Parents and sex just don’t mix together. Nevermind that the whole reason there are more people is people gettin’ it on, it’s still taboo to talk about- somehow just haven’t got comfortable with it yet.
I think it’s just the “ehk!” factor of thinking of any member of your family as a sexual being. XD I feel almost as uncomfortable when this sort of topic comes up with sibs as I do with parents.
I love them too! I can’t figure out why her mum has the cat demon eyes and fangsies though. She didn’t become part of the chimera, so shouldn’t she still look human?
Maya spent quite a frew centuries in the demon realm. I’m sure that had some effect on her. Tina is a conglomerate of demons. Her eyes and teeth aren’t normal either. I’m going to guess that supernatural beings of one sort or another have different physical traits not found in humans. Phix is large, winged and half cat. Tepoz is really short and blue. The chimera are actually a snake, panther and goat. Being changed supernaturally seems to have that effect on former humans. Actually, I’m not sure about Tepoz. I seem to remember him mentioning something about Maya experimenting with rats or mice That might explain why he’s so small.
As best I recall, there are five surviving golems: Topez, Mayahuel, Jin, Bud, and Brandi.
Topez was a technology demonstration, Mayahuel was to be an ultimate weapon. But as Mayahuel intended, she could not be controlled by the priests, seized the calendar machine, and fled with it.
Unfortunately, the priests now knew how to build golems, so they tried for their ultimate weapon again, with a meld of three people. They succeeded – and once again, the result could not be controlled. Their weapon – the chimera – turned against them, and utterly destroyed their civilization.
.
.
Well sure we all do, we just do not go into detail. It’s more
“How was your date, dear? Did your have fun?”
That is parental code for
“Did you and Jack do it? And was it good for you?” which they will know from your answer, if you had sex and if you like it. They want to know if you are happy with whoever you pick.
umm..talking about sex with my mom…i am pretty sure my mother still likes to belive even though i am getting married in a few months and i have been living with my fiance for over 2 and half years now i am still a virgin..yeah my moms so cute when shes delusional…kind of wish she was more like jins.
Oh great, we’ve got a 120,000-plus year old feminist! Worse, she probably believes females are superior. Maybe she’s having serious thoughts about restoring the matriarchy.
Hmm, I don’t know. Do sons have problems talking to their fathers about the girls they have screwed?
I’ve actually studied alot of sociology and gender issues, Sociology is how i make a living. May is totally right about the social contrustion of gender roles, not that one is better or anything, just that they are different and we act in the way that we were socialized to act. A male dominant society is very differnt than a women dominant society. And as much as we love to argue it, we do live in a patriarcal structured society in North America, gender equality is getting better, but its not fully actualized yet. Another thing May(and Paul) are totally right about is the impact of the religious community on the degredation of womens position in society. We like to point to the Hijab and headscarf as examples, but the 1950’s idealistic women(still more popular than you might like to believe) and modern marriage rights, not to mention homophobia (which is applicable yes) are more familier examples of how religion has degraded feminine status
I don’t see how one can come to that conclusion considering there are few female dominated societies. I only know of one, and it’s a primitive one, with a view of female superiority. There have, likewise, been few, if any, actual matriarchal societies in the past, ancient or otherwise. Some rabid feminist have tried shoving the concept of many true matriarchies existing in the past, but it is my understanding most experts in the field do not agree.
My point is there are not sufficient examples of matriarchies to make any conclusions as to them being all that different from patriarchal societies in the final analysis. After all, female rulers would have to face the same pressures as male. There would still be those who disagree with the status quo and want to affect change through force, leading to wars. There would still be those wanting to expand their empires, or fight over land, or water, or minerals, etc. To believe it would be all that different (or even more peaceful, for that matter) under women is naive and without proof. I do agree, however, the social status of women has suffered under the influence of the major religions. The problems with today’s equality movement is that the leaders want that equality of social standing without also striving for equality of responsibility. Finally marriage rights have favored women in this country for some time now, and not agreeing with, or even being disgusted with, the homosexual lifestyle does not equate with a phobia. Homophobia is such a silly concept.
