198

Drop
Posted on December 6, 2019 by David M Willis

198 thoughts on “Drop”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Rule #469 on the Internet: If it exists, it’s somebody’s fetish

    1. MatthewTheLucky

      I thought that was 34c?

      1. Reltzik

        It turns out there’s a fetish for redundant list entries.

      2. Leorale

        34C sounds like a bra size. So, that holds up.
        (finger-guns)

        1. Roborat

          Hey, they already said to holster the finger guns in here.

    2. Fiiiiilo

      bruh

    3. Ray

      Ana’s rule number is definitely accurate…

  2. Suet

    HAAAAAAAAAATS

    1. DarkoNeko

      hats ! hats ! hats !

      1. Jade

        E’ERYBODY!

    2. ASTAPHE

      Is maith lei an cailin gan hata

      1. BarerMender

        Scots Gaelic: “She likes the girl without a hat.” So says Google translate.

  3. Doctor_Who

    Careless Whispers is playing in Becky’s head right now. I don’t care that she’s probably too young and too sheltered to know that song, that’s what those sort of fantasies sound like. It’s universal.

    When we meet aliens from Rigel VI, communications will be facilitated when we discover that when they imagine any of their six preferred genders unfurling their fronds to reveal their pedipalps clad in tasteful lingerie, the sound they are imagining is indistinguishable from Careless Whispers.

    Thus the song will act as our Rosetta Stone, until all the scientists get too turned on from listening to it on repeat and need to be alone for a bit.

    1. Kravis

      As soon as Dinah said “many places” three strips ago I commented

      *The sax from Careless Whisper starts to play* three days ago.

      I see I’m not the only one who noticed it started playing…

      1. Emperor Norton II

        Personally, I sort of feel that “Fever” is more likely to play in Becky’s head, in that last panel.

        Probably the version with Rita Moreno in the Muppet Show.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          However, Joyce is probably having “Careless Whispers” in her head; on account of how she feels guilty about her actions, and feels that she ruined the chance she was given.

        2. Charlie Spencer

          Her feet feel guilty too.

        3. David T. Shaw

          Thank you for drawing my attention to Rita Moreno’s version.
          And I agree – that’s exactly what Becky seems to be going through.

        4. anonamousethatscurriesinthedarkness

          Fever?

          So more cow bell?

    2. Zee

      I’m around Becky’s age, she’s absolutely not too young to know that song. If she had a normal upbringing, she’d at the very least know it from memes. She didn’t, however, so she’s absolutely too sheltered to know it

  4. laladoria

    Took me a little bit to notice the drool. I don’t think Becky is going to last much longer on the Purity Train.

    1. He Who Abides

      That’s what I thought her reason for being freaked out yesterday was. Once she starts with touching, she won’t stop until . . . what’s the lesbian version of “bo-o-o-o-oing”?

      1. Rei

        Blip? Drip? P-psssshh!

        (guess that last one?)

  5. Stephen Bierce

    *plays The Statler Brothers’ “Whatever” on the hacked Muzak*

    1. 0kami

      *Follows up with the Tom Jones cover of “You can leave your hat on”*

      1. Opus the Poet

        The Doctor John version was far superior.

      2. Kamino Neko

        Becky: ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!’

  6. BBCC

    This is gonna go for a while, and it might get more intense before it gets less.

    1. Sunny

      The Dastardly Dad-Duo will probably interfere just before things get saucy.

  7. Androiddreams

    Datum that’s a sexy hat

    1. Opus the Poet

      I know that’s a typo, but it’s a funny typo that reminds us of the singular of data.
      Also, that is a sexy hat.

    2. Roborat

      I agree, and I am not even a Jaeger.

  8. Sirksome

    You know Joyce is all about that. “Well at least one of us is getting laid” life right now. That’s why she’s Becky’s bff! Great moment for Joyce here. Strong work.

    1. Meagan

      Ooh good angle.

    2. Felian

      Ha nice view.
      Yeah she’s pretty much giving up, wow.
      I like it, but i know it’s SO unsettling going through this.

  9. Woomy

    Sceptic Joyce is really catching me off guard.

    It’s been years, but I feel like this is really sudden.

    1. Madock345

      I keep snapping from in-universe-perspective time to IRL time. I’m going back and forth from “about damn time, it’s only been an entire decade” to “Wow, Joyce, you’ve changed so fast in a few months.”

      1. Meagan

        Yeah I’m in the “this is unrealistically fast change” due to in-universe time. The mitigating factor is that the whole disaster with Ross sped her worldview-shattering up a bit.

