Thinking about this page a little more, I’ve got to say the implication’s a bit creepy, since it renders the idea of consent to be virtually meaningless. How many people end up saying “yes” not because they genuinely want to have sex, but because they are afraid the other person will run to the cops if they say “no.”
It’s creepy as hell, and it made me very uncomfortable, honestly, but yes, it is confined to central park. Outside is very much a consent-only area. I considered omitting this page, but I kept it for what it establishes about the universe, that though it might seem cool to have a place where everyone consents, it’s really quite sinister. Then I put in the gag for the nervous laugh after you see how nutty that is, so you don’t recoil too much.
Plus I like the idea of turning the “She won’t put out! Get her!” social target on some guys for a change to see what comes out of it.
Yah…in a rape-free zone, “consent” is a null concept.
Go back to panel 181: the billboard. “Do it for them. Do it for us.” That tells me: they NEED babies. It doesn’t say why; it just says they do. It could be innocuous; there’s some weird malady that hits around puberty, and kills 50% of the people. It could be very gruesome; if you watched Babylon 5, one of the great episodes was Deathwreaker. The gist: a master biologist has developed a serum to extend lifespan *indefinitely*. The cost? Its key component can only be extracted from the brain…so every life extended, is a life terminated. The solution? Perhaps babies can’t provide *as* much…but that just says, make lots of them……
Yes and no, in the same sense that an old woman’s victory garden that doesn’t even produce enough food for one meal in WW2 still helped the war effort in spirit, if that makes sense.
Plus, I’d imagine in a populace that has sex constantly, new things and “deviant” (quotes VERY intentional, and connoting our social morays I disagree with) sexual behavior would be much less stigmatized, as I see it, because it’s still someone having sex.
We see two guys making out a few pages out, and gals here, and no one is really any the more upset by it, as I see it.
I thought of that, but that could go both ways…if you’ll pardon the pun. It’s probably easiest, if you need to create an environment with extensive sexuality, to just promote having sex. OK, so there’s some non-productive activity, but not that much. By comparison, “everyone have sex PLEASE!” just doesn’t mix with “oh, but not you boys, not together anyway.” As a propagandist, I think the second message would *seriously* impede absorption of the main message.
Exactly. I see it like the way Rosie the Riveter suddenly made “Hey, dames don’t woik!” into “Well, it helps the war effort, and the boys are away, needs must.”
And, more to the point, we all benefited from that more enlightened attitude. Well, except the Nazis. But screw those guys!
So since this universe apparently needs babies so much and OTHER universes have a crap load of kids that need loving homes…can the Charlie group set up a portal between them and an orphanage or something?
I was thinking the laws are different for men than for women here, also. They’d have to be.
Also, since the laws are based on natalism, abortion and male homosexuality are outlawed. Female homosexuality permitted in the presence of men.
This may be sex-positive paradise but it isn’t liberal.
I will admit that I didn’t write down my theories of the law outside of the context of the story here, but I would also note that I see no reason abortion and either brand of homosexuality would be outlawed. Example, say, if there is an exception in the law where if you are homosexual, you’re excused from the social stigma, and it’s expected socially that folks would self-identify to avoid social obligation to try and procreate,, etc.
The way I envisioned it, honestly, was a functional society with weird morals to us, not a forced sex police state.
I think abortion would still be a right here, just highly stigmatized. Even with the human world ending, the right to female bodily autonomy and the right to terminate a pregnancy would be hard to argue against, just as it is here.
It’d just be like rolling coal now — legal, but working against society in so gross a way, the social stigma would be oppressive.
But either way, I wrote it in part so those questions could be asked, too, and considered. 🙂
LOLOLOLOLOLOL!
Now to collect Hank and the Nerd…
Oh, just you wait. 🙂 Another of my favorite pages ever coming up!
HAHAHAHA!!!!! This is the funniest page so far.
Thinking about this page a little more, I’ve got to say the implication’s a bit creepy, since it renders the idea of consent to be virtually meaningless. How many people end up saying “yes” not because they genuinely want to have sex, but because they are afraid the other person will run to the cops if they say “no.”
