Shortpacked! by David Willis
Toys are serious business.
Convention appearances:
Calgary Expo Calgary, AB: April 26-28
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Phoenix Comicon Phoenix, AZ: May 23-26, 2013
BotCon San Diego, CA: June 28-30
San Diego Comic-Con San Diego, CA: July 18-21
SPX Bethesda, MD: September 14-15
Multiplex
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Sorcery 101
Templar, AZ
The Transformers Wiki
Hail to the Slash
80 page GIANT
Axe Cop
The Book of Biff
Butt-Taco
Comics Curmudgeon
College Roomies from Hell!!!
Diesel Sweeties
Dinosaur Comics
Dr. McNinja
Dresden Codak
Fans!
Fleen
Gastrophobia
Girl Genius
Girls with Slingshots
Goats
Hark, a vagrant
Hijinks Ensue
Intrepid Girlbot
Legend of Bill
Medium Large
Not Invented Here
Octopus Pie
Overcompensating
Penny Arcade
PhDcomics
Power Nap
Questionable Content
Real Life
Rob and Elliot
Bad Machinery
Schlock Mercenary
Sheldon
So Far Apart
Something Positive
Two Lumps
Wapsi Square
Wonderella
Wondermark
Frumph.NET
Tags
amber
animated
batman
botcon
conquest
conventions
dark of the moon
david willis
dinobot
drew
duncan
ethan
faz
galasso
generations
gijoe
guest strip
hamsters
homosexuality
jacob
jesus
joe
justice league
ken
leslie
malaya
megatron
merch
mike
ninja rick
nipple
optimus prime
politics
religion
robin desanto
ronald reagan
roz
sdcc
sg ravage
shattered glass
star wars
tni strips
transformers
transformers prime
ultra car
©2005-2013 David Willis | Powered by WordPress with ComicPress | Subscribe: RSS | Back to Top ↑
She’s going to keep trying isn’t she?
But would you love her if she didn’t?
I don’t love her now, soooo…
But would you hate her if she didn’t?
how sad!
Yeah, for the record? She’s a dick.
I’m just *saying.*
“I shall seduce you by insulting your issues” is always a good strategy.
Sex addiction is BS, though.
No.
Yes. But as in yes, I agree with your no.
False.
This comic would have a really different impact if the male/female roles were reversed.
Didn’t we have that conversation yesterday?
Yeah, but it was with someone who got the double standard backward and thought everyone would be cheering for a creepy guy harassing a woman with known sex issues.
Give it up, Roz, he only has eyes for Amber, which is a death sentence should Mike ever find out. I think that it is only a matter of time before Roz hits rock bottom, like her sister did; but for Roz, with her asshole attitude, her fall is going to be so much worse.
> Give it up, Roz, he only has eyes for Amber, which is a death sentence should Mike ever find out
You know I really don’t see that. Mike, in the past, used sex as a tool. My guess is that his mind just does not work in the conventional social manner. If he actually cares about Amber, and it isn’t just a long term mindf***k with her, he might just decide that it’s entertaining to watch.
Lots of spouses do!
…that relationship is still in doubt? I thought this got hashed a long time ago. By the comic.
But much, much more satisfying.
Yeah, if Mike found out, he’d just f*ck him and make sure Amber caught them in bed together to squash her feelings.
You tell him, Roz. Sex addiction is totally fake and makes your continued attempts to hit on him completely okay even though he’s already said no!
Roz drives me up the wall. I don’t enjoy seeing her. I hope she doesn’t appear too regularly. Of course, complaining is pretty passe.
holy shit, all the self-importance from the comments on the last comic got transferred into this comic
78356784946 strips that clearly parallel actual comments! Ah, ah, ah!
Where’s Faz when you need him? He’s more effective than a cold shower.
I CANNOT STOP HATING THIS CHARACTER.
You say that like you want to stop.
I think she’s mostly correct.
Yeah, I kinda agree with her, too. I am not sure how sex addiction is different from normal male pursuits. Roz kinda reminds me of Mike, actually.
It’s very simple, really. Sex addiction is to sex as alcoholism is to being an average drinker. Roz’s argument is like saying that alcoholism doesn’t exist because it excuses drunks.