        1. Touchfuzzy

          Having been raised very Christian, I’ll just say that I’ve seen a lot of people who were very very “brainwashed Christian” that as soon as they hit 18 and moved out had a huge culture shock and changed very fast.

          It really isn’t unrealistic. (Btw this isn’t against Christians in general, when I say brainwashed Christians i mean the specific type like how Joyce was raised).

        2. ischemgeek

          Yeah especially for someone like Joyce who is prone to all or nothing thinking.

          To Joyce, if some of it is garbage, it all is.

        3. Chris Phoenix

          I was raised fundie. I believed gay people were literally going to Hell. Then my best friend came out to me. I knew immediately that my belief was wrong, and spent the next couple of hours deliberately re-thinking every belief I could find that derived from it.

          On the other hand, it took me several more years to stop being Christian. And after I decided I was no longer Christian, it took me another six months to believe I was not going to Hell.

          Having a belief system based on lies really messes with one’s head. The process of removing the lies is unpredictable. Joyce’s speed of change is completely realistic… and she may have lingering irrational/unfounded beliefs for many years.

        4. Illithid

          Agreed, and congratulations. It’s hard work reevaluating your beliefs. Takes guts.

        5. BBCC

          It’s not the same thing, but this is also my experience with cults. Nothing breaks you out until you’re ready to see the bullshit for what it is, but at that point, it could be something very small. And once that first bit of BS falls flat…well, it’s all connected, so it takes a bunch more out with it, like the world’s shittiest dominoes game.

        6. Charles Phipps

          As mentioned, I used to be a fundamentalist until I had a mystical experience where God told me not to be a asshole. It came at just the right time or I would have become a much worse person or lost an important part of my life.

        7. Geneseepaws

          Fastest way to reboot your reality; have a supreme being show up and offer you a cuppa, then yer braincells spontaneously regroup, and life is never the same old stupid it used to be.

        8. fridge_logic

          I also want to point out that Joyce probably gains a massive amount of objectivity by thinking about Becky’s situation instead of her own. Because she can see the goodness in Becky, she can see how that goodness would be unchanged by having sex with Dina. That makes it easy for her to see the wrongness in Becky not having sex.

          HOWEVER, regarding her own goodness is a completely different story, or so I imagine for her. I imagine that while she can quickly dispense new doctrine to Becky, she cannot so quickly make the same allowances to herself, in part because she know’s she’s far more biased when deciding which rules to break personally.

          To me this is the same as when Joyce basically instantly recognized that Becky being gay didn’t make her a bad person who was going to hell. She just knew that nothing had happened that was hell worthy and that her friend was still her friend and a good person.

          God I’m so glad Joyce has Becky to help her make these sceptical breakthroughs. It might have taken her so much longer otherwise.

        9. jmsr7

          fridge_logic said: “To me this is the same as when Joyce basically instantly recognized that Becky being gay didn’t make her a bad person who was going to hell.”

          I agree and think that was one of the things this scene conveyed. As many have pointed out, discovering that one aspect of your worldview is a flat out lie really can lead to it collapsing quickly.

          While it is true that many people deconvert over the course of years as the “shelf of things that don’t make sense but i’d rather not think about for now” builds up and finally breaks; other people have no such shelf. The writer of the CES Letter (about mormonism) has publicly stated he had no such shelf, and thought everything about mormonism was true. Until he heard a church leader say that “there’s never since Kirkland has there been such a period of apostacy like now due to church history” which caused him to look into it. And given that mormonism is the second most easily disproven false religion (IMO), he was done pretty quickly too. He only wrote the letter as a courtesy to his grandfather. Publicizing it came much later.

          tl,dr: quick deconversions are indeed a thing that happen

        10. thejeff

          But that doesn’t really match what she says here or her current bit of story arc. She doesn’t talk about Becky’s goodness or how God would be okay with it. It’s just “Everything else we were raised to believe is a lie”, so why not?

          This comes from her recent doubts about God. The same place as her lie to Harrison.

          Compare with the scene where she first accepts Becky – that’s affirming. This is dismissive.

    2. BarerMender

      It can be sudden. Reality has a way of catching up to you. I thought about it for a month and decided in a week.

  10. PBManning

    I’m sad for Joyce that her oldest friend is completely oblivious to her crisis of faith, but also Becky’s face in that last panel is so good

    1. oh no

      You’ve put to words why Joyce’s delivery bothered me so much.

      I hope Becky considers it regardless.

    2. Deanatay

      Becky is… a bit distracted, right now. She may notice later, and act appropriately then, but for now, she is… what’s the term? Oh, yes, a…

      DOOOOOOFUS

    3. fridge_logic

      I’m so hoping the next few pages turn out to be Dorothy seeing the crisis and doing what she can to listen and help.