For an interesting look at a fictional matriarchal society, check out A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer. Her Web site describes it as: “an alternate Earth, where the population is ninety percent female and a man is sold by his sisters to marry all the women in a family.” It’s definitely not a pseudo-feminist paradise where everyone is “sisterly” to each other. Women scheme, rebel and kill, and men are definitely second class citizens. It’s sort of a reversed historical romance novel, where the young man is the one who needs rescuing.
Sounds like something I might like, thanks. Too bad Hollywood would never make a movie like that. They certainly would never make one about any of the stories I’ve ever written … sigh.
I could be wrong about this (sociology isn’t really my strong suit, nor is anthropology), but H.L. Mencken in his immortal classic “A Treatise on the Gods”, theorizes that almost all prehistoric (and several historic) civilizations were matriarchal, and that patriarchies took over in part because of the competitive and acquisitive nature of men. Granted, he was writing in a time that was more tolerant of romance over science, but if you read his book, his arguments are still cogent all these decades later. And the book is really entertaining if you like your wit sharp 😉
Perhaps, but that’s my point. It’s all supposition and extrapolation of theoies never proven. One can try to build foundations on theories of what might have been, or might be, but without hard evidence, it’s all guesswork. no matter how compelling. As Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper said, “One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.”
Judging by these comments, I wonder if I’m the only woman alive who talks to her mom about sex. She’s a lot like Jin’s mom, but I’m a lot less scandalized than Jin is…
I drink Guiness…but I definitely don’t talk sex with my mom except on barest of basic levels.
She’s a lot like May, too, but she tried to be open in conversation with me about that topic when I was way too young NOT to be scandalized, and I never really grew out of that sensation.
Of course…now that I think about it, I might feel comfortable talking to her about it now that I’m older and a bit more removed from a lot of that awkwardness. It also doesn’t hurt that I know she’s allowing my father to feign innocence about my relationship with my boyfriend while being pretty blunt about it when talking to me.
About thirty years ago, i told a friend i heard he’d been hitting on my mother when she attended a small SF convention i organised (the only one she ever did, and it was because she wanted to meet the Guest of Honour).
He said “Of course I was. You Mom is hot!”
Since my mother was divorced and certainly old enough to know her own mind, i just shook my head and wandered off to hang out with other friends…
I see, thanks. BTW is there an actual Wapsi Square?
Also, I don’t think any matriarchal theme has anything to do with the strip. As I see it, Paul just likes having a bevy of female characters doing everything. I think it’s because he also likes cute and funny, and it seems that sort of thing lends itself to more situations if the characters are female, especially the cute part. Believe it or not, I like cute and funny too, even though it involves females. Azumanga Dioh is one of my favorite series. Of course, having a great story line is a big bonus.
I think he likes drawing pretty women. (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”) This works out; I for one like looking at drawings of pretty women. When they’re also interesting and entertaining webcomic characters, so much the better!
Lanthas was a matriarchal society? And the male priests changed that when they took over? (files two new facts away on WS history.) Sounds like a recipe for civil war…
This new information doesn’t jibe with my previous understanding. Based on what I remember of Paul’s comments, I thought the priests were originally dominant and felt threatened by those who created the time machine. I also thought that the group of VIPs present when the calendar machine was started included both sexes, but probably was male dominated, since they became the Mayan and Aztec gods and the immortal politicians, which were patriarchal groups.
I wonder if Maya is referring to an earlier takeover by the priests, perhaps a few years before the calendar machine was created. She might not have accepted the changes and been trying to work against the priests.
We know that Mayahuel designed the machine, and Paul is still expanding on the consequences of that. But the only hint I have ever found as to why is this strip.
