Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

Free love, which isn't really free, and isn't love, exactly....just read it

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raoullefere:

--- Quote from: TheReaper on 08 Apr 2009, 03:40 ---It just seems kind of sad that it's SUCH A BIG DEAL OMG SEX NAOO for her.
People are weird.

--- End quote ---
First, anything you've been having and enjoying in large quantities recently can be a big deal when you suddenly aren't getting them anymore. Of them sex, sugar, and caffeine have been mine, and I'm willing to put some cold hard cash down that anyone who's been having good sex recently and is somewhat lonely to boot will feel like Faye does. Except for the true, blue (balled?) stoics out there. But those I've met don't seem entirely human.

--- Quote from: Milesb on 08 Apr 2009, 05:16 ---Hey, Marten's just next door, Faye... ;)

--- End quote ---
I thought this, too. And I'm not trolling. I simply think it's a shame that people who're good friends can't help one another out at times like this. One of the worst problems I see in Western European cultures (Can't speak to other cultures, haven't lived in them) is its attitudes towards sex. It seems absolutely designed from the ground up to make people feel lonely, isolated, and guilty. Oh, I know very few, if any 'free love' movements have ever worked. But I also think I can pinpoint why they failed. A) too many of the individuals within them couldn't quash their ground-in 'old' culturally-based reactions and 2) there really is no such thing as free sex. There is a price: you have to on some level care about the person you're sharing it with and act accordingly. (yeah, I know there are hoards of people who don't do this; that's part of our society's sexual pathology).

Too me, all sex really boils down to is (or should be) a way of showing someone you care about them, of celebrating the connection. But to think it's the only way, or even the most important way, to me is batshit crazy. Like every other physical act, it's not the act itself, but the intent behind it that defines what the act means.

And yes, I know there's a freaking ton of biological issues that go into this that I haven't touched on. I'll say this: I think one of any society's goals should be to find a way for its individuals to live with and, my goodness, even be happy with their human biology. It's a bit shocking that with all the save the forests, save the oceans, save the whales, what-have-you attempts to get us to live with our planet's biology instead of fighting and destroying it, that we don't seem to do nearly as much for our own biology. Suppress it and move on, OR submit to it completely seem to be the prevailing attitudes, too often both at the same time. I think we need another option.

Anyway, it is a shame Faye can't go get some comfort from Marten, who, incidentally, seems to be the one character on the strip who doesn't place some sort of halo around sex. (Raven and Sven are both belt-notchers, IMHO).

Okay, have at it. (Note: didn't know whether this worked best for here (since it's comic related, kinda) or Discuss!  Mods, do as you think best.)

Mallli_kite:
What's to have at?  You mostly make sense.

There are, as you pointed out, biological imperatives that also affect our sexual behavior, and our desire to find meaning in everything plays into it a lot.

I could also go into the various viewpoints, among which prevalent in our culture is the idea of scarcity -- that if someone else gets what I want, there won't be enough for me, or any for me -- which comes into play, but I haven't had enough caffeine yet.

Of course, there's Marten right next door.  There is also Dora, a phone call away (if we are really being all about the friends offering comfort).  And, I'm sure Faye has a few toys tucked in a drawer.

I'll walk in another direction.  Faye may be interpreting what she feels as being horny, purely desiring sex, but I'd say what she is really after is some connection with another living person, to feel all that emotional stuff, to feel desired and beautiful and wanted, to forget she's damaged goods in her own eyes and the eyes of others.

If all she wanted was an orgasm, she could get that without the phone.

Rantmaster:

--- Quote from: Mallli_kite on 08 Apr 2009, 07:08 ---If all she wanted was an orgasm, she could get that without the phone.

--- End quote ---

If I recall correctly, she is a little tired of masturbation - restraining order against her hand, and all.  :evil:

But that only drives home that what she does want is to be desired, to be *with* someone. Even if it is a lie, part of her wants to believe in the lie. Craving what she wanted but wouldn't let herself have with Marten, she turns to Sven.

It's difficult to talk about this, of course. This is the culture we live in. This is what we grew up believing. Even the people trying to be in poly relationships fall down on it (like Tai and her lady friends). It works, sometimes, but it is understandably harder. And it doesn't help that at the same time as wanting to fix our fucked up modalities about sex, part of us just want an excuse to give in to our libidos whenever and with whoever we want. Just like Faye. It's like the Superego trying to get the Id laid.

maddness:

--- Quote from: Mallli_kite on 08 Apr 2009, 07:08 ---
I'll walk in another direction.  Faye may be interpreting what she feels as being horny, purely desiring sex, but I'd say what she is really after is some connection with another living person, to feel all that emotional stuff, to feel desired and beautiful and wanted, to forget she's damaged goods in her own eyes and the eyes of others.

If all she wanted was an orgasm, she could get that without the phone.

--- End quote ---

I think this is the direction I favor, though the whole just plain missing good sex probably plays in there as well. Toys are fine, but they don't compare to good sex.

As to free love ... I think that, psychologically, most people have a need to have at least one person in their lives who loves/cares for them above all others and fear of losing that leads to jealousy and possessive behaviors.

Is it cold in here?:
As of #389, Faye didn't own any sex toys, at least not that she'd admit to.

Jealousy appears in so many cultures that it's logical to figure we're wired for it. On the other hand, as the woman said in _The African Queen_, "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above!"

Agreed: the most natural reading of this strip is that it's another way of showing that Faye got emotionally involved.

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