I love the Cybersix references here! I absolutely loved that show! Of course when I watched it here in Canada it was on at odd times of the day. And yes, I could see Leslie cosplaying as Adrian. Now I actually want to see that 🙂
Kryss LaBryn
Ha, I used to watch it and loved it! I’ve found the episodes on YouTube for my daughter (who is eight) and she loooves it! She thinks Cyber6 is the absolute kickass best–although she did question fighting in heels. <3
The problem wasn’t just in the airing; if I recall there were some difficulties with production too, since it was like, made by a japanese studio for a canadian company for airing in america?.
to be fair not every comic has to have a punchline when its a story oriented comic.
Cephalo the Pod
The vast majority of strips do end in punchlines. The ones that don’t end with dramatically significant panels (i.e.: Becky kissing Joyce, Amber kicking Blaine in the face, Walky’s quiet little “no” to Dorothy’s plea to everyone to not treat her as perfect, etc.)
It’s both adorable, and is getting the relationship established between these two characters who have only recently met.
And while it might not seem super dramatic, getting casually mommed by Leslie is kind of a big deal for the previously homeless girl who lost her original family
IMO, The punchline is that Leslie is trying to get Becky to realize that no, just because she is a lesbian, doesn’t mean she knows how to tie a tie. Becky has a lot of misconceptions about lesbians and seem to view them as being a monolithic singular personality/type, rather than having just as much variety as anyone else.
The problem is that Leslie did know how to tie a tie, and she can’t stop herself from helping. (Though her ability to tie ties is not because she is a lesbian, it is just because she happened to know).
It is basically like if it was a girl talking to a gay man and was like “Hey can you help me put on my makeup?” “Do you assume I can put on makeup just cause I’m gay?” “…” “Ok, fine I do know how to put on makeup, but it isn’t because I’m gay.”
I thought that wearing skinny-ties is very common for n00b lesbians, so that Leslie’s knowledge was related to being queer. She wants to undo Becky’s misconceptions, but to her chagrin, this particular generalization was right.
I thought most married women know how to tie a tie. Because their husbands often don’t. And Leslie was briefly married to a man as I recall.
Kryss LaBryn
Yeah, it’s the only reason I can tie one, ha ha.
–How do so many men not know how to tie ties? They’re the ones wearing them (for the most part; more so that us women tying them for them, anyways)! O.o
It’s a patriarchy thing. Doing stuff is “women’s work”, so why bother learning it and letting it pollute your proper manliness when you can have the woman creature who lives in your house do it.
Though all that said, I pretty much was the go-to person to help my ex tie all her ties when she wanted to have a butch night out on the town.
Leorale
I think it’s from our brain development in pre-K, and then emphasized tons in our culture. Citations needed, but here is my understanding as a pre-K person (and not as a developmental neurobiologist).
In pre-K, when we’re deeply learning what we’re good at… on average, and so far, little girls have had more brain development in fine motor skills, and little boys have had more brain development in gross motor skills. (I believe they both catch up to each other later, just that the order in which we learn these two is along gender lines.)*
So, in pre-K:
Little fiddly tactile stuff = usually girls are the best at it.
Big body movement = usually boys are the best at it.
We are not in Pre-K anymore, and we could’ve probably all caught up to each other years ago, but that idea persists, that girls are better at fine motor skills, and boys are better at gross motor skills.
Then, it’s totally supported and practiced when girls do beading and boys do sports.
*(To my knowledge, studies on this only measure presumed-cis boys & girls. Sorry trans & NB people; Science has just figured out you exist, I hope they are excited to start actually representing you soon.)
Tying ties is a fine motor skill, so girls must be magically better at it.
Leorale
I said that in a really longwinded manner.
tl;drl: Females are presumed to be better at fine motor skills, such as tying ties.
This assumption:
– may be based on early brain development.
– is totes cemented by culture
– is dumb.
J
Two reasons I can think of: We pretty much universally hate wearing them, so we don’t learn how (or we learn and suck at it since we never wear the things). Second, someone else tying the tie can see what they’re doing, where a dude trying to tie his own has to tilt his head to try to see what’s happening while staying out of his own light.