That analogy doesn’t really hold because alcoholism creates a physical dependence with withdrawal symptoms that are avoided only by drinking more alcohol. Sex does not have the same effect, and when done safely, it has a low risk of negatively affecting your life. Having sex compulsively would be no worse of an addiction than collecting toys compulsively, or any other random non-physical addiction you could think of. Just like anything else, you have to make sure it doesn’t take over your whole life.
All addiction involves excess of things that are harmless in small amounts. You don’t take one sip of alcohol and become dependent on it.
We’ve already seen the explanation from Jacob. He has an addictive personality, so he has good reason to hold back.
You realize that addictions also have a psychological aspect, right? And just because it’s in the head doesn’t make it not real. Or, LOL, PEOPLE WHO COMPULSIVELY EAT SHOULD JUST GET OVER THEMSELVES~~~
I don’t know what world you’re living in, but real sex addiction is a horrible, horrible thing. I’ll agree that many people probably claim to be one simply as an effort to excuse abominable behavior, but make no mistake sex addiction is a real thing.
Sex addicts will (and do) sleep with anyone regardless of look, weight or personality – and depending on how bad it is, sometimes regardless of gender, species or whether it’s animate or not.
They have an uncontrollable need to reach the point of climax, without finding any fulfillment or enjoyment in it, so that they can experience the dopamine rush. The same way an alcoholic has long passed the ability to enjoy drinking and can no longer control themselves.
Yes, you can suffer from physical addiction to sex and suffer from withdrawal symptoms.
I urge you to go observe a meeting. Observe the people who have done horrible, humiliating, degrading things in an effort to satisfy their addictions and then claim it’s not real.
Here’s some links where you can educate yourself.
For a quick rundown:
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2007/10/19/2007-10-19_what_causes_sex_addiction__and_what_you_.html
http://menshealth.about.com/od/sexualhealth/a/sexual_addictio.htm
For more in depth looks you can go here:
http://www.reuniting.info/science/porn_addiction_wired_for_sexual_addiction
http://www.entelechyjournal.com/pulling_away_after_sex1.htm
http://www.saahelp.com/
Here’s a copy of a mayo clinic report on the treatment of someone with an addiction to sex
http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/83/2/226.full
Here’s a link to an article from the Journal of Neuroscience wherein scans showed that the brain of an orgasming male is nearly identical to the brain of someone on heroin.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/23/27/9185
“Just like anything else, you have to make sure it doesn’t take over your whole life.”
So you’re saying that if someone really likes something, that’s fine, as long as they don’t let it become an all-consuming obsession? What do you think the word “addiction” means?
Ok, maybe the alcohol analogy is easy to attack on the grounds of chemical dependency.
So let’s change it to: Sex addiction is to sex what gambling addcition is to gambling.
There are some studies that suggest that ‘true’ sex addiction has a physical component — the body releases endorphins during sexual activity that use the same neurochemical receptors as certain opiates. That’s where the “all is right with the world” feeling that comes with some sexual activity comes from.
While this — like most addiction — also has psychological ramifications, there certainly are some folks whose biochemistry is particularly susceptible. And, as with other addictions, starting with “this feels really good and I feel good and happy after it” is a good route to chemical dependency.
Do you agree with the whole sexual assault thing? Y’know, on account of that’s what it’s called when you force someone to put their hands on your secondary sexual characteristics. Mike is completely different, because at no point has Mike’s momfucking been presented as anything other than him using his magic asshole powers to talk an unsuspecting mark into the sack. He’s a cruel manipulative dickhole, but he’s not a date rapist.
but if he was he would totally sing the Ninja Turtles theme song while doing it
People are saying obsession is a bad thing but sometimes it’s what works. I mean Rembrandt was obsessed with painting and Beethoven was obsessed with music. I mean most of the prodigies of our time have been at one time or another obsessed with their passion.
It’s the combination of obsession into a negative self-destructive past time that makes addiction. That’s why sex addiction is also not considered a real thing in some areas because of the non-physical that accompanies alcoholism and drugs and the fact that while society as a whole views the idea as taboo, sex is not a bad thing.
What a bitch!
I won’t lie, if a guy turned me down by saying he had a sex addiction, I’d assume he was lying.
I’d also assume he was completely not interested. It wouldn’t be Roz if she didn’t keep trying though.
I kinda like Roz. She’s really not (actually shown in comic) to be any worse of a person then the rest of the cast.
I can understand that. I don’t think that a real person with a sex addiction is going to admit the fact to a perfect stranger. They’d make up some (less embarrassing) excuse and hightail it to the coldest shower they could find.
