03-10-14 I should not be reading

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leftturnonly
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by leftturnonly »

UnsightlyWalrus wrote:"They kissed!"
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Spidrift
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by Spidrift »

themacnut wrote:I'm quite sure Ruby's going to be sitting there all day with those books. Not like she's got anything better to do; no job to get to, not even a job interview far as we know.
It's definitely a Sunday; job interviews are highly unlikely.
themacnut wrote:So there's really nothing to distract her from spending the day rummaging through Dillon's whole collection (except the occasional bathroom or meal break, which she could ignore), which will of course be spread all over the floor when Amber or Dillon gets home so they'll be no way for her to deny looking at them.
That's a good test of how distracted she's getting. After all, somebody is going to be getting home sometime; a rational Ruby would keep everything tidy and able to be easily put away in a moment if she hears the door open. But right now, Ruby's brain is in some degree of turmoil, so yes, the books may end up spread all over the floor.
themacnut wrote:Que extreme embarrassment, especially if it's Dillon who catches her - he'll tease her mercilessly.
Well, Dillon might feel that Ruby sneaking a look at this stuff is just her being human; it might not occur to him that it's grounds for teasing. Plus, he may even have the grace to feel that he owes her something at the moment, and try to play nice. However, he's still likely to embarrass her by accident, or take this (somewhat correctly) as a justification for continuing to push her towards Andy.

Funnily enough, though, I suspect that Ruby will get more embarrassed if Amber walks in, despite the fact that Amber almost certainly wouldn't actually tease her about this. She seems very determined not to show vulnerability to Amber, and probably to preserve a sense of cold intellectual superiority. There's a sisterly toxicity to their interactions sometimes which they'd have grown out of years ago if they'd actually retained the option to talk to each other.

But personally, I'm putting a sporting bet on Zii being the one who walks in first. There's a small leftover plot strand there from the gig, plus lots of opportunities for misunderstanding-based embarrassment for Ruby.
---------
Spidrift
"Brevior vita est quam pro futumentibus negotium agendo."
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Artemisia
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by Artemisia »

Spidrift wrote:
Schmorgluck wrote:Ruby seems even more damaged than I though.
Oh, I don't know. Massively in denial, obviously, but it's never easy for anybody to completely invert some key element of their self-image. Some of us have taken months over much easier revisions than this one. And she's confused, but she's not actually hurting herself or anyone else just now.
We live in a society which pushes women to suppress our sexual natures, and tells women that being interested in sexual things is wrong. What's more, while Ruby would not necessarily be outright homophobic, she is probably extremely heteronormative, so the idea of being sexually aroused by two men being sexual or even romantic together is likely very difficult for her to resolve. This despite a recent study that actually found that straight women have a preference for gay pornography.

Thus, it isn't exactly surprising that Ruby is finding this difficult to deal with.
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RedHeadude
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by RedHeadude »

Is that what "normal" society is like? I was raised a Mormon, so as a man I have an incredibly sexually repressed background. I felt all of what Amber feels towards this sort of thing over looking at straight pornography, or even playboy mags. I wonder if Amber has some sort of religious upbringing . . . A secular upbringing wouldn't make sense for her to be like this, would it?

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Artemisia
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by Artemisia »

Mormon sexual mores tend to, if you don't mind the criticism, be something closer to how it was viewed during the Victorian Era when both men and women were sexually repressed. Today, our society tends to still heavily repress women's sexuality while allowing men to engage in all sorts of sexual exploits. It's an inherent contradiction in our society. That does not mean that Ruby grew up in a religious household, but may have been brought up in a patriarchal household where her parents pushed her and her sister to remain chaste and sexually repressed. In an episode of the series "Orange is the New Black" they even made mention of the fact that many women have no idea what their intimate parts look like or how they are suppose to feel when aroused. It was not surprising that the trans woman was the one who knew the particulars and explained it all. Many women have been encouraged not to masturbate, have sex before marriage, etc. And that is from a non-religious background.
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"I'm going to do what I do best...lecture her."- Twilight Sparkle (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
"Hello, I'm a lizard woman from the dawn of time, and this is my wife." - Madam Vastra (Doctor Who "The Snowmen")
"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes." The 4th Doctor Doctor Who "Robot"

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IONDragonX
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by IONDragonX »

"I don't know what you're talking about! I can stop at any time that I want!" :))

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wiseguy
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by wiseguy »

most probably the arousal for Ruby is not so much the "act", but that she loves the "romanticism" of how the Yaoi characters have in order to get to "the kiss"

lot of straight men love seeing 2 girls together, but usually is "raw sex" they want to see

lot of straight women don't mind seeing 2 guys together or 2 girls together if there is lot of cuddling and romanticism to it

higher percentage of the people who want heavy hardcore movies are males, while a higher percentage of ones who want soft core movies (like ones in HBO, showtime and max) are females
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Spidrift
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by Spidrift »

Normally, I think, someone with a secular upbringing and this level of repression, these days, in the west, would be unusual - though probably not actually impossible. It takes all sorts to make up a population of millions. (Yes, women may be more repressed than men overall - but they still have to deal with stuff that comes up in the media every day of the week. Ruby isn't just chaste, she's wilfully ignorant.) However, Ruby has been repressing herself for the last eight years or so, which makes her a special case by any standards. She's not actually crazy, but she'd make a psychiatric case study.

