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Dust off a seat and discuss a good book here...you do read, right?

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

... anyone else read Dumbing of Age?

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Yeah. Main problem with it, and I'd know Willis would freak if I said this on the comments, is that the characters that are 'coming out' always have to do it with sex. It's like homosexuals are all horndogs or something, and as far as I'm concerned that gives a bad impression about them. To me, at least. (Except Ethan, but he doesn't really count as chaste because you know why.)

Funniest part is the comments though, who pretty much all revere the author as a God haha.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Wait, why doesn't he count? Aside from the fact that it kinda disproves your point? XD

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Because he's specifically trying to act like he's not gay haha. 

If anything, I'd say it further proves my point though. If he wasn't closeted I think it's fairly obvious he'd be boinking other dudes. Think so, at least.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

He strikes me as being the relationship-oriented type. So, probably one dude, at most. XD

Beyond that, we've got:

A pair of female lovers in the closet together, whose relationship is definitely about more than just sex.

A bi dude who hasn't even acknowledged his feelings, let alone done anything about them, and is in a straight relationship. 

Aaaand our newest 'out and proud' member of the cast, who's in love with a girl she's definitely not going to get to have sex with.

Am I missing anyone? Because right now I'm not seeing anything problematic. Sure, there are LGBT characters having relationships and/or sex... there are also a lot of straight characters having relationships and/or sex.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Stupid non-threaded. Confusing meh. 

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Shortpacked! Kinda sorta proves that. I think. He doesn't have a lot of random gay sex. 

Billie and Ruth aren't in the gay closet though, they are hiding their relationship because Ruth is a RA, and having a relationship with one of the people she surpervises can screw her like what would happen to Jason/sal, except less bad. 

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

You have a point, but Billie's a Christian. I'm not convinced she's not closeted.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

True.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

"He strikes me as being the relationship-oriented type. So, probably one dude, at most. XD"
Well, in Shortpacked! at least, once he finds out he's gay, he has sex with a dude on one of his first dates, so I dunno. He already showed interests in two males (Josh [Jocelyne] and Jacob) in Dumbing.
Either way, his character ark is based on 'fighting temptation', so it fits in to what I'm saying.

"Beyond that, we've got: A pair of female lovers in the closet together, whose relationship is definitely about more than just sex."
The two above are actually (officially) 'bi'. I have other things to say about their relationship, but they aren't really who I'm talking about. (and even so I don't get why they had to have sex. What happened to just loving someone? XD)

"Aaaand our newest 'out and proud' member of the cast, who's in love with a girl she's definitely not going to get to have sex with."
...
Yeah, she also thought she was 'in love' with the Kaitlyn girl, who turned out to be a total bitch. And yet, they became intimate because...What, curiosity? An urge for sexy times? I dunno.
That's probably what I'm most confused about. We're supposed to feel bad for a character that really lost out just because she jumped the gun and had sex with her room mate-- inside a Christian college. Seriously, what was she thinking?

Missing: Grace and Mandy (random couple that appear at times just to emphasize the fact that they're lesbians with eachother.) Alice (Associate of Billy who had sex with her that one time.)
And Daisy (sexually-frustrated lesbian news reporter who just really wants some tail, which should be much easier than she makes it in this college.)

It's not that there's a 'problem', it's just that the homosexual characters seem to all have a problem with their lust haha.
My problem with it is that they're making sexuality such an emphasis. Why can't a gay character just be okay with being gay and not have sex so much? Are homosexuals so lustful that they can't keep 'it' at bay unless they're closeted? It's ridiculous.
That's the impression I got, because every homosexual in the comic seems to have that as a central part of their character.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

I don't think she was in love with the girl she 'experimented' with -- and honestly, it's unclear if they had sex or were just making out. And yes, I'm guessing both curiosity and sexual attraction played a role there. And possibly a subconscious desire to NOT be at that college. :P

Anyway, why shouldn't they have sex? College is a good time to do it, IMHO, whether you're pair-bonding with someone or just fooling around. Now, if they were in high school, I'd be much more inclined to agree with you.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

I dunno, panel 4 seemed to imply something definitely more than just making out. I may be reading between the lines too much though.

My problem isn't with having sex in college (at least, not here)-- it's that all the homosexual characters have their purpose in the webcomic relating to their sexual lifestyle, rather than having the homosexuals just be characters like any other. Sure, dealing with the social issues of that, but not having their existence based off of it.

(Alice was in Highschool, I believe)

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

...yeah, I have to disagree. Setting aside the background characters you mentioned -- the lesbian couple, I've already forgotten their names again -- all the non-straight characters in the comic have a lot more going on than just 'I'm [orientation] and I like sex!' XD

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Even I agree to that haha.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Can you explain what you mean by "the characters that are coming out always have to do it with sex"?

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Specifically in the webcomic, the homosexual characters all have their purpose in the plot revolve around their sexual acts. The way the plot usually shows a character 'coming out of the closet' is by mentioning that they sex with character X, or, more often, the gay characters talking feverishly about their lusts and a hinting toward a sex scene.
I'm actually surprised that homosexuals aren't insulted that the characters here that are gay have their sexual lives so pivotal in their character. It may just be me, but I think there's more to gay people than just how they have sex.
It's true that the straight characters also have it, but the ones that have an emphasized storyline based off of it are the comic relief chars (Joe and Roz). The rest just suggest they're non-virgins (aside from the extremely Christian characters which are made fun of.)

Davar Acher:
It's like when they made one of the Green Lantern's gay-- aside from them just remaking an old straight character gay due to lack of ingenuity, they also just decided to slap it on the front page of the comic book as if it was a huge thing that Green Lantern was kissing a guy. Why does sexuality have to be such a central part of a character?
For example, I'm a heterosexual male. But if I was going to write down my own character sheet, I don't think that would really be too pivotal. It might appear from time to time, but I wouldn't want it to be the thing that my character is based on (being a 'token' character.) I'm a human being with very few specific skill sets, ideas, and interests. My attraction to the female body shouldn't be a more important plot point than those, were I a character in a story. Same would go for alternate/backwards universe gay-me.
And yet, you'll find in DoA and actually a lot of tv shows, that the main purpose of homosexuals is just so they're there (tokenism) and for whom they have sex with. I realize that relationships is what this comic focuses on, but the author still didn't have to make all those characters be a bunch of sexually frustrated rabbits.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago
To be fair, having sex with other gay characters is kind of the defining characteristic of being gay.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Just because you're gay doesn't mean you have to chase sex in high school and/or college. :P

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago
The prevalent opinion is that most people of those ages chase sex, regardless of their preferences.

If anything the author is portraying them as normal, albeit horny, people.

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Yep. I don't think there's an asexual character, at least not the we know about. That would be cool. ^_^

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Carla's asexual (but homoromantic or something like that). 

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Huh. Missed that. Cool. ^_^

Dumbing of Age

9 years ago

Yup. Fun webcomic. :)