[1332] Sandra Can’t Think Straight
└ posted on Monday, 9 May 2022, by Novil
- Sandra: Hey, Zoey, I wanted to study biology with Cloud on Saturday. And it would be really sweet if you joined us too!
- Zoey: I don’t know, Sandra, I– … Oooooooh!
- Sandra: Since you left yesterday, I just haven’t been able to think straight anymore!
- Zoey: That’s the spirit!
- Sandra: I still have to ask Cloud, of course. But I’m sure he won’t say no. You know how perverted boys are! This statement isn’t hypocritical at all, by the way.
- Zoey: What changed your mind? Was it my shapely body? My outstanding athletic successes? My strong character?
- Zoey: My superior intellect? My artistic talent? My world-class kissing skills?
- Sandra: …
- Sandra: 011_ZSC_ValentinesDay_v2final.docx
- Zoey: That would’ve been my next guess.
![[1332] Sandra Can’t Think Straight](/comics/2022-05-09-1332-sandra-cant-think-straight.png "[1332] Sandra Can’t Think Straight")
Something went wrong ^^
Man, these recent strips are making me uncomfortable. I mean joking about sex as a kid is one thing, but they are too young to be be seriously considering any of this.
LOL, Americans and their Puritanical sexual attitudes… shared by few other nations in the world…
I could understand readers getting upset if an adult character in the comic was seducing Sandra. Maybe even if it were someone in their late teens. There’s a legality as well as a morality issue there, of course.
But Sandra, Cloud and Zoey are all the same age. I repeat: THEY ARE ALL THE SAME AGE.
It is NOT illegal for individuals OF THE SAME AGE to have sex. Period. End of story. Done.
Whether it’s moral… well, that’s up to you and your invisible Big Brother in the heavens I suppose. I for one don’t have a problem here.
@ Nick/Tyrong:
Actually, the information page says 12 but Biology is part of a high school curriculum, 9th grade in most states, and that would make her 15 or 16.
@ Jabman:
…or this ends with a VERY angry Ye Thuza 😀
(might not be *only* Sandra who suffers)
Wow, Sandra and Zoey holding hands! My, my, my, this comic is getting steamy.
I think of a jpg. Image, or a video. But this is good too.
This is really awkward.
Especially since everything in the comic since comic 1158…
http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2020/03/02/1158-1-km-to-the-south-of-ueno/
…is a dream Richard is having while sleeping off his drinking binge in Japan. :-O
When is he waking up? Or is he in a coma? ^_-
poydras wrote:
poydras wrote:
Huh??? Now that’s something I’ve missed as a Russian. In Russia, biology is studied in the middle school, starting with like, 6th or 7th grade (12-13 years). And if it’s similar to Russia in Germany, then Novil could’ve easily missed that as well.
SexExistsDealWithIt wrote:
I still say they’re too young.
Arent wrote:
That is a fair account. Though, I’m still thinking that Mom might have given him some mono advice about relationships.
No matter how this pans out cloud is going to wind up forced into a dress again by the end of this
Dutch wrote:
Good idea!
@ Nikary Flare:
Let’s keep in mind that “Study biology” was used as a euphemism, so I highly doubt they’re studying anything given by the school.
@ Ashton Blaze:
Not all the world follows Ay-merry-cun standards. I’m pretty sure that where Novil lives, what Sandra and Zoey (and, if he agrees, Cloud) are proposing to do is perfectly legal. This is because they are ALL “under-age” and there are no adults involved.
Treike wrote:
…or is this Zoey’s dream?
Michelle is out of the picture now, eh?
@ poydras:
Don’t most american schools have biology in middle school?
Also, just so we’re clear, you DO understand she’s not actually studying biology and is instead hoping for orgasms, right? So her saying that is in no way an indicator of her age, only willingness to be deep dicked.
poydras wrote:
That’s a bit out of date. There was an entire storyline (starts here) about Sandra’s 13th birthday. S&W characters age very slowly, but they do age.
SexExistsDealWithIt wrote:
Not actually true. Between problematic attitudes about sex and a tendency to over-criminalize any disfavored behavior, some jurisdictions do make any sex act involving a minor a crime. I’ve even heard of at least one case where two kids were caught having sex, the cops got involved, and both of them were charged with statutory rape. Insane, yes, but it happened.
Dutch wrote:
We can only hope.
I’m pretty sure “study biology* is being used as a euphemism here judging by the italics.