That’s not really in his character.
Roz has no way of knowing his character, though.
I’ll admit that I’m not horribly familiar with Jacob as a character.
His bluntness still stood oujt as odd though.
I’m not sure if you are familiar with the standard Anonymous programs, but they generally involve an aspect of being open and honest with yourself and others about your addiction as one of the necessary steps to recovery.
Waah waah waah, just do her already.
I completely agree with Roz. Two consenting adults doing one of the most natural things a human can do.
Plus, ya know…
Sex.
“Two consenting adults doing one of the most natural things a human can do. ”
Yeah except for HOW HE’S NOT CONSENTING
Whether sex addiction is “real” in real life, in the comic, or not at all, the fact remains that Roz is Roz is sexually harassing him.
“Roz is sexually harassing him.”
I don’t understand the problem.
I seriously hope you’d have a different response if this were a real life situation.
That sign over there says PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS.
“That sign over there says PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS.”
What? I’m not a troll. Where did that come from?
Wow, Superjerk! But then this is what I used to hate about Robin too- no respect for anyone else’s personal space or boundaries. No is no. People aren’t obligated to give a reason, and if they’re kind enough to do so, it doesn’t matter what that reason is. Back OFF, already.
But it does make her seem like Faz’s natural mate! Where’d he go, lately?
“then this is what I used to hate about Robin too- no respect for anyone else’s personal space or boundaries”
Maybe that’s why Robin didn’t like her – it’s not fun when other people do it to her.
Plus, as seen above, Roz is a wee bit of a wanker. JACOB SAID NO AND NOW HE IS RUNNING AWAY, YOU SCARY WOMAN.
Guys let’s just all pretend that Jacob is an abductee and in exchange for his smooth, chocolatey abs he has a sex addiction
There, aliens did it, we can stop arguing about if it’s real or not
Roz is sensitive about this subject because of her line of work. She’s tired of people making casual sex out to be a bad thing and people getting the wrong ideas about it, because it’s one of her tenets of life. She’s got every right to have an opinion about this. I really respect Roz for this strip, as it happens. She and Jacob just need to work on their communication before they start hating each other.
But how can you respect someone who openly belittles you and then tries to force you into doing something you’re not comfortable with. She blatantly sexually harassed Jacob and forced him to actually touch her breast. He turned her down flat out, and she essentially said “I don’t care how you feel because as far as I’m concerned your feelings are valid.”
Roz is the one who needs to work on her communication and how to behave like a decent human being. Jacob told her “no” and explained why he doesn’t want to do anything with her. His reasons are his own and he doesn’t need to justify them to her.
I don’t think any actual breast-touching occurred here – I think he had his aborting thought and fled before he actually made contact.
She *is* Robin’s sister. Robin, if you’ll recall, had an abundancy of character flaws before we saw there was more depth in her than we realized. Robin sexually assaulted Amber before she started backing off more- Roz isn’t trying to be antagonizing towards Jacob, she just doesn’t understand his condition. She’s being reckless and hurtful, but not on purpose. She’ll learn the error of her ways soon enough- and even if she doesn’t, I doubt Willis would keep writing her in. These are some heavy comments.
Yeah, and both Amber and Ethan (both target of her sexual attention) don’t like Robin that much. Amber has even stated she hates Robin for her history of actions. That’s doesn’t really help Roz much.
Jacob explained he didn’t want to do anything wit her sexually. She refuses to acknowledge his feelings in the slightest. Even if she doesn’t accept Sexual addiction as an actual illness, she should accept the fact he said clearly and without question “NO.”
He clearly is not consenting to her advances, and she’s aware he’s not. She just doesn’t care. Her actions are on purpose and without concern for Jacob.
I mean to say “I don’t care how you feel because as far as I’m concerned your feelings are NOT valid.”
I thought maybe you were playing with deliberate irony or paradox–you know, “your SEXUAL feelings are valid so I don’t care about your OTHER feelings.”
RUN, JACOB, RUN AND NEVER LOOK BACK
Oh god these comment will be worse then yesterday.
Guys, sex addiction is a real, dangerous thing for some people. You might not understand and a lot of people misuse the term but that doesn’t mean it’s any less awful.
Guys. Let us be frank.
Jacob saying he has a sex addiction is a LOT more credible than me saying I don’t like talking to females because I have Asperger’s.