As to her parents and what they'd have said - we have insufficient data. We know that Amber is nervous about telling them about her career, so they're not wildly open-minded; also, they didn't pick up on Ruby's problems, so they're not terribly sensitive either. They raised one daughter who ended up in the sex industry and a second who turned into a screaming neurotic, so frankly, the main thing we can say about them is that they're freaking useless parents. They may be somewhat religious, but Ruby doesn't cast her hang-ups in religious terms - she's never said that anyone was going to Hell, or worried what God would think - and she doesn't seem to go to church on Sundays. So personally, I'd guess that they're just plain secular idiots.
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"Brevior vita est quam pro futumentibus negotium agendo."
-- Motto of Hogshead Publishing of fond memory, and wise words to set your Foes List by.
Avatar misappropriated from the wonderful XKCD.

Democha
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by Democha »

Ruby is easily my favorite character in the Ma3-verse, ha ha. Too precious for this world.

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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by Haydenw37 »

No matter how bad a day I'm having, if there is a new update to SDB or Ma3 I instantly feel better. Love you guys so much!!!

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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by Azrael »

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JoybuzzerX
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by JoybuzzerX »

Ruby's face looks off in the last panel. :(

bhagad
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by bhagad »

That was probably done deliberately to mimic the yaranaika face. ;)

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JoybuzzerX
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by JoybuzzerX »

Sadly it ruins the flow of the strip :(

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Maechris
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Re: 03-10-14 I should not be reading

Post by Maechris »

Artemisia wrote:Mormon sexual mores tend to, if you don't mind the criticism, be something closer to how it was viewed during the Victorian Era when both men and women were sexually repressed. Today, our society tends to still heavily repress women's sexuality while allowing men to engage in all sorts of sexual exploits. It's an inherent contradiction in our society. That does not mean that Ruby grew up in a religious household, but may have been brought up in a patriarchal household where her parents pushed her and her sister to remain chaste and sexually repressed. In an episode of the series "Orange is the New Black" they even made mention of the fact that many women have no idea what their intimate parts look like or how they are suppose to feel when aroused. It was not surprising that the trans woman was the one who knew the particulars and explained it all. Many women have been encouraged not to masturbate, have sex before marriage, etc. And that is from a non-religious background.
I'm about a full ocean removed from coming close to being Canadian, so I can't speak for Ruby's society, but it would appear that :
- Her parents were somewhat conservative, given how much Amber avoids telling them anything about her career.
- Ruby is hardly a 100% victim in her current confused state, being as much to blame for her own repression as any outer influences. It seemed she made it a point to be a serious, as-asexual-as-possible-and-carreer-oriented-woman as she could, and especially tried to be a foil for Amber's own way of life. Thus, Spidrift makes a good point.

Here in an European slavic country any attempts to repress female sexuality usually come from :
- Heavily religious environments.
- Very insecure men who cannot bear the thought of having "used goods".

However, many female-oriented groups and young girls themselves have long since stopped caring and laugh at any attempts of repression - some "fighting" it to the point of ridiculousness. Girls around here shifted to either
-the repressive view of the romantic but overly religious and repressed vision of sexual relations as being a "gift" between two partners who are either married or heavily in love for long periods of time
- The "sexually liberated woman" to the point of being similar to how a couple people discussed DC's Starfire in a different topic on here. Essentially, sex is meaningless to them as anything other than a tool to further their own ends or a tool to enjoy themselves with - and yes, that means *their* enjoyment and not mutual enjoyment. In my current place of living, environment, and people I met so far (I'm only close to 25 YO, mind you), this appears to be the most numerous group so far, or at least the loudest and most visible.
- The thin-threading group that attempts to develop their own attitude healthier than the extremes, which is essentially either the quietest or the rarest.
More often than not people fail to see the entirety of the issue, and focus on a single facet of it. Ask yourself what makes you right before you set fire on other people for being wrong. // "Chemical reactions between the kawaii and uguu hormones.Within the Desu Gland. This is near to the upper Moe muscle."

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