It was getting there when she broke in and slept beside her. Were it not for alternate universe expectations, we’d be in full on Criminal Minds territory. A male character doing this would be a serial killer villain in a movie.
“Congressman stalking me. Sleeps in my bed. Lords power over me.”
Dammit, now I have Robin doing the “Cat” conversation of Trump and wondering why Leslie isn’t throwing herself at her since Robin is famous and thus is entitled to her.
And the sheer disproportionate level of power just wiggling beneath the surface makes it more terrifying. Like, Robin has made it so Leslie has few options besides calling the cops. What the fuck are the cops going to do against a sitting congressperson? That will matter? You think any are going to be willing to enforce a restraining order? That any judge will take the risk to grant one in the first place?
Especially when Leslie is just a soft-butch lesbian college teacher with little in the way of funds or any real institutional power.
Librain
I’m not sure it is all that bad. While there is a definite power imbalance between a queer Uni junior lecturer and a US Senator, she also has the power of this exchange going down in her house, which Robin essentially broke into, with both of them acknowledging that Leslie has the power to kick Robin out. Which she promptly uses.
They both know that Robin’s position is too precarious for her to really be throwing her power around, even if either of them believed that was the sort of thing that she would actually do. To me, Robin’s actions are not that of a predatory stalker (even if they do look similar), but instead those of a petulant teenager who’s being denied a lolly.
Or in this case, a Bean.
chris73
Robin broke into Leslies house and then slept beside her, Leslie physically removed Robin from her house and Robin promptly let herself back in
Robin has shown that she will not take no for an answer, she will not respect boundries and she’ll break the law to get what she wants
Shes all but saying to Leslie that no matter what happens Robin will get what she wants so Leslie may as well give up as its going to happen anyway
Not forgetting that Robing has political power and can probably command greater media resources to spin the story her way
Even if it takes down Robin it’d still do irreparable damage to Leslies reputation, amongst her peers and her students
So yeah it is that bad, in fact its probably even worse
Positron
@Librain Aren’t a lot of young stalkers/sexual assaulters/etc effectively young males who never grew out of the “denied a lolly” phase? Just because the motives are childish doesn’t make the actions any better.
Also, slight nitpick – Robin’s in Congress, not the Senate.
Positron
Also, ignore my Gravatar for that comment, did not realise it would look that bad in that context :/
The comedic tone of this whole debacle really bugs me because it’s really not funny in any capacity, it’s intensely inappropriate and invasive.
Commodore Jeep-Eep
Same here. Major tone fuckup.
Commodore Jeep-Eep
And the neckbeard LesBin shippers need to go back to their creepy romance comedy animes.
Steve
Are you aware you are complaining about a lack of sensitivity and heaping abuse on a socially isolated and powerless segment of the population in the same breath?
Andrew_C
I wasn’t aware that neckbeards were a powerless minority. I would not call the creeps behind Gamergate powerless.
Ethan
The second that Leslie woke up in bed with Robin, this whole arc swerved into territory that I am seriously uncomfortable with. There’s no comedy in breaking and entering into someone’s house—especially someone who has reason to both hate and fear you—and then invading their most personal space. Not to mention the “hand holding” and “make out”(!?!?) session, which are so forced as to be horrifying.
This is literally rape culture. Leslie is not some prize to be won by Robin’s persistance, and the fact that Robin was physically tossed from the house means that consent is over.
This is no longer a joke (if it ever was) and someone’d better find themselves in a cop car soon, headed to jail and impeachment.
Halpful
This… actually makes a good example of how insidious rape culture can be. :/ What was hilariously dysfunctional in Shortpacked is cringingly disturbing here. My brain keeps flipping between the two perspectives, trying to resolve the cognitive dissonance, and there’s a strong desire to rationalise away the problem so I can keep liking Robin.
It’s very… educational. I’ve seen the same cognitive dissonance play out in the real world, where someone does a Very Bad Thing and even the people witnessing it reflexively rationalise it into having not really happened (at least for a while). It’s fucking scary to discover your own brain edited out memories behind your back. But having experienced it does seem to make for quicker recognition the next time. :/
Ethan
We see this a lot when people from “our side” do things that are horrible, but we rationalize it away as “crazy uncle behavior” or “they didn’t mean it”.
But when someone from the “other side” does it, they are rightly thrashed.
This goes for all sides.
Cognitive dissonance is a serious problem. One can’t stand for social justice and excuse horrible behavior because we happen to agree with someone’s politics.
Positron
I wonder if it’s deliberate – a way to say “look how bad Robin is, she’s not only doing terrible thing after terrible thing, she thinks people should like her for it!”