Come on, now.
“Simple fun between consenting adults”
Roz should really listen to what she is saying here. Whether sex addition is real or not, Jacob is not consenting. And belittling him by saying that he’s just a whiny little bitch isn’t going to change his mind.
I’m . . . not sure what Willis is going for here, but this storyline’s kind of making me uncomfortable.
Needs more dickwolves, I guess.
Ok… I will relate the same story I did the last time Sex Addiction came up:
Nice looking guy with nice looking girl friend: Having sex outside in the muddy snow with a decaying (I think that covers it) meth head, who looked to me to be old enough to be his mother. This was the a dramatic one of MANY occasions (I was around for a few, told by him and by folks of the others). This guy hated himself, and his behaviour. He probably committed suicide, I don’t know, I intentionally lost track of him. Too depressing for me.
Screwing lots (of adult women / men etc.) does not make you a sex addict. Cheating on your spouse does not make you a sex addict. Heck, screwing things society thinks are bad (kids, animals, coke machines) while (almost surely) dangerous and dumb does not make you a sex addict.
Screwing things that you do not want to screw, that make you puke your guts out when you think about it, that you just keep screwing and screwing and just can’t stop: What the bloody hell are you going to call it? Nice Normal Fun?
Heck, if you’re into corpses and you fuck ‘em that’s necrophilia, if you’re not into them and you still fuck ‘em I think you have a problem that might be called?? (No, as far as I know, my acquaintance did not do corpses)
I’ve known people I would call asexual, just not interested. No moral problems with it, just found it boring. The males were more noticeable.
I’ve known folks who found the oddest things (to me) sexually interesting.
My own sex life (in my younger days) was probably more “varied” than mainstream.
I’ve known some folks that probably were a bit too into it. Yes, I did enjoy finding this out about at least one.
But this guy was the only one I knew who JUST COULD NOT STOP. Call it whatever you want, I call it Sex Addiction. Scared me.
Sorry about the rant, but this whole “ain’t no such thing” bit is damn silly. Unless you’ve seen it it ain’t there? Infants.
BTW, I do not in any way wish to imply, nor do I infer, that the character Jacob is anywhere near as screwed up as the above. Maybe he is, given the drugs they have these days, but I think he’d probably be a zombie at the dosages required.
Hey Willis! Jacob Back-story! Flashback! Pronto presto!
And a side order of blaster hamsters!
It’s so sad that your friend got to the point but thank you for sharing this story. People just don’t understand how dangerous sex addiction can be, people can lose their families, their jobs, their health, their whole lives to this. It’s a very real thing.
Thank you for posting this. I’ve met sex addicts before through my work (hey, I’m a secretary in a hospital- I get to meet everyone) & it isn’t a pretty sight. It’s downright sad when you start to overhear how their addiction has literally ruined their lives & the lives of the people around them. When you hear about how someone can’t stop having sex with despite them not wanting to & passing STDs & losing work because of it, you can’t help but get taken aback by how horrible it is.
I think most people are thinking about sex addiction in playful terms. They hear people say “I’m a sex addict” all the time, when in reality they’re not & are far from being so. When they do hear about a sex addict they assume that the person is making it up so they have an excuse for their actions.
It is not an excuse. It is a very real thing. Yes, there are some people who are misdiagnosed or use the term lightly, but it does exist & you don’t have to look like a pervert or a leper to have it.
Considering that Jacob has a history of addictive behaviors, his claims of a sex addiction are probably very real. Addicts rarely stop at one addiction, especially since so many of those addictions overlap or start in an attempt to “help” cover up the awful experience of the primary addiction.
And Roz is a jerk. I bet she’s the same type of person who assumes that you can’t rape a man. (BTW, you totally can. My high school BFF’s friend got raped by her female cousin. The uncle walked in to find this guy in tears because this girl was doing stuff to him he didn’t want. Come to find out, she’d started out by threatening him, saying that if he’d told anyone she’d say he forced her. Luckily for him this was discovered during the act, before she could make good on any of her threats.)
“Sexual Addiction,” if you look it up, has a wide variety of symptoms. It seems that whatever experts there are in the study of human sexuality, they haven’t nailed a specific symtomology and cannot truly define it. It’s sort of a catch-all diagnosis. Essentially, one person’s normal sex life can be defined as “sexual adiction” by another.
