February 26, 2013 - As I mentioned Friday, Star's actions technically constitute sexual assault, but here Val does not make a big deal about the advance. The intention here is not to say sexual assault is not a big deal (it is a big deal), and I hope no one interprets that way. Rather I wanted to show an example of someone rejecting such an advance and the other party accepting that reaction instead of remaining persistent. Ultimately this is all that should need to be necessary to deter unwanted sexual contact (though unfortunately it doesn't work out this way).
Meanwhile, last night when I posted the comic the Oscars were still going on and as I don't follow the Onion on Twitter I wasn't aware of the horrible word they used to describe an actress. I had some concerns over some of the ceremony's humor overall, though it was interesting to note that many of Seth MacFarland's jokes didn't actually say anything that crossed the line just made associations between things that could be inferred in indicate an inappropriate relationship between the parties involved, including a reference to a relationship between producers, co-eds, and alcohol as well as a reference to a potential relationship between George Clooney and Quvenzhané: Wallis. Notice that he didn't actually say anything in either of these incidents directly indicating anything inappropriate but allowed us as an audience to infer the implication (meanwhile he also sang the "we saw your boobs" song, so i'm not completely defending him). The onion was much more blunt using one of two words I've completely banned from usage in the comic (the other being a five letter word that begins with a "b"). Frankly I feel the words I have banned have no place in modern society as they're nothing but derogatory and misogynist. There's really no reason to use them ever as something else will always convey one's point better. And I think while attitudes regarding the offensive qualities of words like "shit" and "fuck" have significantly relaxed, attitudes regarding these words I won't use in my mind have begun trending in the opposite direction. There are probably a couple other words I intend to not use. Two six letter words, each with two g's in the middle and one starting with an "n" and the other with an "f" (as well as a shortened form of the word) spring to mind. But those words do have historical context of once being acceptable parts of speech while the c word to my knowledge has never been acceptable and the b word has been an insult since the 15th century. I don't have much use for the n or f words, but I have seen some interesting discussions of their historical contexts that make me hesistant to outright ban them (such as
Huckleberry Finn and this edit of the text or the South Park episode, "The F Word" talking about the use of the f word), though I would try to make sure any use of them would be extremely sensitive of the negative connotation they embody.
More directly related to abortion rights.
New York is trying to make abortion services as accessable as possible within state lines, demonstrating the wide political differences on the issue throughout the country where many of Governor Cuomo's policies would never be considered in many other states.
-D