  11. LeslieBean4shizzle

    I’m amused that a very similar conversation to this strip happened in the comments yesterday.

  12. Kravis

    Ya know, Becky, those horns on Dinah’s hat aren’t there just for aesthetic purposes…

    1. BarerMender

      Oh, Lordy. What are you thinking?

      1. Deanatay

        I’ve already stated my belief that Dina is Loki.

  13. Bicycle Bill

    Beckie:  Don’t you ever take off that stupid hat?
    Dina:  I take my hat off for one thing, one thing only.
    Beckie:  Oh…   Take your hat off…  I mean, if you want to…
    Dina:  I want to.

    1. RacingTurtle

      It will never stop fascinating me that one of the best examples of consent in all of American cinema is in Smokey and the freakin’ Bandit.

      1. fridge_logic

        I forgot that scene and just rewatched it and noticed something else, right before that conversation they do some expectation setting, though a bit implicit rather than explicit:

        She asks him if they have anything in common. They quickly find that they do not; regardless she uses the metaphor of a desert island to suggest that they might as well get on if they don’t want to stay together because at the moment they’re stuck together.

        The conversation is nuanced, but that’s often the way that people prefer to handle conversations about potentially having sex, rejections are easier to give and get if the proposition has plausible deniability. All and all it’s a good model for a random hookup.

  14. Beef

    Oh no Joyce is in the anger zone of post-apostasy angst. I was gonna call it the “anger-phase” but she’ll likely find herself in it pretty often over the next few years

    1. Madock345

      Based on my own experiences, now is around the time to discover Buddhism and Wicca and spend the next decade bouncing back and forth between them.

      1. Meagan

        Hello friend.

      2. Prometheus

        I feel that on a personal level. Though I only bounced for about two or three years.

      3. drs

        Or joining American Atheists and ranting about how religion is a tool for fleecing the sheeple.

        1. BarerMender

          American Atheists are more concerned that it’s a tool for controlling the people.

      4. Opus the Poet

        Why bounce, Wicca and Buddhism are not incompatible. I have been Wiccan/UU Pagan for 30 years now.

      5. BarerMender

        My experience was that when I was out, I was out. After I left Catholicism at the age of fourteen, I never again gave religion the time of day. Although as a history buff I can say the history of religion is the most fascinating of all.

    2. avistel

      OUT WITH THIS HUMMING HYMNAL BULLSHIT

      TIME FOR SOME FUCKING BEHEMOTH

      *cue wall-shattering Slavic cacophony*

      1. abysswatcher1993

        Is that some Nordic metal band I don’t know about?

        1. Emperor Norton II

          Polish.

          But to be fair, I’d never heard of them either until just now, so I did assume Czech based on “Slavic cacophony.

      2. Kim

        ”Like a storm that brings no calm”

      3. KaiserKris

        Okay, okay. Let’s ease Joyce into this just a LITTLE.

        That’s like going from the neighborhood paddle pool to trying to swim the English Channel. Gotta start her off easy on the metal train. Throw on some Iron Maiden or something.

      4. Schpoonman

        “I believe in Satan, who rends both Heaven and Earth!”

        I am happy with just The Satanist, but I really should look up more of their work.

        1. avistel

          I’d recommend at least The Apostasy and Demigod.
          If you still need more, Zos Kia Cultus. I can take or leave the rest of their work at this point, tbh, but those three albums will tide you over for a while, I think.

    3. abysswatcher1993

      I remember having this phase. I also had a transhumanist phase because I fantasized about the Technological Singularity and I had a big ego.

      Now I just want to hang around with my friends and work at something that allows me to buy video games and food.

      Teenage cynicism dies when you realize being edgy is useless, and your ideals become more grounded once you stop seeing yourself as an “enlightened one”.

      1. Chris Phoenix

        Note that transhumanism doesn’t require a big ego. One can simply think the ideas are cool.

        1. abysswatcher1993

          Well yes, transhumanism can give advanced prosthetics and improve life, but things like immortality through uploading your mind are like utopian scifi things that cant be achieved until a long future that cant happen until more realistic goals are achieved. Theres thousands of problems to solve right now, so the singularity can wait.

        2. thejeff

          Well the whole point of singularity theory is that if/when it happens, it’ll happen fast.
          It does basically require strong AI, which may or may not be possible.

  15. Kyrik Michalowski

    Becky continues to be adorable as her fantasies of Dina removing her hat play in her head.