If I understand the implication, Mayahuel was attempting to reconnect Jin with time. The calendar machine … was therapy …
Yup, the awkwardness continues with the “Mooooooooooom! I don’t want to talk about this!” response. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Never had the whole problem about the B&B talk with my folks. I learned to read at three years old, and around five, read that set of books that my parents bought for my two older sisters about the human body. Had the mechanics figured out in a short time, and just had to observe those around me to understand the relationship part of the whole mess. When Little Brother was old enough for The Talk, they just told him to talk to me.
Not surprising. The New-Age, crystal-gazing, tree-hugging, mantra-chanting, armchair-psych-101 types love to imagine how much better the world would be under a matriarchy. This, despite the overwhelming lack of evidence there ever was a matriarchy in the first place. Oh, they will point to this and that to “prove” their thesis, but when you really look into it, you find it’s based on myths and legends,Some artifact found in a grave, or just plain lies and nonsense. Much like the Bermuda Triangle, UFOs and Big Foot. When you get back to sources, you find many simply quote each other. Total circular logic. It’s not unlike how some Christians prove the Bible true by pointing to the Bible. I imagine other religions do the same.
Actually, that’s good to hear. It’s nice to know the strip will not be going in that direction, even if it might have done so to make the plot take new directions.
She was trying to make sure Kevin & Monica’s relationship was well-cemented, so that she would NOT break it — a prospect she viewed with fear, loathing, and possibly panic.
Thank god the public schools took the role of my parents and taught me the birds and the bees so it wouldn’t set a precedent in my house for talks like these. thank you big brother.
How old is she now?
12000 plus 65 times 1450 that makes roughly a good 100000Years. One boyfriend in 30 years to stay conservative, that makes at least 3500. I would call that mega experienced to avoid other names…
I’m 40 years old.
As far as my father an I are aware of each other and would be able to confirm before a judge, I am a virgin, and he has only has sex once in his life, which I can infer only through the fact that I exist and am not adopted. …probably.
Meanwhile, birds and bees…
Seems like the women and their mothers , I know , do this .
Heh.
Parents and sex just don’t mix together. Nevermind that the whole reason there are more people is people gettin’ it on, it’s still taboo to talk about- somehow just haven’t got comfortable with it yet.
I think it’s just the “ehk!” factor of thinking of any member of your family as a sexual being. XD I feel almost as uncomfortable when this sort of topic comes up with sibs as I do with parents.
I’m not exempt from that uncomfortableness either. It’s like AUGH NO, the images, they cannot be erased! *Pounding forehead with fist*
Yeah, that’s what kills it for me too 🙂
That’s probably because we have this aversion to incest. It does cause problems, ya know.
Wait, what? There are biological reasons for the Church’s doctrines regarding sex??!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaqTuLQThsY
I like Jin’s perception there in the last panel. She really is assimilating! ^.^
God, they’re both so cute! What with those big eyes and fangular lower teeth, they’re like lemurs or spider monkeys or something.
Wouldn’t that be tuskular? Or just tusks?
I love them too! I can’t figure out why her mum has the cat demon eyes and fangsies though. She didn’t become part of the chimera, so shouldn’t she still look human?
Maya spent quite a frew centuries in the demon realm. I’m sure that had some effect on her. Tina is a conglomerate of demons. Her eyes and teeth aren’t normal either. I’m going to guess that supernatural beings of one sort or another have different physical traits not found in humans. Phix is large, winged and half cat. Tepoz is really short and blue. The chimera are actually a snake, panther and goat. Being changed supernaturally seems to have that effect on former humans. Actually, I’m not sure about Tepoz. I seem to remember him mentioning something about Maya experimenting with rats or mice That might explain why he’s so small.
As best I recall, there are five surviving golems: Topez, Mayahuel, Jin, Bud, and Brandi.
Topez was a technology demonstration, Mayahuel was to be an ultimate weapon. But as Mayahuel intended, she could not be controlled by the priests, seized the calendar machine, and fled with it.