The funny thing is, few people self diagnose with this condition. Mostly, it’s someone else who provides the diagnosis–usually, someone who has something to gain by pronouncing you “sick” in some way. In many ways, the existence of “sexual addiction” could be argued. It is odd that it seems to exist almost exclusively in the United States. This makes it a very specific disease … if “disease” it be.
It comes down to a simple, personal question: “Is this lifestyle hurting me?” If it isn’t, then ignore anyone who diagnoses you. They are more interested in helping themselves than you.
A bit rape-y, that. Clumsy as it was.
Ah, David. How your comics have people frothing at the mouth!
Okay, not debating whether or not sex addiction can be considered a real illness, what Roz is doing is wrong. She’s trying to force someone to do something they don’t want to. That’s sexual harassment for one thing.
Jacob clearly had some painful history in his life regarding sex. He feels that sex consumed his life and made it to where it he was hurting himself on an emotional and/or physical level.
Roz is belittling his feelings and attempting to force something on him, because she wants something from him. He’s obviously uncomfortable about it, and she won’t take no for an answer. She’s being what I’ve always felt she was. A selfish manipulative witch of a girl.
Addiction can be many things. Some more tangible than others. But that doesn’t mean Jacob’s feelings are wrong. Jacob isn’t using his addiction as an excuse for his actions. He says he’s an addict because he TRULY feels like he has one. He has a history of addictive behavior. Having someone belittle and insult his feelings… that’s not just rude. Its cruel to him.
Jacob seems like a good and sweet guy for the most part. He’s always come off as a guy who will admit his faults. The fact he’s actively avoiding sex, seems to me as a big sign saying “this isn’t an excuse.”
All good, except that Roz is not strong enough to force Jacob’s hand onto her tit. The reality of that, coupled with his vision of Amber clearly shows that he is not being coerced in any way. He’s fighting internal demons but I doubt a court in this nation would call this “sexual harrassment.” Jacob, whilst struggling, is not a victim here.
Maybe, maybe not. But trying to put a beer into a alcoholic’s mouth would, at the very least, be considered quite poor form.
So attempts are fine as long as you don’t complete the act? Yeah, no.
Okay, this one you’re completely wrong about. “Unwanted sexual touching,” such as grabbing someone’s and and putting it somewhere they don’t want it, is more or less the definition of sexual harassment — if they were working together.
However, what Roz is doing is more ordinary harassment, where a person just won’t leave another person alone. The female -> male aspect removes the violent threat inherent in our society, which makes it funny (or at least close enough to funny to make the Amber vision funny), but Roz is behaving very inappropriately.
Jacob said no, more than once. That should be the end of the conversation, if Roz had the decency to care about Jacob at all.
That right there? Is bull.
The thing about psychological issues is they’re psychological. It doesn’t matter if Jacob’s much stronger than Roz — he has issues surrounding this. He expressed his concern about those issues to her, she insulted those issues, and then she crossed a physical boundary directly related to those issues.
And, it’s also worth noting, immediately after the surprise wore off, Jacob yanked his hand away, yelled at her, and fled. And she started pursuing.
Whatever’s going on in this strip? It ain’t consent. And whether or not Roz is successful at coercing sex from Jacob, it is certainly an attempt to coerce sex from Jacob.
Let’s look at it this way:
A weak old man takes a woman’s hand. She is easily stronger than he is. He tries to push her hand on his crotch, yet she pulls her hand away before he can actually have her make contact with his genital region.
Isn’t that sexual harassment? Why is it that anytime something involves a man being forced to touch a woman in a sexual manner, people always try to downplay everything?
Unwanted sexual contact is unwanted sexual contact. You can try to argue that a person’s genitalia isn’t the same thing as a breast, but the intention is the same. Roz’s intention were sexually based. That doesn’t make it any less of a sexual harassment.
While the law might not call this sexual harassment, they WOULD call it sexual battery because it involved one person trying to force physical contact with another person. Just because Jacob is a man doesn’t mean that he can’t be a victim or that he can’t be taken by surprise or forcibly coerced.
But so far Roz is still in the grey area- a lawyer could say that because she told him her intentions beforehand, that he was aware of what she was going to do & could have ran off before she put his hand on her. However, if she continues to follow him & force herself on him, then it become sexual battery or assault.
I’m kind of hoping that the resolution of this storyline has Roz in jail for molesting Jacob.