Right, so us Ay-merry-cun’s are the ones being yelled at for disagreeing with child sexuality but be we are the one’s getting yelled at for sexualizing teenagers. Okay. You do you, bro. Don’t let Ay-merry-cun moralities interfere with your day. Just saying.
Greedo wrote:
Yeah. I’m not even American, but people blaming all disagreements with this comic on Americans annoys even me.
Greedo wrote:
It’s our media. They constantly depict Americans as dumb or gun crazy. It’s really annoying.
@ Hegel Marx:
It’s the 11th Zoey, Sandra, Cloud scenario she came up with, 2nd edit, that she considers final version. Non-writers and non-programmers just wouldn’t get it.
It seems likely to me that Sandra is setting Zoey up – that come Saturday, Zoey will be anticipating some action, but Cloud and Sandra will be innocently sitting at a table with their Biology text books, taking notes and quizzing each other to make sure they’ll pass the next test.
Charles wrote:
I like that idea!
Honestly, I’m just surprised that Zoey would be ok with Cloud being there since she hasn’t shown any inclination toward bisexuality. But they’ve clearly got some idea of what the other has in mind since they both read the same story.
@ Ashton Blaze:
When I was even younger than them (around 10 or 11), I explored my sexuality. Lots start discovering themselves around the preteen years
So long as Novil doesn’t go into detail, I’d say it’s a fair look at what growing up can be like
Also remember that Germany is more lax about this stuff (hell, Europe in general – There are children’s cartoons in, for example, Denmark about a man with the world’s longest penis). Novil could go much, MUCH further than just recognizing that they are all at that age where they start to explore their boundaries, who they are, and what they like
Charles wrote:
The house party all over again! That would be fun!
This world is desensibilizing me.
After seeing a girl that age offering it to a middle age man with implication that his girlfriends should join at some point,
you know what if they do that with everyone of the same age and they know about condoms, they have my blessings.
I have stronger and stronger feeling this whole story line wasn’t a good idea…
“Studying biology” would also be a nice euphemism of grooming some cute racoon cubs.
I see the prudes are late to the party.
Actually, the attitudes expressed here kind of highlight the difference between the adult and adolescent mindset on sex. Unfortunately, there are a lot of conflicting opinions and agendas out there about sexual development; most of them are well-intentioned but misguided in one direction or another.
((TL;DR: The way the kids are talking is developmentally normal and healthy. If they were actually planning out the level of sexual activity they’re talking about, it would not be.
Chill. ))
On the one hand, you have a hedonistic faction in constant fear of judgement (both giving and receiving) who want to believe that anything under the sun is healthy so long as it is consensual. While this sounds nice, it also ignores that the entire practice of psychology and, indeed, science is concerned with finding norms and deviations from them, not to pronounce judgment on them, but to learn from them and their statistically relevant outcomes, and yes, some of those outcomes are self-destructive or otherwise objectively dangerous.
On the other hand, you have those who foolishly think that sheltering children from sexuality is a substitute for educating them about it. Sexual gratification and desires are biologically programmed and, like everything else in a developing person, are grown into over time.
What both of these extremes miss is that they are viewing sexuality from an adult mindset, which absolutely would not be healthy for a child or adolescent, but that doesn’t mean there is no age-appropriate form of sexuality for them. To go to a stark but not uncommon example, some young children and even babies touch themselves sexually, which can surprise a lot of parents. This behavior is pretty well studied and CAN be age-appropriate. It can also be a clear sign of abuse. The key isn’t what they are doing, but why and how. A child who learns to do that on their own is driven purely by stimulus with no agenda. Few are trying to “reach” anything with they’re pleasure, they’re just feeling it out, more similar to how an adult scratches an itch than masturbates. If they’re associating that with a given person, trying to overstimulate themselves for their own sake, or are doing it to another expressly to get something from that other person (even another child), it’s very unlikely they came to that on their own and are likely mimicking something they have seen or that was done to them. The child brain lacks the structure to develop a transactional or goal-oriented nature around sexuality, so if they’re treating it that way, that’s an unhealthy behavior that they picked up from somewhere else. It’s worth noting that without those features, this sexual “exploration” does not escalate to intercourse.
Likewise, adolescents have brains teeming with hormones and curiosity, but they haven’t developed the kinds of understanding of cause & effect and long-term planning that adults enjoy. They can understand these ideas as concepts, sure, but they won’t fully integrate into their thinking for years to come. So where an adult has formed specific sexual tastes and might plan out a social interaction with the goal of eventually getting to enact a sexual fantasy, an adolescent is viewing “sex” as more of a broad category and less of an end unto itself than a step in a relationship or a social symbol among their peers. In the same way that a child might fantasize about or playact marrying a crush but doesn’t actively plan out a relationship leading to marriage with that crush, a healthy adolescent might want love and think about sex, but those remain fairly amorphous ideas they dance around and try to get to happen to them but are not trying to get “from” another with any real degree of specificity.