Unfortunately, the priests now knew how to build golems, so they tried for their ultimate weapon again, with a meld of three people. They succeeded – and once again, the result could not be controlled. Their weapon – the chimera – turned against them, and utterly destroyed their civilization.
.
.
you talk about sex with your parents and you risk them telling you about whom they slept with and what they did…
which is just plain creepy.
Paula – got that right. Do I *really* want to have to explain to my daughters…
“Actually, honey, Daddy knew Aunt JJ a while before he met Mommy.”
“You mean you and Mommy’s sister *dated*!?!?”
“I don’t know if you would necessarily call it DATING….”
“Well, what _would_ you call it???”
“*I* dunno, honey. ‘Mutually beneficial’, maybe?”
“!!!…EEEEWWWWWWWW…!!!!!!!”
I gotta agree with Jin. Does anyone, male or female, talk to parents of either sex about who they got it on with last night?
Just… no.
Only when I had to explain why the *insert furniture item* broke, why we needed to call the locksmith again, or why we needed a blindfolded boyscout.
Well sure we all do, we just do not go into detail. It’s more
“How was your date, dear? Did your have fun?”
That is parental code for
“Did you and Jack do it? And was it good for you?” which they will know from your answer, if you had sex and if you like it. They want to know if you are happy with whoever you pick.
PBH
Unfortunately for me, that was never an issue that had reason to be brought up… in either direction, due to my hearing.
umm..talking about sex with my mom…i am pretty sure my mother still likes to belive even though i am getting married in a few months and i have been living with my fiance for over 2 and half years now i am still a virgin..yeah my moms so cute when shes delusional…kind of wish she was more like jins.
Don’t be too hasty to judge. You’ll probably be much the same way with your daughter.
Oh great, we’ve got a 120,000-plus year old feminist! Worse, she probably believes females are superior. Maybe she’s having serious thoughts about restoring the matriarchy.
Hmm, I don’t know. Do sons have problems talking to their fathers about the girls they have screwed?
Naw… she just doesn’t understand the concept of gender equality, or have a concept of TMI as anything but a “social stricture.”
Feminism and reverse sexism are not the same thing, but she doesn’t strike me as the type.
They are not supposed to be the same, but that’s not how it seems to come out in actual practice.
I’ve actually studied alot of sociology and gender issues, Sociology is how i make a living. May is totally right about the social contrustion of gender roles, not that one is better or anything, just that they are different and we act in the way that we were socialized to act. A male dominant society is very differnt than a women dominant society. And as much as we love to argue it, we do live in a patriarcal structured society in North America, gender equality is getting better, but its not fully actualized yet. Another thing May(and Paul) are totally right about is the impact of the religious community on the degredation of womens position in society. We like to point to the Hijab and headscarf as examples, but the 1950’s idealistic women(still more popular than you might like to believe) and modern marriage rights, not to mention homophobia (which is applicable yes) are more familier examples of how religion has degraded feminine status
I don’t see how one can come to that conclusion considering there are few female dominated societies. I only know of one, and it’s a primitive one, with a view of female superiority. There have, likewise, been few, if any, actual matriarchal societies in the past, ancient or otherwise. Some rabid feminist have tried shoving the concept of many true matriarchies existing in the past, but it is my understanding most experts in the field do not agree.
My point is there are not sufficient examples of matriarchies to make any conclusions as to them being all that different from patriarchal societies in the final analysis. After all, female rulers would have to face the same pressures as male. There would still be those who disagree with the status quo and want to affect change through force, leading to wars. There would still be those wanting to expand their empires, or fight over land, or water, or minerals, etc. To believe it would be all that different (or even more peaceful, for that matter) under women is naive and without proof. I do agree, however, the social status of women has suffered under the influence of the major religions. The problems with today’s equality movement is that the leaders want that equality of social standing without also striving for equality of responsibility. Finally marriage rights have favored women in this country for some time now, and not agreeing with, or even being disgusted with, the homosexual lifestyle does not equate with a phobia. Homophobia is such a silly concept.
