03-10-17 Switching it up

[worldshaking00]

Not that I know @Spidrift that way, but I believe the point he was making is that there is a large percentage of hetero males who tolerate/are indifferent to/"live and let live" other people who like to have anal sex (male & female alike). While they might not particularly care to experience receiving it themselves (for whatever reason, including but not limited to, being comfortable if their own current sexual identity/relationship), they don't begrudge another person their own sexual escapades.

What you are suggesting sounds like being borderline trollish to @Spidrift. He did not ever say he wanted to experience it. I think I even recall him stating he would never want to is forum posts way back. All he said is that "(you) may also underestimate the range of tastes and tolerances in the straight male world." Tolerance does not translate into participation. For example: if I choose to celebrate Christmas, just because Hanukkah and Christmas are holidays near each other doesn't mean I must celebrate Hanukkah as well because there is a Jewish family next door to me. They can enjoy their celebration their way, and I can enjoy mine my way.

Gary by his own admission doesn't mind getting pegged, at least by a woman he has some feelings for. He doesn't feel comfortable being in a sexual encounter with another man. He's not homophobic. Hell, a decent percentage of his go-to friends identify as homosexual or bisexual. It just isn't to his taste... like if someone didn't like broccoli but would eat it if they had to. If he wants to get his 'nutrition' from another source in a healthy manner, who are we to question his sense of taste as long as it doesn't affect us directly? Maybe if Gary had a lot of melted cheddar cheese on his broccoli, he'd enjoy it more... euphemistically speaking. Who is to say.

Gary's just very poor at saying "no" and/or the comic's plot is working against him. He isn't being coerced against his will; he's just a push-over and (perhaps too good of a) friend. There is a subtle difference.

[Vitocap]

Yes, exactly. That's why comparing him to Betty from "Archie" works so well.

Too good of a friend. Too helpful for his own good. Can't say no when they ask him to do something. In the end, people take advantage of him or use his willingness to help against him. All of this can be said of Betty as well. Her catchphrase "I'm my own worst enemy" (usually said after helping Veronica with something that always results in Archie and Veronica getting all romantic) is perfect for Gary -- especially when he's around Tracy, who has a lengthy record of exploiting him for her own goals.

Mind you, it could actually be argued that, if Gary wasn't so extraordinarily nice, if he wasn't so damn willing to go out of his way to help people, he would still be a virgin. Remember the circumstances of his deflowering -- and what actions and attitudes of his brought about the paroxysm of passion that made the girl in question jump his bones.

[Spidrift]

Thanks for saving me some typing, worldshaking. Actually, yes, my own tastes are very vanilla, thanksverymuch - but if there’s one thing I’ve picked up from a lifetime of reading and far too much time on the Internet, it’s that human sexual proclivities are amazingly broad and diverse. Not as reliably diverse as in this comic, sure, but this is a sex comedy.

And FGF continues to insult Dave01 by ignoring his doubtless invaluable work on the comic. If you need an explanation for how a male writer can work on - oh palpitations and the vapours! - a story in which some straight guys don’t mind a bit of butt play, I think that’s simple; other straight guys taking it up the butt is funny. It’s the comedy of displaced fear, certainly, but it’s actually a very old joke. (Og think Bog like having stick shoved up back end. Hurgh hurgh hurgh.) Note that Gary’s adventures with Peggy aren’t presented as some soft-focus female fanservice fantasy; they’re full of silly costumes and Gary pulling stupid faces. It’s a joke.

Which, that being the whole point of this conversation, would be why this comic seems to have about as many male as female readers. (Who, incidentally, are probably the ones commissioning all the cheesecake-y sketches of the female characters that we keep seeing Giz broadcasting from cons...)

[themacnut]

Mind you, it could actually be argued that, if Gary wasn't so extraordinarily nice, if he wasn't so damn willing to go out of his way to help people, he would still be a virgin. Remember the circumstances of his deflowering -- and what actions and attitudes of his brought about the paroxysm of passion that made the girl in question jump his bones.

You raise a good point there Vitocap. The very same character traits that keep getting Gary into shenanigans are the same traits that also got him laid in the first place. Which again, is probably why, in-comic at least, Gary has yet to develop a backbone - being spineless works for him a lot of the time. Yes, it also gets him into awkward situations like this one, but he may consider that a small price to pay for the nookie he generally ends up getting.