I think that’s the point: Robin is treating someone else’s boundaries as a joke.
Ethan
I get that, but the comic is not playing on that angle; Robin’s complete lack of self-awareness and her abuse of Leslie is being played out -as- the joke.
Oberon
‘Abuse’ is a bit of a strong word for what is happening here. Robin isn’t harming Leslie in any way. Criticize Robin for breaking and entering, invasion of privacy, whatever, and you’re not going to hear me object. But this isn’t in any way analogous to the abusive partner who is forgiven time and time again after beating up their supposed love interest. It’s not even verging on being close to that, at all.
Leslie is the only one to get physical here, and even that was clearly done for comedic effect.
I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and realize that this is a comic strip.
You might want to read some of the comments from people saying how this is analogous to their real life experience with abusive partners, and reconsider what you are saying here.
Back when my mom was a kid (teenager, I think) she saw someone hit by a car.
She laughed.
Not because it was funny, but because that was her “what the hell?” reaction to the totally unexpected.
I saw a schoolmate hit by a car when I was in high school. (Broken arm in a cast for a couple of months, otherwise okay, complete recovery.) I almost laughed too, for the same reason. The… fact that I focused on how one of her shoes went flying at least 20 feet in the air in the subjective slow-motion didn’t help. (She had an arm in a cast for the next month or two, but complete recovery.)
So, yeah, I’m laughing at this train wreck. Because… seriously, what the hell?
ditrysia
Thank you for this.
Awful confession time: I laughed when I saw my friend have a stroke.
I didn’t know it was a stroke at that very second but it did look fucked and I laughed because of her weird facial expression.
(She, um, did not recover).
I do know that it’s how our brains react to things it can’t process sometimes, but that comment did help make me feel a little better.
Deanatay
I read somewhere that laughter evolved as a form of social enforcement – we laugh to gently ostracize someone or something, as a way of saying, ‘This is not Us, it is Other’. Perhaps, on some level, you knew her behavior looked WRONG, and you were encouraging her to stop.
ditrysia
That’s a nice idea. I’ll try and tell myself that. Though I feel it might be giving me a little too much credit.
Reltzik
I think that’s a bit of a narrow view for the cause of laughter. It doesn’t explain, say, laughing in delight or relief.
I think it’s more likely that laughter is an expression of emotion, usually playfulness, a sense of ease or wonder, or surprise at the unexpected or bizarre.
Positron
The theory behind that boiled down to laughter being prompted by something outside of the ordinary – in that view, laughing at a stroke or car crash makes sense, because neither are things that are common for any given individual to see, and you might laugh at first before realising the gravity of the situation.
It kind of feels like watching an old Tom and Jerry cartoon. Back before blackface became unpopular in mainstream media.
TachyonCode
That’s an excellent point, though.
I keep thinking about this one T&J episode where Tom (I believe) winds up at heaven’s gates, and a bag of mewling kittens comes up the escalator behind him.
It’s not immediately obvious to the viewers, if they’re not perceptive, but those kittens were drowned, and that’s how they wound up there.
I’m pretty sure the creators were going for morbid humor, but in retrospect the episode is pretty revealing about the way society has been. And that’s what this feels like.
It is a comedic comic strip with a setup, a pause and a punchline (or punch-image). It is meant to be funny as a way to examining a real-life issue from a safe, vantage point, using humour as a lens.
It is clear that as inappropriate as this all is, Robin is just ludicrously dense, not intently evil, so by allowing her a ridiculous comeback, the conversation can continue until either a) Robin finally understands how and why what she’s doing is wrong or b) humorous comeuppance is visited upon her.
“Are we supposed to be laughing a this?” Yeah. I really don’t think so. But then, much of this comic is not expected to be laughed at. (Ask Joyce if every strip is supposed to be amusing)
A lot of people in Leslie’s position would have trouble seeing that danger line. It is as easy for Leslie to see the cute side of a stalker level “crush” as it is for someone newly discovering they are actually attracted to someone they never thought they’d be attracted to to believe that “this is the one.”
Basically, I think they’re both in for some painful awakenings in the next few strips. Leslie first since she’s already partway there.
thejeff
Except he keeps throwing punch lines and cranking up the wacky aspects. It would be easy to turn the tension up on this story arc and make it wholly serious. He’s done it before.