For an interesting look at a fictional matriarchal society, check out A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer. Her Web site describes it as: “an alternate Earth, where the population is ninety percent female and a man is sold by his sisters to marry all the women in a family.” It’s definitely not a pseudo-feminist paradise where everyone is “sisterly” to each other. Women scheme, rebel and kill, and men are definitely second class citizens. It’s sort of a reversed historical romance novel, where the young man is the one who needs rescuing.
Sounds like something I might like, thanks. Too bad Hollywood would never make a movie like that. They certainly would never make one about any of the stories I’ve ever written … sigh.
I could be wrong about this (sociology isn’t really my strong suit, nor is anthropology), but H.L. Mencken in his immortal classic “A Treatise on the Gods”, theorizes that almost all prehistoric (and several historic) civilizations were matriarchal, and that patriarchies took over in part because of the competitive and acquisitive nature of men. Granted, he was writing in a time that was more tolerant of romance over science, but if you read his book, his arguments are still cogent all these decades later. And the book is really entertaining if you like your wit sharp 😉
Perhaps, but that’s my point. It’s all supposition and extrapolation of theoies never proven. One can try to build foundations on theories of what might have been, or might be, but without hard evidence, it’s all guesswork. no matter how compelling. As Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper said, “One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.”
Judging by these comments, I wonder if I’m the only woman alive who talks to her mom about sex. She’s a lot like Jin’s mom, but I’m a lot less scandalized than Jin is…
You may be. Perhaps you should contact Guinness.
You drinkGuinness, you don’t ‘contact’ it. 😉
Drink enough and you can do both.
I drink Guiness…but I definitely don’t talk sex with my mom except on barest of basic levels.
She’s a lot like May, too, but she tried to be open in conversation with me about that topic when I was way too young NOT to be scandalized, and I never really grew out of that sensation.
Of course…now that I think about it, I might feel comfortable talking to her about it now that I’m older and a bit more removed from a lot of that awkwardness. It also doesn’t hurt that I know she’s allowing my father to feign innocence about my relationship with my boyfriend while being pretty blunt about it when talking to me.
As long as Daddy thinks I’m innocent, I’m good. 🙂
Or pretends to think you’re innocent.
About thirty years ago, i told a friend i heard he’d been hitting on my mother when she attended a small SF convention i organised (the only one she ever did, and it was because she wanted to meet the Guest of Honour).
He said “Of course I was. You Mom is hot!”
Since my mother was divorced and certainly old enough to know her own mind, i just shook my head and wandered off to hang out with other friends…
A matriarchal society explains a LOT of things about this strip as a whole, if you ask me.
Just one thing, Pablo? PLEASE do not make it where she’s moving to an address near 118 East 18th Street in Minneapolis?
Okay, I’ll bite. Why?
Because that’s where Phix put the new annex to the thiki.
I see, thanks. BTW is there an actual Wapsi Square?
Also, I don’t think any matriarchal theme has anything to do with the strip. As I see it, Paul just likes having a bevy of female characters doing everything. I think it’s because he also likes cute and funny, and it seems that sort of thing lends itself to more situations if the characters are female, especially the cute part. Believe it or not, I like cute and funny too, even though it involves females. Azumanga Dioh is one of my favorite series. Of course, having a great story line is a big bonus.
I love cute and funny. Spooky and cute I also like a lot.
IIRC, Paul said in an interview that Wapsi came from the nickname for the Wapsipinicon River, which is actually in Iowa. There is no such square.
I think he likes drawing pretty women. (“Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”) This works out; I for one like looking at drawings of pretty women. When they’re also interesting and entertaining webcomic characters, so much the better!