I’d just as soon never wear one again, and I can usually get it right on the third or fourth try.
I’m reminded of a conversation I had when IRC chats were a shiny new thing with someone in Hong Kong. He was convinced that all Canadians were tall, blue-eyed blondes. I tried hard to convince him we weren’t; but that did fall a bit flat when I had to admit I was a tall, blue-eyed blonde myself, haha.
Do like my brother did, I tied his tie for his high school grad, he left the knot in. Thirty years later, it is still tied, he just slips it over his head and tightens it.
My dad never taught me because he passed away before I moved on from clip-ons. I was taught by the father of a girlfriend. I’m no expert but I do a fair job. My daughter actually wears my ties more than I do for cosplay and to just turn heads at her highschool and I have to tie them for her.
So did mine, and I’m a woman and not a lesbian. I guess it’s less common for women to need to know, in places where there aren’t school uniforms. I grant it’s the only context in which I *have* needed to know.
Neither can I. There’s one Hanging in my closet that’s permanently in a loose windsor, just in case, but I’ve worn it maybe twice? One advantage to working around machinery!
I’ve learned it from diagrams and my dad, because there was once I time I wanted to partake on HP-events and dress up as a Ravenclaw.
It’s not difficult – but it’s also not exactly easy either (it can look so wrong, sometimes)
I’ve had it as part of my muscle memory for decades now. My only complaint is that I learned the half-Windsor knot (back when tie sizes ranged from ‘wide’ to ‘very wide’), and a thicker knot would be more suitable with today’s tie dimensions.
(I bought The 85 Ways To Tie a Tie a while back, and I think I’m going to play with some knotting patterns.)
I wonder if Becky is wondering why they’re shopping in a (seemingly) straight supermarket. Shouldn’t they have a magical island one with riding kangaroos and Greek iconography?
Wait, am I thinking of Themyscira or the supermarket? So hard to tell.
in a world where skillset is measured by grinding…the one true Girlfriend approaches, the most lesbian of them all…we can say with assurance that those hips most definitely do not lie
294 thoughts on “Broccoli”
Ana Chronistic
“b/c I saw your Adrian Seidelman cosplay, and you weren’t using a clip-on”
Ana Chronistic
(actually it’s Leo’s fault, isn’t it)
Ana Chronistic
ahahahahah I *could* have reused “still doing better than Trump’s handiwork”
fuckin Scotch tape
Doctor_Who
Man, Cybersix is one property that needs another shot. Network just didn’t know what to do with it, it used to air at like 6 am.
And Leslie would totally cosplay as Adrian.
LordHaw
I love the Cybersix references here! I absolutely loved that show! Of course when I watched it here in Canada it was on at odd times of the day. And yes, I could see Leslie cosplaying as Adrian. Now I actually want to see that 🙂
Kryss LaBryn
Ha, I used to watch it and loved it! I’ve found the episodes on YouTube for my daughter (who is eight) and she loooves it! She thinks Cyber6 is the absolute kickass best–although she did question fighting in heels. <3
Mordecai
One of the best animated intros, too.
The Golux
The problem wasn’t just in the airing; if I recall there were some difficulties with production too, since it was like, made by a japanese studio for a canadian company for airing in america?.
Ana Chronistic
well they DID spend a 26-episode budget on 13 episodes
darkoneko
Her lesbian radar told her so.
Cattleprod
Is the store’s uniform also plaid?
Cephalo the Pod
Is that…is that even a punchline?
Cephalo the Pod
Hell, the alt-text was far more of a punchline than what we got in-strip.
miados
to be fair not every comic has to have a punchline when its a story oriented comic.
Cephalo the Pod
The vast majority of strips do end in punchlines. The ones that don’t end with dramatically significant panels (i.e.: Becky kissing Joyce, Amber kicking Blaine in the face, Walky’s quiet little “no” to Dorothy’s plea to everyone to not treat her as perfect, etc.)
This is neither dramatic or funny.
Fart Captor
It’s both adorable, and is getting the relationship established between these two characters who have only recently met.