Which would make our Robin’s life a living heck when the media catches wind of her having a sexual predator as a sibling.
Dude, sexual harassment is where someone gives you unwanted sexual attention. Jacob said no. And under the law, “no means no”.
He said no and if that’s enough for woman, then it should be for men as well. Both legally and morally.
Your comments are all good comments, especially this one. <3
Humph. I can play Roz’s defense attorney here. I’ll have to be the stenographer as well.
DA: Jacob, on the afternoon of August 17th, you claimed that my client sexually harassed you, is this correct?
J: Yes.
DA: Tell us what happened that day.
J: I was working at Shortpacked. Roz walked up to me and belittled my feelings. She tried to convince me to have sex with her. When I refused, she put my hand on her breast.
DA: Would you describe yourself in full command of your faculties that day? That is, you were not ill or overly tired or anything that might impair your judgment?
DA: You did not report to work ill or in a weakened state?
J: No.
DA: I see. Jacob, did Roz promise you that your position at Shortpacked would be in jeopardy if you didn’t capitulate?
J: No.
DA: Was there any indication that you might loose your salary?
J: No.
DA: Was there any indication that you might loose any part of your livelihood? For instance, were you or your friends at all threatened by Roz if you did not comply?
J: No.
DA: Did the opposite occur? Did Roz promise that you would benefit from this exchange? For instance, did she promise you a promotion or better salary if you complied with her request?
J: No.
DA: You say she “put your hand on her breast.” Did she incapacitate you?
J: No.
DA: You weren’t tied up?
J: No.
DA: Did she drug you? Was there some indication that you were coerced into placing your hand on her breast?
J: No, she grabbed my hand and put it there.
DA: Jacob, you seem a fit and strong man. Are you suggesting that my client, a rather thin and much smaller woman forced your hand?
J: Yes.
DA: You’ve already indicated that you suffered no ailments that might impair your judgment or strength. How do you account for her overpowering you that day?
J: I’m a sexual addict.
And here we can see the case closing, in favor of Roz. In order for a sexual harassment charge to be decided, coercion of some sort must be proved. It’s all too easy to demonstrate how Jacob wanted this instance to happen. Jacob could go to the boss and have Roz removed from the store, but he has no LEGAL recourse. And if he did that, Roz has a good chance of LEGALLY suing Jacob’s boss for removing her under different harrassment laws.
This is how our system of justice works, folks. Forget your fairy tale endings and all those things your parents lied to you about so you could sleep better. You are no longer being protected by your parents. You are in the real world now.
That’s still sexual harassment. Shit, in some places saying someone looks nice today is grounds for a harassment claim. Like it or not, that’s how it is.
Also I don’t like the implication here that if someone’s harassing you and you’re stronger but they still manage it then it’s your fault. That’s not okay.
This is The Internet. Victim-blaming is something of the tribe sport.
I would love for it to go that far and have the Deffense Attorney say exactly that.
I wouldn’t, because it would be out of character for Jacob. He’s not enough of a MORON to not answer that last question with something like “I didn’t realize what she was doing until it was too late,” which is probably true.
I like how everyone else is talking about morality and you’re saying “no, because a skilled defense attorney could get her off the hook.”
I think his point was more that ANY defense attorney could get her off the hook, because what she did wasn’t actually sexual harassment. She was being a total dick, yes, but unfortunately that’s not illegal.
Yes, this isn’t sexual harassment. It actually falls under sexual assault. She attempted to force Jacob to touch her sexually in a manner he was not comfortable with. Now, she’d never be convicted because no jury would convict a woman, but that’s a rant for another day.
Actually it has happened on occasion that a woman has been found guilty and forced to pay restitution to the man they harassed. It’s rare but it has happened.
A Defense Attorney might get Roz off, but they might not. Particularly since you’re arguing the WRONG laws.
Did Roz make unwanted sexual advancements on him. Yes.
Did he tell her “no”. Yes.
Did she try and force some kind of sexual action from him (i.e. unwanted touching). Yes.
Did he again say “no”. Yes.
What did she do after you said no? “She took my hand and made me touch her breast.”
Did you want to do that? “No.”
The fact you’re making a sexist opinion that she had to overpower him for sexual harrassment is laughable.
What you’re suggesting is sexual assault. That’s a completely different thing to what we’re talking about. Sexual Assault is where she had to forcefully restain him to sexually approach him.