[Spidrift]

Metaphorically, yes. Gary has little incentive to change, so his failure to change is only logical. He’s motivated to stay the same.

But that’s “motivation” in a kind of evolutionary sense. Gary himself doesn’t seem to feel much motivation at all, in any direction. We rarely if ever see him thinking “I want X, therefore I should do Y”. He just carries on being Gary, occasionally complaining to himself when especially bad stuff happens or thinking about Transformers. He has very little inner life or initiative at all.

Also, saying that being nice got him laid is true up to a point; it’s what made Kiley jump him, and hence set him off on his current path, and it’s what drew Yuki to him. Fair enough. But Peggy beds him because he’s obliging about her little hobby, Senna had this weird deluded thing about him, and other women have gone for him because of the swirly. So niceness only gets him so far; arguably, his bigger asset is being a magic orgasm machine.

(By the way, there’s now a note on the strip saying that Giz is once more at a con, so no updates for a few more days.)

[rogermart]

About Senna: The first time she met Gary, he was plain old Gary and Senna thought it was adorable...





Which is why she returned to see him, they flew to Paris where he met Sandra and thanks to that he got the job at Dark Matter Games...

So being plain old Gary meant for him:

-Getting laid for the first time
-Getting Yuki
-Getting Senna
-Traveling to Europe
-Getting the job he wanted

And the only reason he got his superpower is because Didi didn't like Gary's kiss, Dillon then taught him the Swirly Go Round by kissing him as Amber, this also happened because he was plain old Gary, and he learned the mod because Yuki was angry with him "neglecting his girlfriend", and once again no spine ... So add to the list:

-Learning the Swirly Go Round with an improvement

So like Didi, why change when the environment is pushing you not to...

[Spidrift]

Okay, yep, ultimately, “being Gary” gets him laid; we’re all agreed that he has no incentive or impetus to change. Being Gary means a certain amount of being nice, a certain amount of being passively cute, and nowadays, a bit of putting up with ... having things put up him, and a certain amount of coasting on the swirly’s reputation.

What it doesn’t mean is taking any significant initiative, beyond occasionally offering the swirly to girls who haven’t heard about it yet.

[rogermart]

Well, Gary moved to Montreal, that counts as initiative... But it was off-comic

EDIT: In the Ma3-SotR crossover he dumped Senna because he wanted to hang out and geek out with Sandra... I guess that counts.

[Spidrift]

Well, okay - but he didn’t even realise that he was dumping her. And he was forced into a choice, because inaction wasn’t an option, and two people with actual willpower were each telling him to do different things.

[rogermart]

You're right, and this happened just after Tatyana thought this about him:



And i remembered one more time he took initiative, but it was probably the alcohol, or Senna's idea...

[Vitocap]

The bad news are: Giz is in NY doing the con, no more strips till the 10.

The good news are: they didn't stop her at the border. Looks like her name wasn't blacklisted even after the incident that other time, thank goodness.

[Fairy Glade's Fairy]

Not that I know @Spidrift that way, but I believe the point he was making is that there is a large percentage of hetero males who tolerate/are indifferent to/"live and let live" other people who like to have anal sex (male & female alike). What you are suggesting sounds like being borderline trollish to @Spidrift. He did not ever say he wanted to experience it.

'trollish' it is?

That's so wrong in so many ways, and you don't even realize it.....

I was watching on tv once a panel with several ladies, all feminists, who talked about the image of women in shows & movies... one of them decried the prejudices of viewers, saying that 'strong women who stand for themselves and don't need to rely on men' are (so she said) always automatically assumed to be lesbians; she found this offensive and complained loudly & angrily: 'Why is it that every time men see a strong & assertive woman who doesn't play meek to them they always assume she's lez? I'm sick of this! People have even accused me, cause I'm like that, of being a lesbian! It's so offensive!'
Then another feminist (who was also a lesbian) asked to speak and, looking at the first one with a very angry stare, said: 'y'know, sister, if anyone ever assumes you are a lesbian and you're not, you can always reply: ~~oh no, I'm not, but thanks for the compliment!~~'

I made perhaps a mistake as you say and got wrong @Spidrift talking about anal sex; then that's my bad... but, talking about bad, your assuming that the idea that someone likes anal sex is offensive is much, much worse.....

