I think "unspoken expectations" are going to be there no matter what kind of relationship you (try to) have.

Of all the things exhibiting gender dimorphism in today's society, Pocky is probably the most unexpected. What in the world is "Pocky for Men"????? (or women, for that matter)

Lily says they're not compatible, but I know that asexuals do get into relationships with people... So Lily's just flat-out wrong?

Actually, what I'm really wondering... and I will admit that this is just me not knowing anything about aces, and I could probably just look up the answer somewhere, but... is there such a thing as "heterosexual" asexuals and "homosexual" asexuals? I mean, every asexual I've seen in fiction who has gotten together with someone has gotten together with someone of the opposite sex. Would it actually *not matter* to an asexual whether the person they get together with is male or female? Or do some have a preference?

I'm sorry if my questions sound ignorant. I really just don't know about any of this.

It's just as well I ran out of time. The stuff I would have added would have been kind of off-topic. I mean, maybe somewhat relevant, a bit, but mostly just unnecessary noise.

Depending on where the comic goes, it may become more relevant in the future, and then I'll post it.

Yeah, I definitely overstated that. Also, I failed to make the point I was trying to.

Everything you said is true, I agree with that. But in addition to that, there are people who believe that ANY type of dominance or submission is unhealthy, and therefore a "healthy D/S relationship" is not something that actually exists. Unfortunately, a person in that category can use Fifty Shades to support their point of view.

Argh... I have more to say, but not a lot of time. So I'll probably add more here in a few days. So I guess, "to be continued..."

"It's just a story" doesn't cut it for me. Sorry.

I've heard that excuse used to justify a lot of stories over the years. The problem is that when Lily says "Most people can tell fantasy from reality," she's only half-right, and the half that's wrong is really important.

People can tell fantasy from reality when they're familiar with the subject being discussed. Anyone who's not actually in a D/S relationship will have no clue whether Fifty Shades gets that kind of relationship correct or not. And if they don't know, then they'll assume the author did their research and it's correct.

Works of fiction take place in the world of "reality unless otherwise noted." If you're watching a superhero movie where one of the non-super characters drives from New York to California in an afternoon, you'll cry foul. You will believe a man can fly, but you won't believe that New York and California are within an afternoon's drive of each other.

And it's the same with classes of people. If, for example, black people are depicted as being a certain way in a movie, non-blacks will assume it's an accurate depiction. Replace "black" with "white", "gay", "polyamorous", "Jewish", "Catholic", "Russian", "Republican", or any other group a person can belong to, and you still get a true statement.

If you want to defend a certain work of fiction, go right ahead. But "It's just a story" isn't defending it, it's side-stepping the issue.

I've been struggling to find a way to wrap-up this message, to end on a brief summary that ties everything together. And I think what I want to say is this: A story is a story. But no story is "just" a story.

The gargoyle is attempting to eat the world.

Could you make a script that bounces the homepage to the comic page?

Of course, then anyone who bookmarks the homepage would get a bookmark to that one particular comic instead...

Hmmm, not sure what the solution is. Although this does explain some other comics I read whose sites behave the same way.

Off-topic, you really need a forum. Partly because if I want to add something to a conversation that appeared on a previous comic, I don't think anyone's going to go back to that old comic and read it (but a forum thread that gets added to will float to the top), and partly because today's comic reminds me of a certain episode of Bojack Horseman, but I don't want to derail the conversation with a bunch of unrelated BH fandom - but in a forum BH could have its own dedicated thread.

Sorry. Re-reading this note, I realize it comes off sounding as if I'm making demands. It's a suggestion, nothing more. You're free to do what you want, of course.

People like to put labels on things and put things into categories. (And by 'things' I mean 'people', but phrasing it that way made the sentence too confusing.) Some people (as discussed earlier in this comic) don't fit into any of the pre-defined boxes. I've heard about people who thought they were bad vegetarians because they sometimes ate meat, who one day realized they weren't true vegetarians at all, but people who simply liked to eat meat very rarely. We don't have a label for that.