What we’re talking is sexual harassment where she’s harassing (i.e. bothering) him in a sexual manner.
Don’t talk law if you don’t know which you’re talking about. And man it annoys me when people belittle men who are sexually harassed just because they’re bigger. That’s so sexist.
This affair is quickly approaching the heights of the Willis-Weidner Livejournal Mindjob of 2005…
Ok…..Kinda long
Anyone else thinking that Mike will (Consiously) try to hook Amber up with Jacob? If only as revenge for not being able to torment Amber’s mom with anything further than mere existance?
I mean Amber has some attraction to Jacob, Jacob sees Amber when groping Roz, and Mike hasn’t done anything truly mean-spirited in quite some time.
Y’know…all the earlier complaining about Roz…I disagreed. I kept quiet, but I disagreed.
NOW? Now I still don’t think anything she did before was worth the wailing and gnashing of teeth, but this is prime jerk, right here. Now she’s giving Robin a run for her money.
And doing a much better job of demonising casual sex than the concept of sex addiction ever could.
Hey, just do Robin, fantasize she’s Amber, win win for everybody.
You tell it as it is, Williiiiiisssssssss!
I’m going to throw in as one who does not hate Roz. She is openly and deliberately manipulative, but she clearly doesn’t ever want to hurt people by doing so – she manipulates toward *everyone’s* good, including but not exclusively her own.
This current situation? She really *doesn’t* believe in sex addiction, and having discovered (without much warning?) that he thinks he has it, she’s switched to ‘jog him back to reality’ mode. Of course, as she is apparently wrong about his sex addiction, this is doomed to backfire, but it’s not like she’s doing this for evil purposes, or even for her own selfishness.
I mean, seriously people. Last panel? Didn’t anybody even *see* the last panel?
I completely disagree. Roz is entirely doing this out of her own selfishness. She is doing this explicitly because she’s bored and wants to have sex with Jacob. Jacob refusing means Roz doesn’t get what she wants, so Roz shifts mode to get what she wants.
There’s really no credible way to spin this as altruistic on Roz’s part. She wants the sexxors. At the very best, she assumes Jacob’s just playacting. At the worst, she doesn’t care what Jacob wants. Either way, it’s essentially selfish.
Now try reading the comic’s last panel. You don’t do your least favorite roleplay just for casual sex – you give up first. It’s not like Jacob is the only fish in the sea after all.
She’s not. She’s complaining because the object of her desire is — to her mind — indulging in her least-favorite roleplay.
In other words, she still doesn’t accept anything Jacob says. She wants to have sex with him. Ergo, he wants to have sex with her, and anything he says or does is just an extended sex-game of some sort.
As for “other fish in the sea,” you’re missing the key component. Roz doesn’t accept ‘no,’ from anyone. It’s just not in her universe. She is, at core, extremely selfish, and so what she wants is obviously what will happen. She’s not going to drop the issue and find someone else — she wants Jacob. And therefore this is what’s going to happen. He doesn’t get a say in that matter, because deep down this is what he wants too.
There isn’t any evidence that Roz is out for “everyone’s good,” and trying to bend things in that direction results in back misalignment and a vague sense of constipation. Roz is absolutely confident in and absolutely certain about her view of the universe, and any evidence she is wrong is at best misguided and at worse an attempt to spice things up.
I don’t think she’s evil, by the by. I don’t think she wants to hurt anyone. I don’t think she can imagine she is. In the end, other people are a means to an end — the end being ‘whatever Roz wants.’ Hot makeouts, in this case. A place to crash, in the case of the house.
People have compared her to Robin, and that’s fair. Robin has the same sense of blindness when it comes to other people and their wants. Robin has shown growth in those areas, though — that being that ‘character development’ that’s all the rage. Roz is a new character, comparatively speaking — she’s at the start of whatever she’s going to develop into. And right now, she’s conflict on a plate, all stemming back to her intensely self-centered view of the universe.
It’s a good direction for the strip, and will lead, IMO, to many funny times. But there’s no real way to claim she’s altruistic here at the start. She’s not. She is the bringer of the storm. It is her role. It is… her destiny.
Also, Leslie’s going to totally throw her out a window.
“He doesn’t get a say in that matter, because deep down this is what he wants too.”
In her mind, I mean. That was unclearly phrased.
It doesn’t matter what her intent is. She’s still wrong.
