Gabby's Playhouse: Discussing Sexism on the Internet

[mad]

So, recently Kate Beaton made some comments on Twitter about how sometimes guys that like her work will respond with comments she finds creepy/uncomfortable/offensive.

Gabby's Playhouse then did a webcomic entitled "How Every Single Discussion About Sexism and Woman-Type Stuff on the Internet (and real life) Has Ever Happened And Ever Will Happen, Always, Forever, Until the Earth Finally Falls Into The Sun. (Or until the patriarchy is finally dismantled.)"




[Source.]

I don't quite get that last panel, but the rest of it is kinda recognizable.

Comments

[greenmask]

It doesn't automatically spring to my mind every time I read it, either, because I (like many internet users who enjoy catchy phrases) understand the intent - "I think you're great and I want to express it SO MUCH". But if you or I actually look at what's being said, in words, and compare that to the sentiment being expressed..

There's really no reason why another phrase can't be used, because the language of this one is sexist and clearly makes some creators uncomfortable in other ways, too.

[merseybeatler]

The vibe I've always had from 'I want to have X's babies' was not so much subserviance, more 'I want to ensure that your brillaint genetics are multiplied because there need to be more people like you'. Or maybe I'm naive. I dunno.

[greenmask]

There's certainly that kind of feeling involved, I'm sure, but it's always squicked me a little that they always say "I want to have your babies". That's a female-coded sentence - "having a baby" = "giving birth through a vagina or stomach incision". On sitcoms, when a man says "I'm having a baby!!!" people are all, lol, but you're a dude. If they say WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!! then the man will reconsider, all, "well, no, OK, my wife is having a baby. I just helped put it in there".

I've rarely heard "I want you to have my babies", because that would be too obviously an invasion of mental-physical privacy and would be totally creepy. If it's OK if the fan is the one 'having the babies', then it's somehow colloquially seen as less creepy.. which implies that as long as the powerful party isn't the one doing the childcarrying it's ok, because subservient partners are naturally baby-carriers.

It's a twisty little phrase.. which is why I am totally on board with having it removed from general parlance.