And while it might not seem super dramatic, getting casually mommed by Leslie is kind of a big deal for the previously homeless girl who lost her original family
3-I
Your FACE is neither dramatic nor funny.
zoelogical
the punchline is love
Bagge
That such a Steven Universe thing to say 🙂
zoelogical
😀
it is!!!!!!
zoelogical
on consideration, also kind of an Addams Family thing to say <3
Bagge
I just can’t stop giggling at their faces in the last two panels, so in my book that’s a punch line.
Bagge
…or, I suppose, in David Willis’ book… once he has collected the strips in one… you know, I think I messed up this metaphor.
Touchfuzzy
IMO, The punchline is that Leslie is trying to get Becky to realize that no, just because she is a lesbian, doesn’t mean she knows how to tie a tie. Becky has a lot of misconceptions about lesbians and seem to view them as being a monolithic singular personality/type, rather than having just as much variety as anyone else.
The problem is that Leslie did know how to tie a tie, and she can’t stop herself from helping. (Though her ability to tie ties is not because she is a lesbian, it is just because she happened to know).
It is basically like if it was a girl talking to a gay man and was like “Hey can you help me put on my makeup?” “Do you assume I can put on makeup just cause I’m gay?” “…” “Ok, fine I do know how to put on makeup, but it isn’t because I’m gay.”
Leorale
I thought that wearing skinny-ties is very common for n00b lesbians, so that Leslie’s knowledge was related to being queer. She wants to undo Becky’s misconceptions, but to her chagrin, this particular generalization was right.
Sunny
I thought most married women know how to tie a tie. Because their husbands often don’t. And Leslie was briefly married to a man as I recall.
Kryss LaBryn
Yeah, it’s the only reason I can tie one, ha ha.
–How do so many men not know how to tie ties? They’re the ones wearing them (for the most part; more so that us women tying them for them, anyways)! O.o
Cerberus
It’s a patriarchy thing. Doing stuff is “women’s work”, so why bother learning it and letting it pollute your proper manliness when you can have the woman creature who lives in your house do it.
Though all that said, I pretty much was the go-to person to help my ex tie all her ties when she wanted to have a butch night out on the town.
Leorale
I think it’s from our brain development in pre-K, and then emphasized tons in our culture. Citations needed, but here is my understanding as a pre-K person (and not as a developmental neurobiologist).
In pre-K, when we’re deeply learning what we’re good at… on average, and so far, little girls have had more brain development in fine motor skills, and little boys have had more brain development in gross motor skills. (I believe they both catch up to each other later, just that the order in which we learn these two is along gender lines.)*
So, in pre-K:
Little fiddly tactile stuff = usually girls are the best at it.
Big body movement = usually boys are the best at it.
We are not in Pre-K anymore, and we could’ve probably all caught up to each other years ago, but that idea persists, that girls are better at fine motor skills, and boys are better at gross motor skills.
Then, it’s totally supported and practiced when girls do beading and boys do sports.
*(To my knowledge, studies on this only measure presumed-cis boys & girls. Sorry trans & NB people; Science has just figured out you exist, I hope they are excited to start actually representing you soon.)
Tying ties is a fine motor skill, so girls must be magically better at it.
Leorale
I said that in a really longwinded manner.
tl;drl: Females are presumed to be better at fine motor skills, such as tying ties.
This assumption:
– may be based on early brain development.
– is totes cemented by culture
– is dumb.
J
Two reasons I can think of: We pretty much universally hate wearing them, so we don’t learn how (or we learn and suck at it since we never wear the things). Second, someone else tying the tie can see what they’re doing, where a dude trying to tie his own has to tilt his head to try to see what’s happening while staying out of his own light.
I’d just as soon never wear one again, and I can usually get it right on the third or fourth try.
Kryss LaBryn
I’m reminded of a conversation I had when IRC chats were a shiny new thing with someone in Hong Kong. He was convinced that all Canadians were tall, blue-eyed blondes. I tried hard to convince him we weren’t; but that did fall a bit flat when I had to admit I was a tall, blue-eyed blonde myself, haha.
Cephalo the Pod
Wait. I’m kinda having a crisis here…
Do women not weat ties?