In this way, we can see that (while clearly having features of being written by an adult or for an adult audience) nothing presented here so-far is too unrealistic or unhealthy. They talk about their bodies and what they find “sexy” pretty openly but it exists as it’s own thing. For instance, trying to get others to notice their butt, which they are proud of, but not specifically thinking “this is what I want to do with their butt” or trying to entice another to a specific act with their butt. Similarly, the over-dramatized courtship is characteristically fumbling and is more about mutual discovery than setting a particular trajectory. Zoey is open about her attraction, but rather than easing Sandra into it with some kind of manipulation, she shows her what she thinks is sexy in a non-confrontational way, hoping for, at least, acceptance and, at best, agreement. Sandra, for her part, doesn’t think much past getting both people she finds herself attracted to in the same room together rather than setting up a plan with her boyfriend to invite a third. Most telling is that they still all talk about kissing as their primary sexual skill in spite of having both an understanding of and opportunity for further sexual activity.
So yes, if you look at this like they’re adults setting up a threesome, this wouldn’t be healthy for any of them on any level. But what I see depicted is a bunch of young teens who know that they want much more than they understand what they want and are all trying to figure that out, together, with all the trappings and pride and poor assumptions that come with being that age in the modern west.
Wow Anna. Just wow. Beautiful written and thought out. A++ post
Novil, why would you put yourself in this position?
If you don’t do it, then it’s an obvious fakeout using weird sexual situations involving children to make an unfunny joke.
If you do it, then it’s another unpleasant dipping into weird sexual situations involving children just… because?
There is literally no way to end this that isn’t terrible on some level. What’s worse is that with your track record, you could see this coming. Are you doing this to be contrarian?
@ Red5:
Or, and hear me out here, he may be doing it just because he likes this plot-line and he already knows what he wants to say with his comics that is freely published on the internet.
Let’s wait till the end of the arc.
I still say this is all some elaborate scheme to get Sandra back for something
He did say that in the next arc Sandra would suffer.
@ Anne:
Far better put than what I attempted
AnotherBear wrote:
Okay, I’m just gonna be that person, but… didn’t he say that in the middle of the current arc? This whole crush-attraction-relationship discussion started at the end of their band practice, and the band arc has yet to be concluded, so aren’t they kinda the same arc?
Doesn’t the “next arc” Sandra is supposed to suffer in have yet to come?
@ Nikary Flare:
Durned if I know. I don’t write or draw it.
*looks at some of the newer comments*
I have the feeling that some of these guys never read through the archive.
Its not like Larisa ever took a fully naked picture of herself with the intent to send it to her boyfriend. Or told said boyfriend she was ‘ready’. Never seen Cloud having to deal with a boner; or the girls and his mother noticing. Never had a volleyball game stop to have the girls kissing boys. Zoey never kissed either Sandra or Larisa in a competition with Sandra. No, Larisa didn’t have a deck of Many Men’s things and showed it to Sandra or Zoey. And of course Zoey didn’t enjoy it.
I for one cannot see how Oliver could possibly write himself out of this one.
Plot twist: they really are just studying biology. Got a paper due.
@ Jphyper:
Ya know, I wouldn’t put it past this comic at all to do that, and since most fans voted for Larisa to be involved, I could see them having Larisa be like “What!? Wait, you were being serious!? What was with all the innuendos and crap!? Noooooooooo-!”
I feel for some of you commenters. I really do.
It must be horrible to be forced at gunpoint to read a comic that you clearly neither enjoy nor morally approve of, and that has always been full of mature humour including teenagers expressing their sexuality. It’s doubly horrible that your captor is forcing you to leave comments on this comic you hate.
I mean, if you weren’t being forced at gunpoint to do so, you could… stop reading it and stop commenting on it. You could do most anything else with your time than read and comment on it.
But clearly you are doing so under duress, and thus I can only offer hopes and prayers that you can either escape your captor or give themselves up and stop riding you.
Especially if that captor is… you, yourselves.
@ clickbait:
Sorry, small error in my text.
“only needs to them …” clearly should have read “only leads to them …”
@ SexOhNoWhereHelp:
Well said!
Alex C wrote:
You forgot when Larisa tried to coerce one of her classmates to ask a male classmate about the size of his member. :p