What she’s trying to do is like being a missionary. She is bringing new ideas to someone new. Her job is to go into the jungles of jacob and tell him about the glories of sex. Innuendo NOT intended.
When a missionary comes to my door, (I live near an LDS Church. I get those ALOT!) I say: “No, thank you.”–like Jacob.
At that point, any response other than; “Okay. See you later. I’m here if you change your mind and want to be enlightened by the GLOOOOORIES of____”; is disgusting from a moral and ethical standpoint.
I’m not sure what’s more entertaining about this arc, the comic itself (which is always at least funny if not intriguing) or the comments.
Go Willis!
You sohlud have been here when Joyce was still very much a religious shut-in. The forums reached a fever pitch on many a day.
Sadly, I joined this party a few years too late and didn’t feel like goin’ through too much of the backlogged stuff.
All in interesting fun though, right?
((And by backlogged stuff, I meant the comments not the comic. God, I’ve read this and all his other stuff like two times outta boredom!))
The comments, by a big margin.
Stirred up the hornets nest, that is the interwebz!
Seriously! Willis, Did you know this was going to become such a social issue or controversy when you wrote the comic or is this just an odd consequence from the readers. I’m intrigued.
Keep it coming!
Someone likes Amber.
I do as well personally. A lot better than Roz thats for sure. Nothing wrong with Roz but she really too damn open for me. It’s fun at first but after a while it’ll be like the Nintendo Wii. it’ll get boring
I feel like they’re both in the wrong. Jacob is pulling a different variation of the ‘Joyce’ syndrome from the early days, in my opinion.
Roz could very well become an important character if she and Jacob interact enough, since they could both learn lessons from each other. Roz, responsibility and control- Jacob, knowing your limits and when you should stop, and not being afraid of things he doesn’t want to confront.
Just my 2 cents.
Man I can sympathize with her. Everything she’s saying is completely true, but she’s ignorant of the fact that the REAL kind exists..
And now we see exactly why Roz was laughing in the previous strip. And as much as I enjoyed playing Devil’s Advocate for her yesterday… I can’t do that now. Forcing someone who has flat out said ‘no’ to touch you in a sexual manner? That goes across that line.
Obviously, she has her own kind’ve moral reasons, namely attempting to defend sex as a recreational pastime, but it’s not a strong enough reason to dismiss her actions.
Although I would like to point out that Jacob’s refusal to debate the issue wasn’t helpful. Again, I’m not defending Roz’s actions beyond that point, but Jacob could’ve handled the situation better too.
This comic should just be called ‘Everybody Loves Amber.’
Thats because Everybody DOES love Amber. Even the readers of this web comic.
I’ve just had a (Not improbable) thought. What if Roz’s dad has tried pulling the sex addict card before? As Robin has previously revealed, their dad was a womanising jerk who broke their mother’s heart repeatedly. It’s reasonable that he claimed sex addiction when he was simply unfaithful, hence Roz’s view on Sex addiction seeming a little less unreasonable.
Perhaps if someone were to explain Jacob’s addictive personality to her she might be a bit more understanding, but since few people know of Jacob’s addictive personality, and those who do have sworn to secrecy, it’s likely that Roz will begin to come off as a bit of a b*t*h until that happens.
I like that idea, it would make a lot of sense. She just need shit explained and she might get it.
I like that idea too. It would be a great start for character development.
While I do see where people come off hating Roz, I can sympathize somewhat because I have a friend like that. Meaning well, just ignorant and tactless. Doesn’t make it any less wrong though.
I personally think Roz was held captive by Franklin Mott, the vampyre, and now is scared of the world.
So you know how he has an addictive personality? Maybe Jacob is addicted to our little glasses wearing cutie, Amber
Remember when I said most of the sex in this comic was rapey?
I was going to comment that at first, I couldn’t work out why Roz was grinning in the last panel, and then realised that white hemicircle on her face was the reflection from her glasses, and then I scrolled down the page. There’s far more important and interesting comments on here for people to be reading…
I’m sorry for wasting your time, Internet!
I would like to see a realistic portrait of Amber, and a realistic portrait of this guy. Because the Amber in my head is kind of a dumpy nerd, and this guy is like the Old Spice guy. Not what you’d call a believable couple.
I originally read the final panel as “Evangelion is my least favorite roleplay.”
It’s interesting to compare this Roz to the Dumbing of Age version, who I believe would respect Jacobs issues, and not force herself on him.