Instead the creepy stalker overtones stay on that level and the narrative treats it as wacky hijinks – she breaks back in (with flowers! (well, weeds)) and Leslie just sighs
Pylgrim
Different folks cope in different ways. Humour is one of them. If you are someone who copes with humour, you look out for comedic outlets that deal with the issues that are important to you. This is one of them: a more often than not goofy comic strip, as opposed to a militant blog or a cut and dry educational or analytic tool. To constantly give you the super sober treatment that you expect to see these issues dealt with, would diminish the experience for its /intended/ public.
Yeah, but enforcing crimes against sitting congresspeople is… spotty at best and extra hard when you’re an easily dismissed lesbian with a history of living on the streets.
… though I suppose the media’s now got video footage of her being forcibly expelled and then breaking in, so there’s a better chance of enforcement now.
462 thoughts on “Lock”
Ana Chronistic
twist: it wasn’t Leslie’s window
gkheyf
when leslie closes a door…
AndroidDreams
She forgot to also close her windiw? Also, did the press watch her shimmy back in? Does she live in a house or a ground level flat?
This and more, tonight at 8
Abel Undercity (@AbelUndercity)
Press dodging level: Professional.
de Combys
Sorry to dissapoint but it’s tonight at midnight.
Minomelo
Jesus fucking Christ. What is your avatar?!
Fart Captor
It’s “The Smile“
DarkoNeko
You’d think they would have closed them all, with all the medias buzzing outside
Falling Star
All I can see is Leslie’s house surrounded by a fuck-ton of bees.
DarkoNeko
Yes.
Oberon
Bees make the best honey.
Actually, bees make the only honey.
TCS
Congratulations. Your comment is my favorite thing that I’ve seen on the internet today.
Doctor_Who
Nest strip: It’s Leslie outside, banging on the door and screaming “WIIIILLLLMA!”
brionl
Someday, Leslie will win the fight
Then that Robin will stay out all the night
Mortartarsaus
DUDE! I just made this exact (almost) comment on the previous comic! XD
Glad somebody else got the Flinstones vibe from thi!
Ozzi
Robin is the stalker that Leslie needs but not the one she wants.
Gwen
I think Leslie neither wants nor needs a stalker.
C.T. Phipps
Pay attention, Leslie. This moment? This moment right here? This is the moment you call the cops.
UltraKyrie
Yeah this is getting really fucked up
C.T. Phipps
It was getting there when she broke in and slept beside her. Were it not for alternate universe expectations, we’d be in full on Criminal Minds territory. A male character doing this would be a serial killer villain in a movie.
“Congressman stalking me. Sleeps in my bed. Lords power over me.”
Ana Chronistic
well if the current administration is any indication, she could just pay Robin almost literally anything to do her bidding (in this case, go away)
Ana Chronistic
I mean, apparently congressional votes are a lot cheaper to buy than anyone expected =p
C.T. Phipps
Dammit, now I have Robin doing the “Cat” conversation of Trump and wondering why Leslie isn’t throwing herself at her since Robin is famous and thus is entitled to her.
Cerberus
Yeah, this is… legitimately scary.
And the sheer disproportionate level of power just wiggling beneath the surface makes it more terrifying. Like, Robin has made it so Leslie has few options besides calling the cops. What the fuck are the cops going to do against a sitting congressperson? That will matter? You think any are going to be willing to enforce a restraining order? That any judge will take the risk to grant one in the first place?
Especially when Leslie is just a soft-butch lesbian college teacher with little in the way of funds or any real institutional power.
Librain
I’m not sure it is all that bad. While there is a definite power imbalance between a queer Uni junior lecturer and a US Senator, she also has the power of this exchange going down in her house, which Robin essentially broke into, with both of them acknowledging that Leslie has the power to kick Robin out. Which she promptly uses.
They both know that Robin’s position is too precarious for her to really be throwing her power around, even if either of them believed that was the sort of thing that she would actually do. To me, Robin’s actions are not that of a predatory stalker (even if they do look similar), but instead those of a petulant teenager who’s being denied a lolly.
Or in this case, a Bean.
chris73
Robin broke into Leslies house and then slept beside her, Leslie physically removed Robin from her house and Robin promptly let herself back in
Robin has shown that she will not take no for an answer, she will not respect boundries and she’ll break the law to get what she wants
Shes all but saying to Leslie that no matter what happens Robin will get what she wants so Leslie may as well give up as its going to happen anyway
Not forgetting that Robing has political power and can probably command greater media resources to spin the story her way
Even if it takes down Robin it’d still do irreparable damage to Leslies reputation, amongst her peers and her students
So yeah it is that bad, in fact its probably even worse
Positron
@Librain Aren’t a lot of young stalkers/sexual assaulters/etc effectively young males who never grew out of the “denied a lolly” phase? Just because the motives are childish doesn’t make the actions any better.