    I do wonder how this conversation will go as Joyce continues to shed some of the ideas and values she was raised with. But to be fair of all the things she could be tossing aside, the idea of “sexual purity” is one of the most worthless, so she has no reason tk hold on to it.

    1. Meagan

      The thing I worry about with this is that while sexual purity for God’s sake is …not necessarily worthwhile, there can be real ramifications emotionally and physically to sexytimes. It’s kinda like how Joyce said a few panels ago that even if there’s no such thing as “sin,” shame and guilt are still real when you do something that hurts someone. Hopefully she can apply that awareness to sex stuff and take care of herself and others even if she’s not worried about Jesus in the bedroom.

      1. LeslieBean4shizzle

        Indeed.
        I am utterly unashamed about sex and sexuality – and, in fact, I specifically choose to worship goddesses who are similarly sexual – but that doesn’t mean I can’t get hurt.

        It is amazing how quickly one can go from feeling like the living avatar of a sex deity to covering up and feeling gross if a partner doesn’t react the way I expect. The words “this was a mistake” are the cold shower of shame and regret – particularly if you weren’t the one who said them. What’s worse than feeling like YOU are someone else’s shame?

        … welp, way to make myself sad. What can I say? Undergrad was rough – I know those feels all too well.

        Anyway, guess I better go cuddle with my wife who always makes me feel wanted. Goodnight y’all!

      2. SmartAlec105

        I think I’m this specific instance (ie two virgin women), the risks and consequences are relatively low. No chance for pregnancy or STDs.

        1. LeslieBean4shizzle

          Not entirely. While you are correct about the physical dangers, you ignore the mental dangers.

          What if, after having sex, Dina is like “nope – I was straight or ace all along. Sorry Becky.”
          (not that she’d actually say it like that, but you get the idea)

          That would devastate Becky. As Joyce notes, there are still plenty of possible sources of shame and regret.

      3. thejeff

        I’m much less worried about Becky than about Joyce. It’s certainly possible for Becky (or Dina) to get emotionally hurt through sex, but other than Becky’s religious hangups, they’re in about as good a place as you can expect 2 virgin teenagers to be for it.

        Joyce here is talking about throwing away all her previous moral constraints because of her loss of faith. We’ve already that lead her to one bad decision. It’s possible that her general horniness and her thoughts that everything including sexual purity is a lie will lead her to do something really stupid.
        Maybe Dorothy can steer that towards getting that vibrator rather than banging Joe (or some other random available boy.)

        1. Dave the Inverted

          I’m…not sure Joe *would* bang her right now. This is not the emotional context he would want for sexytimes with Joyce. (And per the end of the Joe/Malaya Slipshine, I think he *does* want an emotional context for that.)

    2. Charles Phipps

      It’s an uncomfortable area to go here because this is about the fact Becky wants her first time with Dina to be special. To be with someone she loves and is committed to it.

      Joyce saying, “Who gives a crap about all that?”

      Is talking about two different conversations.

      1. StClair

        “Listen, I want someone to tell me it’s okay to do all the things I really really REALLY want to do right now.”

        “Whatever. Everything they told us was a lie, and when I tried doing what I wanted, it just made me feel sad and guilty. Nothing is real, all is disappointment. Arby’s.”

      2. thejeff

        That’s not really what Becky’s about here. I mean, she does want that, but she literally said “premarital abstinence” last strip and talked about still being a Christian and not throwing away that principle yet just before that.

        This is still about the sexual purity ideology that she and Joyce were raised with. Joyce is on target – just not responding well because she’s in the middle of her own despairing crisis of faith.

        1. Charles Phipps

          That’s part of being comfortable with your loved one and self, though, as well as the act’s importance. We may argue that Becky’s religion puts an overlarge importance on it but that’s how she feels it.

        2. thejeff

          Maybe.
          I see a huge difference between “wants her first time with Dina to be special. To be with someone she loves and is committed to it” and “premarital abstinence” and “I’m still a Christian”.

          Joyce is very definitely responding to Becky’s actual concerns – which are about their religion and sin, not about comfort outside of that sphere. Joyce responds badly because of her own situation.

  16. tirachokko

    dang Joyce, stone cold

  17. Mada

    Well Dina’s in for a good time.

  18. Uly

    I really hope Joyce can find some of the better quality of ex-fundie groups out there.

  19. ANeM

    I mean, they kind of did Good Cop/Bad Cop it. Dorothy just wasn’t expecting to be the Good cop, along the “Supportive/fuck it whatever I don’t care” axis rather than the bad cop along the “Remain true to your faith / do what makes you feel good” axis.

