- Larisa: That means you like girls?
- Zoey: Yeah…
- Larisa: But you also like boys, right?
- Zoey: Nah…
- Larisa: But… But… But!
- Zoey: But?
- Larisa: But girls don’t have penises!
- Zoey: I’ve heard the rumor too.
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![[0525] Zoey Heard The Rumor](/comics/2013-11-04-0525-zoey-heard-the-rumor.png "[0525] Zoey Heard The Rumor")
[0525] Zoey Heard The Rumor
└ posted on Monday, 4 November 2013, by Novil
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Ha. I’m getting to like Zoey, she’s actually witty. Love her cool reaction to Larissa’s over the top “but” 😀
Mh, I wonder why Larisa isn’t ashamed to talk of this with a girl.
@ Antonio R:
I mean Zoey -__-
illeatyourself wrote:
Including a gay, lesbian, or bisexual person into the mix isn’t a bad thing. It helps to add plot development and gives you a chance to make the characters more unique as they are in real life. The reason why people are coming out more and more is because many parts of the world are becoming more accepting toward the LGBT community. (We’ve gotta work on the T group though.) They don’t have to fear as much of being hurt or killed.
Additionally, by agreeing to read this webcomic, you are stepping into the world the artist has created. The story he or she tells is the story you must accept. It is their world, they are simply sharing it with you. Be thankful that they do.
Antonio R wrote:
She does probably feel a tiny bit of fear or awkwardness which can be seen in her responses both visual and verbal. The way her eyes are looking away to the ground could indicate that she does feel a tiny bit of discomfort.
@ illeatyourself:
I can gladly say my world doesn’t have any gay or lesbian characters in it. However, I haven’t posted anything about it besides a character bio on deviant art.
@ Asher:
I don’t understand why you would do that. One of the great things about the internet and web comics is that you can publish realistic characters without having to pander to a publishers fears about the characters being accepted.
If your characters are drawn from your experience of life, then surely when you create a universe there must be at least a handful of queers in there. Unless you have made a conscious decision to exclude them.
12 is about the age I took an interest in male anatomy also.
@ illeatyourself: the thing is that now you can reveal that you are gay without be sent to conversion camps. what this comic is doing is showing a world as diverse as is ours, with its divers characters and stories. if you want to see something where no one claims to have a different sexual orientation than the socially established I would suggest you to go to cartoonnetwork or nickelodeon.
@ Leon:
Asher said “a character bio”, as in one. If you picked random individuals in the real world and determined their orientation, most of them will be straight. It’s only when you go to larger sample sizes that you increase the likelihood of getting at least one person in the sample not being straight.
Will Asher still be able to make this claim after posting bios on the whole cast? We’ll have to wait and see. Unless the one character is the whole cast. In which case sexual orientation is something of a moot point ^_^
The problem here is that I don’t think Zoey is old enough to know whether she’s straight, bi or gay. Lots of 12 year old girls find boys yucky, only to change their minds as they get into their teens. She may just not have developed and interest yet.
@ illeatyourself:
I’ve wondered about that, too (I think it’s cool by the way). I guess people see it as a form of liberation, because the mainstream TV-Networks and movie studios and other publishers normally go miles just to avoid this topic, especially in stories aimed at kids and young adults, in fear of rejection and controversy. Just last year I read an enraging story about a writer who handed in a script for a young-adult adventure story book, in which one, just ONE character happened to be gay. What did they do? They rewrote the character BEHIND the writers back! Can you believe that? So, I think it’s just natural that the independant creators on the internet jump in the breach and provide that kind of story, be it to tell the story of their lives or to cater to a market the mainstream (shamefully) ignores.
Zoey’s answer in the last pane made my day!
*panel
@ illeatyourself:
I know. Pretty much every webcomic I follow now has one. It’s okay, guys. You don’t have to start doing this.
As long as Gaia doesn’t….
“BUT GIRLS DON’T HAVE PENISES!” I lost it XD
But boys don’t have BOOBS, Larisa! Boobs are way better than penises
What is it specifically that makes some people dislike the gay demographic in webcomics? Is it that they are tired of reading coming-out story arcs? Do they think it is only in the story because it is popular? Or do they have a problem with homosexuality itself?
illeatyourself wrote:
Geez, not this discussion again.
It’s just a character type, like the straight man in a comedy or a tsundere in a romance. Not every form of internet media has one, you’re just seeing a rise in the character’s popularity because the concept is becoming less of a no-touch subject.
It’s not hard to say “everyone in this story is straight”, and also “everyone in this story is homosexual”, but it’s incredibly unrealistic.
Mablung wrote:
And as for this…does it really matter? It’s just a character to drive a plot. It’s no different from a character who has any other kind of personality. If you can’t handle it, what that says is that you can’t handle reality, not that you’re “sick of everyone doing the same thing”, because by that logic you should have left years ago, because character personalities repeat all the time.
I thought we already had this discussion on [0513] Wrong Direction and [0519] Zoey + Michelle, it really doesn’t matter. If you’re honestly so sensitive to repeating character types, you should start actually reading things, because I can tell you that the concept of a brave main character who strives to protect his friends is far older and much more commonly used than any homosexual character. The idea of a rebel character striving for what’s right has been as ancient as the Greeks, and has been used in uncountable works. Pardon my French, but “Used by too many webcomic artists” my *not nice word for behind*, what you really hate is the fact that the character is homosexual, otherwise you would have already complained about the commonality of say, the bully being beaten up by Cloud, or Larisa being the not-quite-sane comic relief.
So just stop it.