But look how rife with comic humor the whole situation is…
Oh, like I’m complaining?
Lanthas was a matriarchal society? And the male priests changed that when they took over? (files two new facts away on WS history.) Sounds like a recipe for civil war…
This new information doesn’t jibe with my previous understanding. Based on what I remember of Paul’s comments, I thought the priests were originally dominant and felt threatened by those who created the time machine. I also thought that the group of VIPs present when the calendar machine was started included both sexes, but probably was male dominated, since they became the Mayan and Aztec gods and the immortal politicians, which were patriarchal groups.
I wonder if Maya is referring to an earlier takeover by the priests, perhaps a few years before the calendar machine was created. She might not have accepted the changes and been trying to work against the priests.
What was the purpose of the machine anyway?
We know that Mayahuel designed the machine, and Paul is still expanding on the consequences of that. But the only hint I have ever found as to why is this strip.
If I understand the implication, Mayahuel was attempting to reconnect Jin with time. The calendar machine … was therapy …
I think it’s cute how jin s acting her age, mental age not physical age of course.
Love the body language.
Yup, the awkwardness continues with the “Mooooooooooom! I don’t want to talk about this!” response. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Never had the whole problem about the B&B talk with my folks. I learned to read at three years old, and around five, read that set of books that my parents bought for my two older sisters about the human body. Had the mechanics figured out in a short time, and just had to observe those around me to understand the relationship part of the whole mess. When Little Brother was old enough for The Talk, they just told him to talk to me.
Same here. I always thought of it as normal to the extent that it actually surprised me when I discovered that it wasn’t particularly common.
I’ve been to some new-age-type conferences where the destruction of the matriarchy is discussed with much more passion than Mayahuel is showing…
Not surprising. The New-Age, crystal-gazing, tree-hugging, mantra-chanting, armchair-psych-101 types love to imagine how much better the world would be under a matriarchy. This, despite the overwhelming lack of evidence there ever was a matriarchy in the first place. Oh, they will point to this and that to “prove” their thesis, but when you really look into it, you find it’s based on myths and legends,Some artifact found in a grave, or just plain lies and nonsense. Much like the Bermuda Triangle, UFOs and Big Foot. When you get back to sources, you find many simply quote each other. Total circular logic. It’s not unlike how some Christians prove the Bible true by pointing to the Bible. I imagine other religions do the same.
One thing you’ll never see Maya say is that women are better than men. 🙂
Actually, that’s good to hear. It’s nice to know the strip will not be going in that direction, even if it might have done so to make the plot take new directions.
Note Bud’s comments about ancient (presumably Lanthean) customs, which strongly imply a matriarchal society.
Of course, she’s basically winding Monica up in that strip, but…
I was pretty sure Bud was making up whatever would get a rise out of Monica, but the tale is so amusing that the truth isn’t particularly important.
She was trying to make sure Kevin & Monica’s relationship was well-cemented, so that she would NOT break it — a prospect she viewed with fear, loathing, and possibly panic.
Thank god the public schools took the role of my parents and taught me the birds and the bees so it wouldn’t set a precedent in my house for talks like these. thank you big brother.
All I can think of is my grandma saying something about her ‘love life’ with my grampa…bghugghgh.
Is Jin’s mom Phix tall? Or is Jin shorter than I thought? The contrast between her and her mom is really well done in that last panel!
In 6.5 years how has NO ONE noticed that Jin’s arm is missing?!
How old is she now?
12000 plus 65 times 1450 that makes roughly a good 100000Years. One boyfriend in 30 years to stay conservative, that makes at least 3500. I would call that mega experienced to avoid other names…
I’m 40 years old.
As far as my father an I are aware of each other and would be able to confirm before a judge, I am a virgin, and he has only has sex once in his life, which I can infer only through the fact that I exist and am not adopted. …probably.
My Father? Are you kidding?
It was several years after he came in my room for “the talk” before I figured out what he was on about.