  20. DailyBrad

    I’m aware Joyce is obviously dealing with a lot here, but I think she was getting closer to giving the okay on this, anyway. She already was extremely disillusioned about the rampant homophobia of her upbringing even before the Mullins dream.

  21. Kyrik Michalowski

    Also I know this is random and not really the place for this, but is anyone else getting redirect ads on the QC website? I keep getting them and it’s extremely frustrating and making me not want to read it.

    1. sdrainbow

      Message Jeph on twitter, he is aggressive about his ads

  22. Axel

    I wonder if their parents/community used hanky-panky this way, or if it’s something Joyce and Becky (and/or other teens) developed to be able to talk about things.

    Like, I’m sure they (adults) said phrases like ‘premarital hanky-panky,’ but I feel like they probably didn’t say stuff like ‘he wants to hanky panky her’ or the other sorts of context Joyce and Becky (but esp. Joyce) use the term in.

    1. Wizard

      I imagine they probably went out of their way not to talk about that sort of thing in front of the kids, even in euphemisms.

      1. Axel

        you’re probably right, but they picked it up somewhere, probably?

    2. Axel

      just to contextualize, I wasn’t raised in a horrible purity culture (well, not more than most people) and was raised areligiously, but my friends and I were all ‘good kids’ and some gifted* and part of that included immense fear of our parents ever finding out we did or said anything wrong, so we had some coded words, so that if we were overheard it just sounded like we had inside jokes, or were talking about weeb stuff, or whatever (this wouldn’t work if someone listened to a whole conversation, but hearing a couple words wouldn’t turn anyone’s heads.

      *very much the stereotype, breezed through school until suddenly we halted, couldn’t do anything, and stress made all our mental illness suddenly very obvious

      1. vitalProximity

        “very much the stereotype, breezed through school until suddenly we halted, couldn’t do anything, and stress made all our mental illness suddenly very obvious”
        —HELLO FRIEND. I THOUGHT YOU LOOKED FAMILIAR. BUT HOW DID YOU ESCAPE FROM THE MIRROR?

        1. BarerMender

          Right?

        2. Axel

          It’s one of the things I talked about with my therapist today!

        3. vitalProximity

          It’s one of the things I talk with my therapist about every single week. Also currently pulling a Walky and trying not to flunk out of grad school, hahahahaha! Ha ha. Ha.

    3. sdrainbow

      I’m pretty sure Joyce has used that phrase in such away throughout the Walkyverse. I’ve only read Shortpacked! but I glanced through the Joyce entry on the wiki not too long ago and I recall that being a thing.

      I’m sure there’s an in-universe reason TOO.

  23. Pocky

    I can’t blame her

    it was a sexy hat

    1. Keulen

      Dina doesn’t know her sexy powers.

      1. Keulen

        Fucked up the link.
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/sooner/

  24. Meagan

    This means that a slipshine is coming up that might actually have me subscribing. I hope it lives up to my dreams of being realistically tender about Becky’s hesitations.

    1. LeslieBean4shizzle

      Agreed.
      And yeah, here’s hoping we get some hot hat removal action.

    2. Hugo Bedward

      How early does Willis start showing previews of upcoming slipshines?

  25. abysswatcher1993

    Dina: “It’s like I am wearing nothing at all. Nothing at all. NOTHING AT ALL.”
    Becky: “Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!! Stupid sexy Dina!”

    I think it isn’t Joyce’s reason what is talking, but her repressed anger towards god, her parents and her church. That rebellious edgy phase is just a beginning until either she becomes a more balanced atheist, or she returns to her faith but now only practicing to be kind and not be a bigoted asshole.

    Faith doesnt equal believing in a gods or authorities.

    1. Anopsis

      Came to the comments section specifically for the Flanders reference. Was disappointed until I found this. Cheers to you!

      1. abysswatcher1993

        I am glad I helped.

    2. Jon S.

      And belief in God or gods does not necessarily equate to being a bigoted asshole. Most of the scriptures cited in defense of asshole bigotry by “Christians” tend to be from the Epistles of Paul, which are intended more as one man’s commentary on the Gospels, or from the Old Testament, which even most Jews don’t treat as literal truth. (Oh, and of course the Revelation of St. John the Divine, which most Biblical scholars believe is in fact a treatise on then-current Roman politics rather than being intended as God’s Word; several councils over the past couple of millennia have teetered on the edge of removing it from the canon, and it’s the one book John Calvin wrote no commentary upon.)

      There are a *lot* of Christians who believe in doing good and doing well by other people, who take Christ’s words of loving others seriously – we just tend to get drowned out by the bigots who twist those words and thus win the financial support of wealthy people who want to think worldly goods are the best measure of God’s regard.