Reltzik
The punchline is that the Leslie is chafing at Becky’s stereotype of lesbians, yet it is totally accurate in this case.
Leorale
That. And Becky’s smugness sells it.
Chris Phoenix
I LOL’d. I thought it was cute.
Tacos
S’okay Becky, I can’t tie a tie either.
Doctor_Who
I can almost do it. Like, it won’t look right, but you’ll be hard pressed to explain way.
Likely because I wear a tie maybe twice a year. Mutherfuckers need to stop getting married, because I’m getting sick of it.
MatthewTheLucky
Why don’t you just skip ahead to the weddings before taking it off?
Roborat
Do like my brother did, I tied his tie for his high school grad, he left the knot in. Thirty years later, it is still tied, he just slips it over his head and tightens it.
miados
I have a cheat sheet image on my computer for how to do so.
LordHaw
My dad never taught me because he passed away before I moved on from clip-ons. I was taught by the father of a girlfriend. I’m no expert but I do a fair job. My daughter actually wears my ties more than I do for cosplay and to just turn heads at her highschool and I have to tie them for her.
StClair
I learned from the internet. Not gonna lie.
I only do it for job interviews.
Deanatay
I can tie a tie.
But I only do Trinity knots.
Dean
My high school uniform included a tie (not a clip-on). I can still literally tie one with my eyes closed.
Arian
So did mine, and I’m a woman and not a lesbian. I guess it’s less common for women to need to know, in places where there aren’t school uniforms. I grant it’s the only context in which I *have* needed to know.
Needfuldoer
Neither can I. There’s one Hanging in my closet that’s permanently in a loose windsor, just in case, but I’ve worn it maybe twice? One advantage to working around machinery!
Shade
I google it as required.
CoMa
I’ve learned it from diagrams and my dad, because there was once I time I wanted to partake on HP-events and dress up as a Ravenclaw.
It’s not difficult – but it’s also not exactly easy either (it can look so wrong, sometimes)
Scar Man!!!
just learned and so proud
Inspector Hound
I’ve had it as part of my muscle memory for decades now. My only complaint is that I learned the half-Windsor knot (back when tie sizes ranged from ‘wide’ to ‘very wide’), and a thicker knot would be more suitable with today’s tie dimensions.
(I bought The 85 Ways To Tie a Tie a while back, and I think I’m going to play with some knotting patterns.)
Fart Captor
Leslie! You seem to have the most adorable baby duck following you around!
Bagge
Becky is best baby duck!
C.T Phipps
I wonder if Becky is wondering why they’re shopping in a (seemingly) straight supermarket. Shouldn’t they have a magical island one with riding kangaroos and Greek iconography?
Wait, am I thinking of Themyscira or the supermarket? So hard to tell.
Doctor_Who
I just went to see Wonder Woman again (belated Father’s Day outing with my dad), so now I’m just picturing Amazons at the supermarket.
Diana shows them all the ice cream, and they immediately determine that the outside world isn’t so bad after all.
zoelogical
you have to be a level nine lesbian to unlock the secret lesbian magic supermarket. leslie still has some grinding to do
brionl
That’s what she said.
/badumtish
zoelogical
in a world where skillset is measured by grinding…the one true Girlfriend approaches, the most lesbian of them all…we can say with assurance that those hips most definitely do not lie
MatthewTheLucky
Well yeah, where do you think xp comes from?
zoelogical
experience
Chris Phoenix
No one has made a Grindr pun yet?
zoelogical
it’s for Her
AnvilPro
This is a friendship I like
JessWitt
My mind immediately went to “Plaid Pantry”.
Bunk
Soooooooo… Is Leslie gonna basically be Becky’s new mom now? Because that would be great
JessWitt
Yes! New mom! Bonnie would approve I hope.
Tacos
I approve this.
Bagge
She already snagged herself a new dad and a bunch of sisters and an incredibly
annoyingfun brother. It’s time for a mom!BBCC
New brother is…..Walky?
Bagge
Yup! 🙂
BBCC
Excellent! 😀
Artemis
Why did I read that in Mister Burns voice….