No, but a skilled seductress will probably have to thoroughly know the range of expectations on the other end to play them properly. Innocence in the sense of naivety tends to be very, very bad at deliberately manipulating the shady by shady methods.
That’s a legitimate point but let’s remember several things:
1. Ginny’s a Spark. One who was recognized by both Dave and Titus as being similar in personality to Helen. Which means that one might not want to judge by the chipper personality that she normally keeps in play to reassure the people around her. With this in mind it may be a good thing for Tiger Lily that her reaction to Imogene’s apparent naivety is to be protective rather than exploitive of her. I would be amused rather than surprised at Tiger Lily finding out that she was wrong as to just who was protecting who.
2. In spite of his killing Jonah Yu in several timelines Mr. Bravo doesn’t strike me as shady so much as earnest and out of his depth. I suspect that he might be the naïve one. I also wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a milkshake date would be his idea of a good time and that the only thing he would want more on a first date might be a modest kiss on the cheek (“Want” and “expect” being two different words!).
3. Returning to point 1: Imogene may have been naïve at the age of 15. She’s now 25. Which means that she’s lived in our time for 10 years with a Spark’s level of intellect and powers of observation. And I note with interest that her mode of speech is actually quite different from when she first appeared in Narbon. If she comes across as a 1950s teenybopper it’s probably a combination or choice and comfortable habit rather than because she doesn’t understand our time.
Final point of interest: If 1950s girls didn’t understand the whys, hows and whens of sex how likely is it that they would have a better birth rate than we do today? The Baby Boom started in the 1940s but it continued all the way through the 50s and into the 1960s. It’s hardly likely hat this would have been the case if the things associated with reproduction didn’t happen with a fair amount of frequency. ^_~.
Couple things:
1) You keep using the word “Spark”. That’s fine and all, but you should remember that the two works are not linked, and their different flavors of mad scientists, while somewhat similar, work in different ways.
2) The moment you’re referencing is this strip. Sure, they were displaying a similar amount of enthusiasm about the things in the convention, but that doesn’t mean that they’re identical, or even that Ginny’s chipper exterior is a front like Helen’s.
3) As I read it, the change in her speech pattern in this strip in particular as intentional, and should not be taken as normal for her.
4) The usual assumption is that in the ’50s, young girls were expected to know those things after they got married.
“Geniuses and supergeniuses always make their own rules on sex as on everything else; they do not accept the monkey customs of their lesser.” –Robert Heinlein, Friday
I’m sure Imogene knows about those parts … she got an “A” in Health class.
(TUNE: “Shall We Dance” from The King And I, Rodgers and Hammerstein)
In my pants,
There are parts that I know the function of!
In my pants,
There lies hidden the Mystery of Love!
For a chance
To escape, now that push has come to shove …
All my wiles I’ll be using!
That new guard I’ll be seducing
At the next Sadie Hawkins dance!
But he’ll soon be regretting
Naughty thoughts if he tries getting
In my pants!
Not a chance!
In my pants!
1950s health class. She sometimes has disturbing dreams about discreetly blanked out “pubic regions”.
(If I were a guard, I’d totally be open to chocolate malt seduction.)
Besides – eroticism is a state of mind. And more or less culturally defined. Often by what is forbidden sights or behaviors within the public view.
Once upon a time within the western world it was scandalous to have a woman’s ankles exposed. I remember reading about Victorian era England – even married couples rarely saw each other completely unclothed. And in the modern era – having lived in Florida near the beach – you get desensitized after a while to people wandering around in next to nothing swimwear.
Whereas I’m The Stormlight Archives, due to a really odd conservative religion its women’s left hands. Gloves are skinny jeans and fingerless gloves? Ye gods…
I thought you’d use “Anything Goes” by Cole Porter
Times have changed
And we’ve often rewound the clock
Since the Puritans got a shock
When they landed on Plymouth Rock
If today, any shock they should try to stand
Steada’ landing on Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock would land on them
In olden days a glimpse of stockings
Was looked on as something shocking
Now heaven knows
Anything goes
Everyone’s closets were linked via the anxiety network. Though the person who had the most trouble was Binkley: not only did he have the spotted purple snorklewacker, he kept on getting the anxieties from the president due to beurocratic messups. Norma the Nuke and Fidel ‘The Kid’ Castro have to be seen to be believed.
Huh. I hadn’t noticed, but the filename story hasn’t been in the URLs this week, though it’s still in the image filenames themselves. Wanted to make linking easier?
Heh. Tiger Lily has now reminded me of the old Robert Heinlein line: “Every generation thinks that it is the one that invented sex”! 😛
The fellow is quite quotable isn’t he.
He also is quoted as “Everything is theoretically impossible, until it is done.” So maybe she won’t need her genitals.
A skilled seductress shouldn’t need to bring the big guns into play to get men to do what she wants.
No, but a skilled seductress will probably have to thoroughly know the range of expectations on the other end to play them properly. Innocence in the sense of naivety tends to be very, very bad at deliberately manipulating the shady by shady methods.