  26. Bagge

    In hindsight, those lustwolves were not so bad after all. Poor Joyce. Her whole world is shaking, and not in a good way.

    awww, Dorothy is getting a bit sour about people not wanting her advice. Don’t be sad, Dotty. You totally aced supporting Billie in the murder cave.

    Yeah, that was not the best metaphore, Becky…. or it totally was.

    I totally adore the dynamic between these three. I like how Dotty took to the ‘good cop’ part. after all, she’s played it before.
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/04-of-mike-and-men/wallets/

    1. abysswatcher1993

      The sad part is that Dorothy’s advice has been ignored for many reasons and people see her as “too perfect”. Roz has stated in a cruel way why she is more popular than Dorothy, Robin has accused Dorothy of being a stereotypical blonde politics student (even if Dotty pointed she is part Jewish), Danny has asked her to abandon her dreams to settle with him, and even Joyce has shown she can be a BLUH BLUH HUGE BONGO to Dorothy when her advice is for Joyce to be good and not cause harm.

  27. GutterChick

    Really, being raised with no religion and not being so entrenched in European/American Christian values I’m not even coming from the exact same direction as Dorothy on this. Like my concern isnt about whether there’s a higher power or not as far as that’s are concerned but more like, you let some randos in uniforms guilt you over sex? Consensual considerate sex that doesn’t do harm to another human being? Sounds like a way to control you through conditioning. Elders are meant to offer wisdom to help you grow, not to yank you around on a short leash and put you in a crate like a dog

    1. Charles Phipps

      Christian values intersecting or not, it’s a question of whether Becky feels emotionally and physically ready. She should have it when she feels comfortable or not.

      1. LeslieBean4shizzle

        Indeed. Being horny and being ready are not the same thing.

        The trouble is, only an individual can know if she (or he) is ready. And being horny can really cloud that for some.

        1. Geneseepaws

          Simple truth simply stated.

        2. He Who Abides

          And sometimes you’re neither, but don’t realize it because you’re 16 and both of you think it’s something you have to do to feel “normal”.

    2. thejeff

      I suspect Dorothy thinks all that, but she’s being diplomatic. Going off about their church wouldn’t be helpful right now.

      1. Charles Phipps

        Becky is a Church of One now and virginity as well as commitment are important in the First Church of Reformed Christian Lesbian.

        1. Arian

          I love this description. 😀

  28. Emperor Norton II

    The irony of the last panel is of course that Dina is wearing a hoodie today.

    1. Bagge

      Now imagine if she were to take off the hood…

      1. Emperor Norton II

        In a similar fashion to how a bridal veil is removed.

        1. Bagge

          A joke is accomplished by understanding a person enough to select for them an appropriate lie?

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/dislike/

  29. JessWitt

    Er, Becky and Dina should also talk to Leslie about protection from STDs.

    1. Illjwamh

      That’s never a bad idea, but as neither of them have ever had sex before, they shouldn’t have much to worry about.

      1. Heavensrun

        Most STDs are not exclusively ST, and some can be carried asymptomatically for long periods of time.

        Protection is always a good idea.

    2. Bagge

      I’m SO ready for Leslie and Becky having “the talk”.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        Is there anything involving Becky/Dina or Becky/Leslie you’re not ready for?

        1. MatthewTheLucky

          Becky and Dina are interrogated by the Spanish Inquistion?

        2. Bagge

          I’m decidedly not ready for Becky rejecting Leslie as mom in favour of Robin, but here we are.

          *cries*

        3. timemonkey

          I don;t think that’s gonna happen. Becky doesn’t even like Robin, in contrast she’s so afraid of Leslie’s reaction she’s been avoiding her.

    3. Keulen

      I’m assuming it’s difficult to get STDs if you’ve never had sex. Though they probably should ask her about them anyway just for future safety I guess.

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        It’s quite possible to be an asymptomatic carrier of diseases picked up through, for example, contaminated hospital equipment. Also, Becky has had saliva exchange recently, which is a herpes risk.

  30. Tacos

    Took me a bit to realize that Becky is drooling in that last panel.

    1. Roborat

      Drooling? Becky has completely locked up and bluescreened in the last panel.

  31. Cass

    Now I wonder if Becky confided her lust for Dina’s scalp in Joyce (possibly on-screen and it’s just totally slipped my mind), or if Joyce has the exact same crossed wires in her head to know how Becky will react and it just isn’t noticable since she’s not attracted to her.

    1. vitalProximity

      I think Becky has discussed it with her before.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        She has:

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/physical/

        1. Kamino Neko

          The next strip has what is my favourite DoA line. ‘Her eyes are down there.’