Epic Larisa! Larisa doesn’t get much better than this!
I agree with others that have posted. Let’s get to Larissa’s secret!!
“But girls don’t have penises!” – is that the best argument Larisa managed to come up with?
Or is she waaay too penis-centric for a 12 year old girl? 🙂
I think Zoey is probably a bit young to know her orientation *without a doubt*, but I’m not going to condemn the character either. Being a teenager means you’re finding everything out about who you are and where you fit into the world. It’ll be interesting to see how Zoey’s character develops from here, homosexual or not.
Mr_Nabby wrote:
That’s my interpretation of Larissa’s reaction as well. She isn’t shocked because she’s a bigot, she’s shocked because she herself really likes boys and can’t imagine why any girl would say no to something that fun.
@ Jamie:
sure you dont
@ Landbark:
“Penises” does not constitute foul language. It is the plural of the proper name of the male organ of generation.
Way to be blunt there, Larissa. XD
@ Leon:
i think he means i that just because there are lesbians or guy people dosn’t mean that every comic needs to have one witch they don’t just quite a few of them
“I’ve heard the rumor too”
This made my day! XD~
@ lupusFati:
I don’t want to sound rude or anything like that.
It’s just that…. don’t sound me right when someone questions someone’s sexuality just because this person is young. I’ve never heard someone sayin this when the character is heterosexual. Or couldn’t we too be too young to be certain of our heterosexuality…? 😉
OBS.: I’m from Brasil, sorry about any mistakes I may have commited.
@ Margaret:
Being lesbian is not automatically an excuse for bullying.
mechwarrior wrote:
David Bowie used to claim to be gay. Then he claimed he only said it for effect.
She’s totally okay with bisexuals, but she is incapable of comprehending lesbians? For shame.
I think for once Zoey has broken Larisa’s mind. That’s new.
@ rand:
The idea of a homogenous world just seems kind of weird to me.
I’ve never worked somewhere (even in the military and construction) or had a group of friends that doesn’t include somebody who’s not straight, and I’m probably one of the least bohemian people out there. Or maybe that’s just my personal experience.
@ Mr_Nabby:
Now Zoey just has to say that she has a deep and irrational phobia of fire.
illeatyourself wrote:
I’ve been thinking about this and perhaps the issue is more complicated than it appears. Putting aside the fact that some people simply feel uneasy about homosexuality in general for one reason or the other, the impression that such a plot/character development may feel repetitive might have less to do with the fact that a main character is in actually homosexual, and more with the observation that the homosexuality of those characters is their single defining trait and/or source of conflict.
Case in point: Zoey had zero personality in the strip so far aside of being bitchy, and now the first real storyline involving her happens to concentrate on the issues arising from her homosexuality. Gunnerkrigg Court also has this with Kat and Paz, when it comes to the source of conflict at least, only it’s a bit more weird considering it kinda came out of left field. (It’s still pretty well executed there, I’d say.)
The above statements are not an attempt to discredit the difficulties homosexual people face today or to automatically deem any storyline involving such a device/character bad. Still, it might be a tad overused in its current form, in my opinion.
@ Anon:
By definition, that would not be a girl then.
There is a very broad category for not exactly male or female.
Generally I have to give credit to Larissa for trying to get Zoe’s position. More credit than I give most of the commenters I might add.
Might I remind you these are 12 or 13 year old girls just figuring this stuff out. They are not as jaded as us, and there is a degree of innocence here.
@ Eric:
Honestly I think they’re just discovering the the question rather than figuring things out.
Larissa has all the best facial expressions now. XD
You two just found that out? Tsk, tsk…
Interesting to see a main character not automatically accepting and understanding different sexualities. I mean, I’m pretty much pro-everything, but it’s good to see these other reactions explored.
Personally I don’t see what the fuss is about. While the actual dialog might be different in real life, I am sure this kind of thing happens rather often in the real world.
Larisa’s reaction is amusing and using clinical terminology makes it more amusing. Maybe not accurate to real life, but amusing none the less.
Zoey’s reaction is equally fitting since she is trying to be serious about it. I can imagine other people who come out have had to deal with similar reactions, or far far worse actions. Like when she kissed her friend in the first place.
Coincidently i was listening to Big Dumb Face’s “Mighty Penis Laser” when i hit the punchline, i nearly puked laughing
I have no issues with GLBT characters appearing in a story, unless it is an insanely high proprtion. I also dont like it when an established strait character turns full gay over night. Thats a head scratcher. People dont just change on a switch.
I have written several fiction stories and have had gay characters. Its not something i conciously chose for them, but … Its hard to explain, it is like the chachter starts telling you the story instead of you shaping it.
He Who Is Excellent At Laughing Evilly wrote:
And that she really thinks that art is a overrated medium.
This seems eerily similar to what’s happening over at gunnerkrigg court
I will say, though, it unnerves me how many strips on my feed there are, especially the number written by men or teams fronted by men, with one or more lesbian characters and no gay male ones, or much less prominent and/or likeable gay male ones, especially in light of the number for which this wasn’t the case when I picked them up. I couldn’t possibly justify dropping any of the strips individually, and I certainly wouldn’t ask any of the authors to seek an artificial “balance” (remember what i said about “much less prominent and/or likeable”? yeah, that’s how that tends to go…), but when I look at them as a whole, I get kind of an ugly picture. Basically, in strips not directly aimed at an LGBT audience or fetish appeal, lesbians keep getting seated front and center, while gay men are usually escorted to the nosebleed section.
@ illeatyourself:
haven’t you heard? “gay” is the new “straight”.