Also, slight nitpick – Robin’s in Congress, not the Senate.
Positron
Also, ignore my Gravatar for that comment, did not realise it would look that bad in that context :/
Fart Captor
Our current president is a petulant, orange turd who has clearly never been told “no” until very recently.
Anyone who doesn’t think childish thinking/behavior can be extremely dangerous desperately lacks imagination.
UltraKyrie
yeah each strip of this arc is just another WT actual F Robin moment
Emily
The comedic tone of this whole debacle really bugs me because it’s really not funny in any capacity, it’s intensely inappropriate and invasive.
Commodore Jeep-Eep
Same here. Major tone fuckup.
Commodore Jeep-Eep
And the neckbeard LesBin shippers need to go back to their creepy romance comedy animes.
Steve
Are you aware you are complaining about a lack of sensitivity and heaping abuse on a socially isolated and powerless segment of the population in the same breath?
Andrew_C
I wasn’t aware that neckbeards were a powerless minority. I would not call the creeps behind Gamergate powerless.
Ethan
The second that Leslie woke up in bed with Robin, this whole arc swerved into territory that I am seriously uncomfortable with. There’s no comedy in breaking and entering into someone’s house—especially someone who has reason to both hate and fear you—and then invading their most personal space. Not to mention the “hand holding” and “make out”(!?!?) session, which are so forced as to be horrifying.
This is literally rape culture. Leslie is not some prize to be won by Robin’s persistance, and the fact that Robin was physically tossed from the house means that consent is over.
This is no longer a joke (if it ever was) and someone’d better find themselves in a cop car soon, headed to jail and impeachment.
Halpful
This… actually makes a good example of how insidious rape culture can be. :/ What was hilariously dysfunctional in Shortpacked is cringingly disturbing here. My brain keeps flipping between the two perspectives, trying to resolve the cognitive dissonance, and there’s a strong desire to rationalise away the problem so I can keep liking Robin.
It’s very… educational. I’ve seen the same cognitive dissonance play out in the real world, where someone does a Very Bad Thing and even the people witnessing it reflexively rationalise it into having not really happened (at least for a while). It’s fucking scary to discover your own brain edited out memories behind your back. But having experienced it does seem to make for quicker recognition the next time. :/
Ethan
We see this a lot when people from “our side” do things that are horrible, but we rationalize it away as “crazy uncle behavior” or “they didn’t mean it”.
But when someone from the “other side” does it, they are rightly thrashed.
This goes for all sides.
Cognitive dissonance is a serious problem. One can’t stand for social justice and excuse horrible behavior because we happen to agree with someone’s politics.
Positron
I wonder if it’s deliberate – a way to say “look how bad Robin is, she’s not only doing terrible thing after terrible thing, she thinks people should like her for it!”
Vulcanodon
I think that’s the point: Robin is treating someone else’s boundaries as a joke.
Ethan
I get that, but the comic is not playing on that angle; Robin’s complete lack of self-awareness and her abuse of Leslie is being played out -as- the joke.
Oberon
‘Abuse’ is a bit of a strong word for what is happening here. Robin isn’t harming Leslie in any way. Criticize Robin for breaking and entering, invasion of privacy, whatever, and you’re not going to hear me object. But this isn’t in any way analogous to the abusive partner who is forgiven time and time again after beating up their supposed love interest. It’s not even verging on being close to that, at all.
Leslie is the only one to get physical here, and even that was clearly done for comedic effect.
I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and realize that this is a comic strip.
Fart Captor
You might want to read some of the comments from people saying how this is analogous to their real life experience with abusive partners, and reconsider what you are saying here.
miados
and that kids is how i met your mother
Falling Star
BUT THAT WORKS SO WELL
Fart Captor
“Our eyes met as she led the congresswoman away in handcuffs…”
Gwen
YESSSSS! Perfect turnaround for that setup.
Travestyhat
Are we supposed to be laughing at this? Seriously? I just… /wow/.
C.T. Phipps
In the normal universe, this would probably be a sign Robin is either dangerous or unwell or both.
miados
I have done the opposite before. leaving when people said i should stay.
Cerberus
It’s distressingly not funny.
Reltzik
Back when my mom was a kid (teenager, I think) she saw someone hit by a car.
She laughed.
Not because it was funny, but because that was her “what the hell?” reaction to the totally unexpected.
I saw a schoolmate hit by a car when I was in high school. (Broken arm in a cast for a couple of months, otherwise okay, complete recovery.) I almost laughed too, for the same reason. The… fact that I focused on how one of her shoes went flying at least 20 feet in the air in the subjective slow-motion didn’t help. (She had an arm in a cast for the next month or two, but complete recovery.)