That’s a legitimate point but let’s remember several things:
1. Ginny’s a Spark. One who was recognized by both Dave and Titus as being similar in personality to Helen. Which means that one might not want to judge by the chipper personality that she normally keeps in play to reassure the people around her. With this in mind it may be a good thing for Tiger Lily that her reaction to Imogene’s apparent naivety is to be protective rather than exploitive of her. I would be amused rather than surprised at Tiger Lily finding out that she was wrong as to just who was protecting who.
2. In spite of his killing Jonah Yu in several timelines Mr. Bravo doesn’t strike me as shady so much as earnest and out of his depth. I suspect that he might be the naïve one. I also wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a milkshake date would be his idea of a good time and that the only thing he would want more on a first date might be a modest kiss on the cheek (“Want” and “expect” being two different words!).
3. Returning to point 1: Imogene may have been naïve at the age of 15. She’s now 25. Which means that she’s lived in our time for 10 years with a Spark’s level of intellect and powers of observation. And I note with interest that her mode of speech is actually quite different from when she first appeared in Narbon. If she comes across as a 1950s teenybopper it’s probably a combination or choice and comfortable habit rather than because she doesn’t understand our time.
Final point of interest: If 1950s girls didn’t understand the whys, hows and whens of sex how likely is it that they would have a better birth rate than we do today? The Baby Boom started in the 1940s but it continued all the way through the 50s and into the 1960s. It’s hardly likely hat this would have been the case if the things associated with reproduction didn’t happen with a fair amount of frequency. ^_~.
Couple things:
1) You keep using the word “Spark”. That’s fine and all, but you should remember that the two works are not linked, and their different flavors of mad scientists, while somewhat similar, work in different ways.
2) The moment you’re referencing is this strip. Sure, they were displaying a similar amount of enthusiasm about the things in the convention, but that doesn’t mean that they’re identical, or even that Ginny’s chipper exterior is a front like Helen’s.
3) As I read it, the change in her speech pattern in this strip in particular as intentional, and should not be taken as normal for her.
4) The usual assumption is that in the ’50s, young girls were expected to know those things after they got married.
“Geniuses and supergeniuses always make their own rules on sex as on everything else; they do not accept the monkey customs of their lesser.” –Robert Heinlein, Friday
Are they playing “Mystery Date”? Who’s behind the door, the Dreamboat or the Dud?
They’re playing Mystery Date! Nice touch, Shaenon!
I’m sure Imogene knows about those parts … she got an “A” in Health class.
(TUNE: “Shall We Dance” from The King And I, Rodgers and Hammerstein)
In my pants,
There are parts that I know the function of!
In my pants,
There lies hidden the Mystery of Love!
For a chance
To escape, now that push has come to shove …
All my wiles I’ll be using!
That new guard I’ll be seducing
At the next Sadie Hawkins dance!
But he’ll soon be regretting
Naughty thoughts if he tries getting
In my pants!
Not a chance!
In my pants!
1950s health class. She sometimes has disturbing dreams about discreetly blanked out “pubic regions”.
(If I were a guard, I’d totally be open to chocolate malt seduction.)
Besides – eroticism is a state of mind. And more or less culturally defined. Often by what is forbidden sights or behaviors within the public view.
Once upon a time within the western world it was scandalous to have a woman’s ankles exposed. I remember reading about Victorian era England – even married couples rarely saw each other completely unclothed. And in the modern era – having lived in Florida near the beach – you get desensitized after a while to people wandering around in next to nothing swimwear.
Whereas I’m The Stormlight Archives, due to a really odd conservative religion its women’s left hands. Gloves are skinny jeans and fingerless gloves? Ye gods…
Seriously, quite, you tipped me over to start with that series. Being a (male) lefty 🙂
I’m more of a freckles guy, usually.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I sure as hell can be seduced that way.
I thought you’d use “Anything Goes” by Cole Porter
Times have changed
And we’ve often rewound the clock
Since the Puritans got a shock
When they landed on Plymouth Rock
If today, any shock they should try to stand
Steada’ landing on Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock would land on them
In olden days a glimpse of stockings
Was looked on as something shocking
Now heaven knows
Anything goes
Imogene Frog is walking example of the different meanings of the word “innocent”.
Build an atomic bomb out of old watches and discarded tin cans? No problem.
Set it off near a populated area to power another scientist’s device? Sure!
Seduce a guard so you can get the parts for all of this? No touching, and we just have a chocolate malt on the first date.
I can see building a reactor out of the radium on old watches, but a a bomb?
How about a wormhole device out of coat hangers?
Hey, Oliver Wendel Jones could do it. Though as I recall it DID get him grounded even though he left the safety on.
Didn’t he have a closet linked with Opus’s?
Everyone’s closets were linked via the anxiety network. Though the person who had the most trouble was Binkley: not only did he have the spotted purple snorklewacker, he kept on getting the anxieties from the president due to beurocratic messups. Norma the Nuke and Fidel ‘The Kid’ Castro have to be seen to be believed.
Which one of the two of them *would* Echo Bravo prefer?
Huh. I hadn’t noticed, but the filename story hasn’t been in the URLs this week, though it’s still in the image filenames themselves. Wanted to make linking easier?