Sandra and Woo

Today, Sandra And Woo celebrates its 5th anniversary! The first strip was published exactly five years ago, on 19 October 2008. In my news post, which you can find below the drawing of Woo’s unusual birthday cake, I take a look back at the beginning of Sandra And Woo.

I'm kind of enjoying Larisa's pragmatic approach on Zoey coming out.

I have to say, I'm not really liking Larisa in this arc. She's trying to be friendly, but she's coming across a little mean-spirited and homophobic. Zoey just admitted to being gay. That's a pretty big deal. She admitted to something that she feels ashamed of. And Larisa's response has been to not just make light of it, but to make it seem like something Zoey should feel embarrassed about. Sexuality is not a quirk. It is not remotely like taking a sandwich apart to eat each ingredient separately. That's the kind of thing you joke about being embarrassed about.

But sexuality's not like that. No one should ever feel ashamed or embarrassed about who they are as a person. At this point, Larisa is telling Zoey that, yeah, she should probably be a bit embarrassed about it, and should probably keep it mostly a secret. That's the exact opposite attitude that should be taken. Zoey should be proud of who she is, and she shouldn't feel any particular need to hide it.

Ordinarily, Larisa's charmingly roguish. Here, she's just coming across as bigoted. And right now, it makes me like her less. My hope is that we see that Larisa's attitude is wrong, and that she does grow up a bit and realize that there is absolutely nothing weird about being gay. I think it's important, at this point, that it is made clear that Larisa is wrong.

Eh, I take it more in that this is how she interacts. And she doesn't see being weird as strange, so for her, this is expressing support. As for whether it is something that you have to be careful in hiding... well, that all gets into where you live and how they deal with things. There are cities where admitting to homosexuality, being a furry, being a Democrat, collecting Hummel figures, etc will get you branded as someone who's not all there. Given the other shenanigans that have occurred in town, I suspect they've got a substantial closed-mind contingent. Yes, eventually someone needs to take a stand and indicate that it's no issue, but is it the place of the grade-schooler to have to do that? In an environment where, even today, people get bullied into suicide for not liking the right bands?

Also, to that point - they're in their early teens...coming out of the closet, especially for one of the "popular kids", could lead to some seriously negative consequences peer group-wise.

The thing is, "You're weird but that's OK" is still saying that being gay is weird. It's still a terrible thing to say. It's not really showing support. Zoey tried to argue that being gay wasn't weird, but Larissa immediately turned it around to insist that, yes, Zoey is weird. Bringing up other weird stuff that Zoey does is just reinforcing the idea that Zoey being gay is weird, and it's going to make Zoey feel a lot more self-conscious about it. If someone suggested that Sandra's feelings for Cloud were weird, Larissa would go apeshit on them. But here she is, telling Zoey that she's weird based on who she likes.

I get that she's a kid and that kids aren't known for mature responses to surprises. And I get that Larissa's responses tend to be unusual in general. But I'm still annoyed at how Larissa's reacting to this, and how she keeps pushing the idea that being gay is something weird.

If Zoey decides to keep her sexuality a secret because she knows it'll cause a lot of problems if she's open about it, then fine, that's probably a smart thing to do, and nothing to be ashamed of. But if she's hiding it because she feels embarrassed, that's wrong. She shouldn't feel embarrassed or ashamed of who she is, and Larissa is telling her she should.

That's my problem with how Larissa's behaving. I want Zoey to be shown more support, and I want Larissa to learn that being gay is not weird, and should not be treated as a weird quirk.

Ah. One of those cases where the dissatisfaction is that the fictional world isn't better than the real world. I see.

I think I'd be annoyed at a real kid acting the same way. Beyond that, though . . . this is already a pretty idealized story, most of the time. Even what we're getting is kind of idealized as it is. And it's all being sandwiched in between all sorts of cartoonish wackiness. This arc started with a teacher swordfighting with a student, and then the pair teaming up to fight flying hearts, and now Larissa's digging into Hammerspace for a sign that says has an unusually specific message on it. So this clearly isn't the real world.

And, of course, creators should always be careful to avoid Unfortunate Implications. When you're saying that it's OK to be Takei . . . erm, I mean gay, you don't want people coming away with the submessage that it's still pretty weird.

But mostly, I meant what I said at the start: I don't like how Larissa is treating Zoey's lesbianism. Whether Larissa's reaction is understandable doesn't mean it's right, and I'd like for it to be shown that Larissa's reaction, while coming from the right place, was wrong.

Homosexuality is at its core just a taste, or preference. I say this because honestly you can't explain why you find the same sex appealing in more than you can on why you like a certain food, in the end you just do.

Now with that in mind lets look at the word "weird" which is basically means something different from the norm. I would be weird if in a group of people I was the only one who liked broccoli and peas. As such since Homosexuality does not accure in the majority that would make it wierd.

Now the real problem here is that everyone is weird in someway, but its still scene as mostly an insult so when you call homosexuality weird it can cause offence, but it shouldn't cause we all are weird. Embrace your so when some asks why you like something you can proudly proclaim "I'm just weird that way"

That error message

That was pretty good lol.

I just found this comic a week or two ago from an ad on 1d4chan and I just finished archive binging it. I love it!

Welp, I just Archive Binged the entire comic. It's pretty good. Feels rather like a middle-school, PG-13 take on Calvin and Hobbes.

Bear in mind, Larissa has a really strange view on reality. From everything in the comic, it's kind of clear that Larissa barely understands how other people tick beyond knowing how to wind them up, so it came off to me as Larissa not condemning Zoey, but instead saying that she literally doesn't understand why Zoey is attracted to girls, while not saying it's wrong.

EDIT: My mistake.

edited 28th Apr '14 9:30:04 PM by Zendervai

I think you need four arrows, not three.

Awkwarrrrrrrd...

Blah. This strip loses me when it's not A Girl and Her Raccoon.

Well now THAT was simply uncalled for.

This sounds like a fatal mistake for me. Such destruction of art might make her an enemy of Larisa's dad.

And regardless, of course, she realizes, this means war.

edited 12th Jun '14 3:45:56 AM by Medinoc

Can't link because I'm a 'new member', but Michelle comes to save the day in the newest strip! Also more yuri subtext.

edited 20th Jun '14 1:21:12 AM by Assassin-sensei

That's remarkable of her, though before calling it "genius" I'm waiting to see whether it works, or backfires by making Harriet tighten her grip on him.

Good point. She might try to set him up with some nice but uninterested uninteresting nice girl.

Okay, now I can say, that was genius.

I don't get it.

This explains it pretty well.

Link's broken.