So, yeah, I’m laughing at this train wreck. Because… seriously, what the hell?
ditrysia
Thank you for this.
Awful confession time: I laughed when I saw my friend have a stroke.
I didn’t know it was a stroke at that very second but it did look fucked and I laughed because of her weird facial expression.
(She, um, did not recover).
I do know that it’s how our brains react to things it can’t process sometimes, but that comment did help make me feel a little better.
Deanatay
I read somewhere that laughter evolved as a form of social enforcement – we laugh to gently ostracize someone or something, as a way of saying, ‘This is not Us, it is Other’. Perhaps, on some level, you knew her behavior looked WRONG, and you were encouraging her to stop.
ditrysia
That’s a nice idea. I’ll try and tell myself that. Though I feel it might be giving me a little too much credit.
Reltzik
I think that’s a bit of a narrow view for the cause of laughter. It doesn’t explain, say, laughing in delight or relief.
I think it’s more likely that laughter is an expression of emotion, usually playfulness, a sense of ease or wonder, or surprise at the unexpected or bizarre.
Positron
The theory behind that boiled down to laughter being prompted by something outside of the ordinary – in that view, laughing at a stroke or car crash makes sense, because neither are things that are common for any given individual to see, and you might laugh at first before realising the gravity of the situation.
Trolldrool
It kind of feels like watching an old Tom and Jerry cartoon. Back before blackface became unpopular in mainstream media.
TachyonCode
That’s an excellent point, though.
I keep thinking about this one T&J episode where Tom (I believe) winds up at heaven’s gates, and a bag of mewling kittens comes up the escalator behind him.
It’s not immediately obvious to the viewers, if they’re not perceptive, but those kittens were drowned, and that’s how they wound up there.
I’m pretty sure the creators were going for morbid humor, but in retrospect the episode is pretty revealing about the way society has been. And that’s what this feels like.
Pylgrim
It is a comedic comic strip with a setup, a pause and a punchline (or punch-image). It is meant to be funny as a way to examining a real-life issue from a safe, vantage point, using humour as a lens.
It is clear that as inappropriate as this all is, Robin is just ludicrously dense, not intently evil, so by allowing her a ridiculous comeback, the conversation can continue until either a) Robin finally understands how and why what she’s doing is wrong or b) humorous comeuppance is visited upon her.
BadMonkey
“Are we supposed to be laughing a this?” Yeah. I really don’t think so. But then, much of this comic is not expected to be laughed at. (Ask Joyce if every strip is supposed to be amusing)
A lot of people in Leslie’s position would have trouble seeing that danger line. It is as easy for Leslie to see the cute side of a stalker level “crush” as it is for someone newly discovering they are actually attracted to someone they never thought they’d be attracted to to believe that “this is the one.”
Basically, I think they’re both in for some painful awakenings in the next few strips. Leslie first since she’s already partway there.
thejeff
Except he keeps throwing punch lines and cranking up the wacky aspects. It would be easy to turn the tension up on this story arc and make it wholly serious. He’s done it before.
Instead the creepy stalker overtones stay on that level and the narrative treats it as wacky hijinks – she breaks back in (with flowers! (well, weeds)) and Leslie just sighs
Pylgrim
Different folks cope in different ways. Humour is one of them. If you are someone who copes with humour, you look out for comedic outlets that deal with the issues that are important to you. This is one of them: a more often than not goofy comic strip, as opposed to a militant blog or a cut and dry educational or analytic tool. To constantly give you the super sober treatment that you expect to see these issues dealt with, would diminish the experience for its /intended/ public.
TheAnonymousGuy
Yea, you have her on a crime she can leave or given a police “escort”
Cerberus
Yeah, but enforcing crimes against sitting congresspeople is… spotty at best and extra hard when you’re an easily dismissed lesbian with a history of living on the streets.
Reltzik
Wait, THIS is the moment?
Not when you woke up in bed with her and she admitted to enterring without permission?
Reltzik
… though I suppose the media’s now got video footage of her being forcibly expelled and then breaking in, so there’s a better chance of enforcement now.
Nym
+1
I mean, she already missed the moment of “woke up to an intruder in my bed,” but this is definitely another one.
Schpoonman
Robin, what the fuck?
timemonkey
Robin responds to rejection by acting wackier in the hopes people will like her.
miados
reminded me of luffy in one piece when he refused to let sanji say no to being in his crew.
Squirrely
He just refused the refusal.
Heavensrun