  32. nlips

    The funny thing is she’s not into hats… she’s into hat REMOVAL. And Dina’s hat removal, specifically.

    An oddly specific fetish. And I’m willing to bet before it came up in the comic, none of us had a Dina-hat-removal fetish.

    Now, of course, I’m not so certain.

  33. Hugo Bedward

    Wait, Hanky-Panky? I wasn’t sure Dina meant that much touching.

    1. Clif

      I think she did.

      1. Hugo Bedward

        ah ok

        1. Bagge

          I’m entirely sure Dina is not entirely sure but ready to experiment to find out.

    2. LeslieBean4shizzle

      Dina pretty clearly indicated that she was up for any touching Becky wanted to do, from necking to heavy petting to dry humping to handjobs to literally any other kind of touching Becky might come up with. Scalp massage? Hair washing?

      Which is why I’ve been saying that Becky should start slow with some heavy petting and see how that goes before jumping ahead to more advanced techniques.

  34. Clif

    DOA 10: Whatever

  35. Sazazezer

    All i know is that Sarah’s bedroom time is probably about to end prematurely.

  36. BenRG

    Yeah, Joyce is going to end up doing something self-destructively stupid before she finds a middle path, isn’t she?

    1. Reltzik

      And while, and after. Remember what comic we’re reading.

  37. Delicious Taffy

    Y’all ever damage your throat in such a way that when you talk, it comes out sounding like a completely different person, so you sorta don’t associate the words coming out of your mouth with you being the one talking? What’s the word for that feeling, not associating your actions or thoughts with you acting or thinking, and it’s sorta freaking you out?

    1. Opus the Poet

      Dissociative behavior. You’re welcome now never remind me of it again.

  38. David Alexander McDonald

    My version of dropping the hat is “dropping the towel.”

    I can vouchsafed from repeated experience that it’s a way to punch right through my studied and deliberate obliviousness.

  39. Reltzik

    …. dammit, Joyce, now you’ve done it. You’ve forced me to defend Christianity. Grrr.

    Not EVERYTHING your evangelical upbringing taught you is a lie. Don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t perjure, that’s generally good stuff. Golden rule is a good guideline. Give me an hour and I could probably list off a half dozen others, though I’d have to think just how much emphasis they get in evangelical circles. (For example Lev 19:33-34 is old testament and can be happily ignored.)

    Seriously, Joyce, black-and-white thinking. It’s not that EVERYTHING about your family’s Christianity is awful… it’s that MOST of the things are awful, and the good can be had without the bad. You need to cherry-pick, rather than throwing the baby out with the black water. (Yes, I meant to write that.)

    1. thejeff

      That’s a better way of saying what got brought up here yesterday.

      Sorting out which bits should be kept and which thrown out may be harder than it looks from the outside. In my understanding of that kind of religion, it’s all tied together without much reasoning beyond “it’s sin”. You don’t get taught the processes you need to do the cherry-picking, so it’s hard to do it rationally when the “it’s sin” argument falls away.

      1. vitalProximity

        Thank you, that was a very helpful perspective and makes perfect sense. 🙂

    2. TemperaryObsessor

      Remember your neighbor is the one who is willing to help when its costly and poses no benefit to them more than the guy who shares your views.

    3. FlyingFish

      Unfortunately, Joyce has been raised in an All Or Nothing form of Christianity. Which means, as soon as All has been definitively ruled out, that leaves Nothing.

      All Or Nothing is not limited to Christianity, because in the short term it’s VERY effective at enforcing ANY system. But this is the inevitable result, or at least an inevitable stage, for anyone who pauses to think about it. (Non-Christian example: Anakin Skywalker, rejecting the Jedi completely because someone else offers a system in which he’s allowed to, you know, care about Padme.)

      1. BBCC

        Well, he’s TOLD he can care about Padme. I believe it was confirmed at some point Palpatine planned to arrange an accident if Anakin hadn’t killed her anyways.

    4. BBCC

      Those things don’t rely on Christianity though. If Christianity never existed, those things would still be bad.

      1. thejeff

        They don’t of course.

        But to Joyce (and Becky and those raised and still entrenched in that world view) they do. All their moral teachings, everything they’ve been raised to think of as good and right, is tied to God. Everything they’ve been taught is bad is tied to sin. From their point of view, throwing out everything their religion taught means throwing out all of it.
        Given time, they’ll sort through it and figure out at least some of what makes sense and what doesn’t, but it’s not going to be quick or easy. Think of Dina and Becky going through the science nonsense Becky’d been taught, but worse and more complicated.