[worldshaking00]

I don't fully understand your last sentence, honestly, sorry. I'm not sure if it is grammatical, or if English isn't your primary language. The order you typed your words in makes that last sentence a little difficult for me to clearly understand the intent behind your words.

As for me, to help clarify my position in a (hopefully) easier and non-threatening manner: anal sex can be enjoyable for people, but it isn't for everyone. I 100% agree with that. I don't begrudge anyone wanting to partake in it, just as I wouldn't bat an eye to someone enjoying (as responsible consensual adults, hetero/bi/homo/<insert any tag here> alike) BDSM, watersports, scat, multiple partners, <insert your kink here>. Frankly my opinion is moot when it pertains to the proceedings in their bedroom, and is only valid when it involves me in said bedroom.

Using a drug analogy: I don't do drugs, even recreational ones. If someone wants to bake their brain, that's on them. Live and let live. If someone offers me a hit of a joint at a party I attend, I can politely say "no thank you" or "I'm straight" or something to that effect. I don't have to get in their face and condemn their life choices. It doesn't mean that I have to 'try the drug' to know it isn't for me. If I stay at the same party, welcomed, then it is therefore implied that I tolerate the goings-on and that they (the druggies) tolerate my being there. It's simple manners to let others be to their own devices. If the drug use or smell or side effects gets too much for me to handle, I can always leave. Maybe I stay at the party because I like the music, or a particular friend. It is my choice to remain at the party. That is my philosophy on sex as well: live and let live. Life is too short to tell someone that "their fun is wrong" when their life choices have no impact on me or my happiness. I don't have to get pegged, unless I want to.

If my use of the "troll" word in my previous post offended you, I tried to soften its usage. As I stated when I started this reply post, I don't know if the meaning of how you typed the sentence in question...

...if I follow you, you mean you're a straight male & you've taste and tolerance for sodomy and pegging in your butt?

... contained a typo for "taste" and you meant a different word... same for "tolerance" in the same sentence. To me, that sentence reads that you were asking if @Spidrift was a straight male and did such/approved of such things. Lord knows he and I don't see eye-to-eye on a reasonable amount of Ma3 content, but your comments in that sentence came off (to me) as unnecessarily inquisitive and semi-accusational by context of your opinions presented in your previous posts. Hence my decision to stand up for what I thought was a tangential 'attack' against him. It was not my intent to ruffle feathers nor to 'sling mud' in a public forum. It was to corroborate @Spidrift's point that there is tolerance towards sexual kink (even something as ordinary as anal sex is) among the hetero male readership of this comic.

"Be excellent to each other" and "Party on dude!" More than just funny lines in a movie, to me.

[samtheman]

Re-reading the strips with Senna that rogermart posted makes me wish Senna would return to the comic because she was a very entertaining character. But if this is the final volume that probably means she won't be returning. Oh well. Where did she fly off too anyway? I don't remember and the archives still don't work.

[Fairy Glade's Fairy]

I don't fully understand your last sentence, honestly, sorry. I'm not sure if it is grammatical, or if English isn't your primary language. The order you typed your words in makes that last sentence a little difficult for me to clearly understand the intent behind your words.

English is not my first language... I guess it shows, huh? Sorry.
I didn't realize that sentence was confusing, my meaning was: if someone thinks you have a sexual preference or kink of some type, and it's not true, it's wrong to feel insulted; cuz then you imply that having it (whatever 'it' may be) is a bad thing......
as for the words taste and tolerance, I was just quoting literal from the other writer's sentence (like me, he wasn't very clear).

I do agree with you there's no much point in talking about us forers and our likes & dislikes... I'd rather stick to my initial subject: readership of the comic and who enjoys it more. I still think Giz is prolly her own number one happy reader, and girls are more likely than boys to enjoy a story with a very girl-centered plot & where ALL male characters dig being fucked/pegged/both in the ass.
(I'm talking majorities here, k? there will, surely, as with everything, be exceptions...)