Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 25-29 Apr 2011 (1911-1915)
DSL:
I'd say the most consisient thing about Tai is her lack of a sense of boundaries. To be fair to her, she cheerfully puts up with it coming back. I'd say her function as a character is comparson- contrast: Someone with no (well, few, anyway) hangups about anything. She's a foil and a test for the other characters.
iduguphergrave:
--- Quote from: rje on 29 Apr 2011, 09:01 ---My favorite part is the 'nyom nyom' ... if Mieville's anything like my cat, Dora's going to have a lovely little pile of mushed-up moth and vomit to clean up in a few minutes.
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lol I didn't even notice the nyomming until you just pointed it out. And I feel your pain, my cat has an awesome habit of vomiting on a regular basis too -_-
LoveJaneAusten:
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 29 Apr 2011, 09:08 ---Is Tai a stereotype of anything other than the dissipated college student?
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Yep. See below.
--- Quote from: SJCrew on 29 Apr 2011, 01:52 ---What stereotype? Women can be horny and love sex too. Tai just happens the be the one female character in this strip who's least modest about it. You're really digging deep for a complaint on this one.
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Believe me, you don't have to convince me that women can be horny and love sex as much as men. However, there absolutely is a stereotype of gays and lesbians as excessively sexual. Lesbian women are in particular painted as slutty, because lesbian sexuality is so often portrayed for the male gaze, and because they are often assumed to be one straight sex encounter from being straight. Today's comic is particularly egregious because not only does Tai go topless as a reflex to seeing Dora in a bra, but she then tries to strip Faye! This is effectively a caricature of the slutty lesbian, illustrating what is probably the most dangerous stereotype for gays and lesbians: that they will, given half a chance, try to have sex with and "convert" straight people. It speaks to a deep homophobia in the media, a fear of gay sexuality as essentially contagious. This was a huge problem in the 80s when AIDS became a problem, and it's a huge problem today.
And this is all to say nothing of how Tai fits numerous other lesbian stereotypes (life revolves around sex, gets a piercing at the drop of a hat, recreational drug user).
--- Quote from: pwhodges on 29 Apr 2011, 02:10 ---I love the way that strips like today's expose people's hang-ups or their blinkered views of the world around them!
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What's more revealing is the perpetuation of lesbian stereotypes in media, including this comic, and the defense of such stereotypes as innocuous rather than participating in a widespread and generally male-controlled media that, despite any purported innocent intentions, rarely misses an opportunity to cast gays and lesbians as willing to get naked and have sex with anyone, anywhere. I'm not blaming Jeph for all of these stereotypes in the media, but to say that today's comic does not further entrench lesbian stereotypes is plain wrong.
--- Quote from: Tergon on 29 Apr 2011, 04:59 ---I actually kind of have to agree that Tai is showing a bit of the "lesbian party-girl horndog" stereotype. The thing is, the reason that stereotype exists is because some people are actually like that. Tai' flashed her naughty-bits before, you know. In fact between drunken pantslessness and her hood piercing, she's spent more time disrobed than probably any other character in QC. We also know that she has poor impulse control at the best of times, and considering the library rave she started and the fact that she uses LSD at work, she's not exactly inhibited even when she's actually thinking about her actions. Today's comic is... actually pretty standard, for her. And if you've never had that one crazy friend who pulls shenanigans at every turn - maybe not at this standard, but stil - then all I can say is that you must live in a very open-minded monastery to allow you free internet access like this.
Seriously, this is such a non-issue it's not even worth waving The Useless Broom Made Entirely Out Of Dicks over. And since the broom is, y'know, useless... that's saying something.
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That's all exactly right! The problem is that it says something that Tai is drunken and pantsless and drugged up and pierced and uninhibited and lesbian. There are absolutely people who are actually like that (I've known some myself). That is not the issue. The issue is how this comic participates in media that ingrains these stereotypes in the public consciousness. The issue is beyond the comic, and the comic is only a symptom.
pwhodges:
--- Quote from: LoveJaneAusten on 29 Apr 2011, 11:47 ---<stuff about stereotypes>
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It seems to me that you have a strong stereotype* of lesbians that you feel Tai in today's comic matches. However, my (reasonably wide) experience of lesbians has revealed no behaviour that fits the stereotype you are going on about; in any case, I try quite hard myself not to deal in inappropriate stereotyping..
* Alternatively, what you have is a stereotype of people that you think have stereotypes of lesbians...
LoveJaneAusten:
--- Quote from: pwhodges on 29 Apr 2011, 12:11 ---
--- Quote from: LoveJaneAusten on 29 Apr 2011, 11:47 ---<stuff about stereotypes>
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It seems to me that you have a strong stereotype* of lesbians that you feel Tai in today's comic matches. However, my (reasonably wide) experience of lesbians has revealed no behaviour that fits the stereotype you are going on about; in any case, I try quite hard myself not to deal in inappropriate stereotyping..
* Alternatively, what you have is a stereotype of people that you think have stereotypes of lesbians...
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The thing about how stereotypes work is that your (or my) experience with lesbians and gays is not what is portrayed in media, which is where my criticism falls. I know gays and lesbians who are completely unlike Tai, and I know some who are sort of like Tai, and I know some who are Tai to a Tee. It is admirable that you make an effort not to deal in stereotypes in your personal life. However, that does not mean that the stereotype of gays and lesbians as perpetually on the hunt for people to convert does not exist. It does, and it's repeated in all kinds of media, and it's dangerous. As I mentioned earlier, my criticism is not of Jeph personally and it is not even really of the comic in particular, it is of what the comic is symptomatic of. The comic has a context, a specific cultural setting, and it is reflective of norms and values. And in this particular case it portrays a pretty common lesbian stereotype. My noticing it is not me projecting stereotypes onto the character, because Tai definitely does things that illustrate her as a caricature.
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