        Or Joyce’s complaint earlier in the party about wanting to try the racket that atheists have, where you can do anything and there are no consequences.

        1. BBCC

          Except they’re not to Joyce. Joyce just spent the day learning that atheism as a get out of morality free card is yet another lie her parents fed her. Hurtful things don’t stop being hurtful things when you take Christianity out of the occasion. Hell, Joyce ALREADY knows good people and good things exist outside of Christianity, because of Dorothy.

  40. plasticwrap

    I rather like grouchy Joyce. Somebody pour her a drink.

  41. ValdVin

    It’s Bonus Friday: Dorothy and Joyce both get punchlines!

  42. Vulcanodon

    …Aaaaand Joyce feels adrift, is headed for serious depression. Unless something dramatic and life-threatening happens soon.

    1. Vulcanodon

      It’s like watching an earthen dam fail; a small leak, fast flow, collapse.

  43. LibertyRazor

    Despite what Leslie thinks, Joyce does in fact know her best friend inside and out.

  44. Rabisch

    I’m with Joyce here.

    1. Charles Phipps

      The problem with Joyce is that Becky believes in them not because of what others say but because Becky believes in it.

  45. hof1991

    Time for your Librarian’s Recommendation. A podcast instead of a book today.
    NPR’s Hidden Brain is a fascinating look at how brains (and people) work in real life. The episode “In the Heat of the Moment” looks at how people think they would behave in a charged situation and how the actually behave. They specifically look at some sexual situations and how things happen that can be contrary to our own predictions. This is similar to Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner on the subject.

  46. ziggy78eog

    “Dropping her hat”; is that what the kids are calling it, these days?

  47. Vukodlak

    I don’t think shes picturing Dina dropping her hat, she’s picturing her in only her hat.

    1. Kamino Neko

      No, she’s been consistently interested in what’s under the hat. There was a whole arc about it.

      ‘Only the hat’ is the same as ‘only clothes’ for couples other than Becky/Dina.

  48. Felian

    Oh Becky, you can take it slow. Start with a bit of hanky, and then move slowly towards panky or even spanky (i am totally stealing this line from Pterry). You don’t have to rush or go “all the way“ (as if sexuality were small enough to experience it all in one go! 😉 )

    1. thejeff

      You don’t have to, though she’s afraid of being carried away once she starts, I suspect.

      More though, in her religious upbringing, it’s all a sin. Even just the hanky requires her to break through that mental barrier.

  49. Alaric

    For some reason, I’m suddenly imagining Becky talking with an old movie exaggerated Brooklyn accent. “Youse guys, dis is serious.” I think she’ll always sound that way to me, from now on.

    1. Makkabee

      Now I want a film noir DoA story where everyone dresses in 1940s fashion and Becky is a hardboiled private dick (“Ironic, since I don’t like ’em,” as she narrates at some point) in Brooklyn.

  50. Wakeangel2001

    pre-marital abstinence is the the leading cause of divorce among religious communities, since some horny teens get married as soon as possible only to find out they are either physically or personally incompatible, and in worst cases abusive.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      True Ten billion percent.

      With that said, abstinence or protected sex are choices and no one should be forced to have sex when they aren’t ready.

      1. PB

        Both of these points. Abstinence is bullcrap, but waiting until you’re ready is smart.

  51. lulu

    Next Slipshine moment?
    “Dina dropping her hat”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      I feel like that will be the tamest Slipshine

  52. Doom Shepherd

    I’m now hearing her as Marisa Tomei’s character in “My Cousin Vinny,” so thanks for that…

    1. Doom Shepherd

      Whoa, reply fail. That was supposed to be to Alaric. Stupid iPad.

    2. Kim

      Oooo!
      Kind of like the Rail Tracer (spoiler, kind of) from ”Baccano!”!

  53. PB

    Hmmmm. I’m conflicted about this one. Joyce and Dorothy each have a point, but Joyce’s skepticism worries me.

    1. PB

      Also for what it’s worth, I’ve always believed that when it comes to physical intimacy, you should wait … until you’re sure you’re in love and wouldn’t mind a possible future with the person you’re considering.

      1. insomniac

        Eh.

        Not to knock people who don’t want sex without a long-term relationship, but I don’t think I’d take it to anything like general advice.

      2. Reaver

        My personal stance is if you both consent to it, are using protection and are both aware of the consequences of your actions, then just go for it, b/c sex isn’t a promise for a forever.

  54. Roborat

    I get the feeing that what Joyce is saying might be enough to snap Becky out of her current crisis.

  55. TheFlamingonator

    Accurate representation of me imagining my crush. drool and all.

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