I think that’s more because they were in the rape-free zone than anything else. Hence the name.
Also, “Women scorned! Run!” Has to be the best fleeing shout ever.
It’s creepy as hell, and it made me very uncomfortable, honestly, but yes, it is confined to central park. Outside is very much a consent-only area. I considered omitting this page, but I kept it for what it establishes about the universe, that though it might seem cool to have a place where everyone consents, it’s really quite sinister. Then I put in the gag for the nervous laugh after you see how nutty that is, so you don’t recoil too much.
Plus I like the idea of turning the “She won’t put out! Get her!” social target on some guys for a change to see what comes out of it.
Yah…in a rape-free zone, “consent” is a null concept.
Go back to panel 181: the billboard. “Do it for them. Do it for us.” That tells me: they NEED babies. It doesn’t say why; it just says they do. It could be innocuous; there’s some weird malady that hits around puberty, and kills 50% of the people. It could be very gruesome; if you watched Babylon 5, one of the great episodes was Deathwreaker. The gist: a master biologist has developed a serum to extend lifespan *indefinitely*. The cost? Its key component can only be extracted from the brain…so every life extended, is a life terminated. The solution? Perhaps babies can’t provide *as* much…but that just says, make lots of them……
In light of that last panel (and with the qualifier that I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM WITH IT MYSELF.)..
If the problem on this world is depopulation, would a coupling that CAN’T produce any offspring not be considered tantamount to celibacy?
Yes and no, in the same sense that an old woman’s victory garden that doesn’t even produce enough food for one meal in WW2 still helped the war effort in spirit, if that makes sense.
Plus, I’d imagine in a populace that has sex constantly, new things and “deviant” (quotes VERY intentional, and connoting our social morays I disagree with) sexual behavior would be much less stigmatized, as I see it, because it’s still someone having sex.
We see two guys making out a few pages out, and gals here, and no one is really any the more upset by it, as I see it.
I thought of that, but that could go both ways…if you’ll pardon the pun. It’s probably easiest, if you need to create an environment with extensive sexuality, to just promote having sex. OK, so there’s some non-productive activity, but not that much. By comparison, “everyone have sex PLEASE!” just doesn’t mix with “oh, but not you boys, not together anyway.” As a propagandist, I think the second message would *seriously* impede absorption of the main message.
Exactly. I see it like the way Rosie the Riveter suddenly made “Hey, dames don’t woik!” into “Well, it helps the war effort, and the boys are away, needs must.”
And, more to the point, we all benefited from that more enlightened attitude. Well, except the Nazis. But screw those guys!
Cops are cops no matter what universe, huh? LOL
So since this universe apparently needs babies so much and OTHER universes have a crap load of kids that need loving homes…can the Charlie group set up a portal between them and an orphanage or something?
The last two tags on this page sound like they could be the title of a video you can’t rent at Blockbuster.
I was thinking the laws are different for men than for women here, also. They’d have to be.
Also, since the laws are based on natalism, abortion and male homosexuality are outlawed. Female homosexuality permitted in the presence of men.
This may be sex-positive paradise but it isn’t liberal.
I will admit that I didn’t write down my theories of the law outside of the context of the story here, but I would also note that I see no reason abortion and either brand of homosexuality would be outlawed. Example, say, if there is an exception in the law where if you are homosexual, you’re excused from the social stigma, and it’s expected socially that folks would self-identify to avoid social obligation to try and procreate,, etc.
The way I envisioned it, honestly, was a functional society with weird morals to us, not a forced sex police state.
I think abortion would still be a right here, just highly stigmatized. Even with the human world ending, the right to female bodily autonomy and the right to terminate a pregnancy would be hard to argue against, just as it is here.
It’d just be like rolling coal now — legal, but working against society in so gross a way, the social stigma would be oppressive.
But either way, I wrote it in part so those questions could be asked, too, and considered. 🙂