” brain has retroactively rewritten everything in the past year to fit the cklaim that Dorothy is her soul mate and she knew she loved her before they even met (Oh god, that Savage Garden song…). We the audience know that she at least seemed to have a MILD crush on Sal and Billie (Maybe more for Sal because Joyce tried a few times to match her “bad girl” aesthetic) but she can’t admit liking any girl other than Dorothy because that would be the ULTIMATE betrayal.

        And yet still thinking dudes like Joe are easy on the eyes somehow isn’t “micro-cheating” on Dotty… Someone give this girl a gold medal for all the mental gymnastics she’s doing…

  42. All the comments about Joyce telling Becky something that’s not true and wondering she’s lying to herself too, but they only mean the second time she does it in today’s strip.

    1. Joyce lies to herself a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Sometimes that makes me sad.

  43. Is it just me, or does Becky ‘sound’ kind of like Dina in panel 5? If so I like it as a nod to how couples can end up adapting each other’s mannerisms.

  44. I think Becky needs to ask herself if being with Joyce would *actually* make her happy.

  45. How deep is Joyce’s denial that she thinks any of this is what Becky ever wanted? She’s obviously memory-holed their other fight about Joyce mocking Becky’s faith, but come one.

  46. Sure about that Joyce? Not even Sal? Whose hair you wanted to brush? Not even Billie? Who you wanted to crawl inside and be ‘safe and warm’ forever? ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT, JOYCE?

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