791 Her Answer To Everything.

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I should have let you guy write this one for me. You’ve all but touched on every point these two are going to bring up. I haven’t seen the main one yet though. Maybe some enlightened soul will come up with it.

In any case it’s pretty amusing to see how nerd discussions tend to evolve in the same way every time. I’m sure it must be that way for sport debates as well, I just can’t sort them out since I have no basis for comparison. In any discussion the most obvious points are going to be trotted out first, so I guess that must be the underlying cause for the sameness.

Knowing Thomas, he’s probably not all that disturbed, or maybe he’s playing it up a bit because he’s expressing his ideas openly, but whatever the case the real point is to see other people’s reactions. Data collection. Learning how various people react to the same situation, question, or what have you.

40 Comments

HOLY CRAP!?

I forgot vader built 3po…

Why can’t he just be a robot with a tender side? “Might I honor master with a kiss on the forehead?”

You could argue that:
1. He was built by a child from inferior parts (course, then you’d be a dick)
2. He was always going to be gay no matter who built him regardless of parts or modifications; his gay is in his robot soul…
or 3. He’s not gay, he’s just British.
If he were a toaster we wouldn’t be having this conversation. (Unless he was a toaster that toasted other toasters… Then we might…)

actually he was not “built” by anakin in the first place, he was built almost 80 years before anakin was even born, he was just gutted a few years after he was first activated and anakin just happened to fix him up, the programming in C3po is probably just standard for his model line which makes even more sense when you consider how many times he’s been memory wiped

My knowledge of these movies is limited to watching them maybe 2 times (all but ep2 &3 and 1 under great duress…), some random questions I may remember from the Star Wars manga of episodes 4 &5 (I didn’t buy 6 because I didn’t like the art), and anything I may have retained from a game of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. That is all, sir. (Or maam.) :)

Okay, I guess I’m just being obtuse here.

But seriously, how can a generically neuter device like a robot even have sexuality or a gender? Can a blender have gender? (“Whoa, yeah, dude, my Margarita machine is definitely female!”)

But, may I refer @manekochan to Talky Toaster from Red Dwarf? I’m pretty sure that character was male, but I couldn’t tell you why. I think it’s the voice. And then, thinking of Red Dwarf, there’s the question of Holly. Boy, what a gender bender he/she pulled. I guess machines can have gender.

At least 3PO wasn’t obsessed with that ever eternal question that’s been plaguing humanity for all time.

Would you like some toast?

You know, there was a relatively recent “study” about how the prevalence of male protagonists in animated movies has made people more inclined to dub gender-non-specific items/animals male.
(I guess it wasn’t a study. I found it, though: http://kottke.org/11/05/pixars-gender-gap )
I think it was already pretty prevalent, though.

well a blender isn’t self aware. whereas C3PO (as well as Holly) appears to be a fully functional AI, therefore he/she/it has a self identity and presumably gender.

Maybe C3PO just had a healthy mix of male AND female oil. Anakin just didn’t know the difference back then.

@Perfesser_Bear I’d argue that robots designed to interact with species that have multiple sexes should be programmed to behave as if they have a specific gender identity. It makes it easier for those it is designed to interact with to feel comfortable in its presence. Being fluent in over six million forms of communication, presumably across myriad programming platforms and species, he’d probably have to adopt many such gender identities as well as neuter tendencies, all tied to whom he is communicating with.

So in short, he’s not gay, he’s just suffering from the worst gender identity crisis in history.

I think it goes deeper than that…I think you all are on the right track with the toaster idea, just the wrong fandom crossover. I think that 3PO was the wierd missing link between the Centurion Cylons and Caprica 6. Some sort of Beta test Cylon Toaster 2.0 that fell between the cracks….that would explain the gender issue, and why he was gutted and left for dead…too far from the Rez ship….just sayin…

I guess here’s a few things to consider about the topic. First off, is the “sexual category” based on sex (physical trait) or gender-identity (personality trait). For instance, is a Man who identifies as Female and prefers relationships with Women “gay” or “straight”. That’s a toughy, for sure.

Now, in C3PO’s case, we have a few things to consider. If its based on physical traits, are all robots homosexual? Considering that all robots have the same “neutral sex”, any romantic interaction with another robot would be considered “homosexual”. This would naturally mean that C3PO would not be the first gay robot, of course. Any robot inclined to romantic interactions would be gay.

If it’s based on gender-identity, then we have to consider two things. First, does C3PO identify as male or female? While his mannerisms are effeminate, it doesn’t necessarily means he sees himself as female. Also, is he attracted to a feminine or masculine personality type? These two things are mutually exclusive, by the way. Just because a woman acts “manly” doesn’t automatically means she’s attacted “womanly” personalities.

Then there’s the possibility of asexuality. Some humans have no inclinations towards romance at all. Personally, I don’t think C3PO has shown any romantic inclinations towards anyone. Most of the inference of his sexuality is due to his speaking pattern and body language, but that’s poor evidence. We use these mannerisms as clues, but just because a guy is into musical theater doesn’t mean he’s a dick monger. While certain personality traits are encouraged within subcultures (some gay men actually take offense if another gay man isn’t behaving like a flaming homo), there is nothing dictates that the same personality traits can’t be found in the other categories as well.

The problem is that we use false clues to set things into categories here. Until C3P0 actually goes on a date, we won’t really know for sure. And honestly, it’s none of our business.

90% of the problem is misidentified gender traits. It delves deeper than just misidentifying personality aspects, as well (re: if you’re stoic you’re more likely to be identified as male than if you are perceived as emotional. People misidentify tidiness with femininity, and slovenliness as masculinity). For that matter, it dives into non-gender specific physical aspects as well. I used to get hit on by tons of lesbians until I turned around. Why? From behind I had long hair and a feminine looking ass. Never actually managed to make it work for me, but not for lack of trying.

Also there is a difference between romance and sexuality.

And I reiterate that there are no defining personality aspects of homosexuality other than a preference for sex with the same gender and a distaste for sexual intercourse with the opposite. Be as fussy, fastidious, fusty, ribald, or what have you as you like, that’s just personality. Or lack thereof… Damned neat freaks…

“He,” is always with R2D2 does that count as a date? and if C3PO is male and gay How does R2D2 even factor into that equation? or is it that he was programmed to be excessively polite due to possible royalty interactions…At which point I have to ask… since when is being to polite gay? although being cowardly tends to be seen as gay it is also attributed to sycophants. which would also be a major part of an interpreters job.

As to how conversations so often play out predictably, I used to work for a general contractor with 2 other guys. One of them was a farmer. and at lunchtime he would somehow always get to rambling on the superiority of the 9600 John Deere combine over the 6600 or something like that. He never seemed to notice that that was always when I would bring up a story from my nephew who worked in a rendering plant (real apatite destroying stories for some!). He’d always say how he didn’t want to hear rendering plant stories over dinner, and in the resulting fracas the ag equipment lecture was forgotten.

I’m surprised that no one mentioned the fact that the actor who played Obi Wan in Ep. 4 really was gay.

Wow, must’ve been a shock to his wife and kid. She never even divorced him, they were married until the day he died, back in 2000.

@ Bill M.: An article in the Guardian states that “Sir Alec Guinness [Obi-wan Kenobi in Star Wars]…was arrested, charged and fined in court in Liverpool in 1946 for a homosexual act in a public lavatory. But the case went unreported because… he had the quickness of wit to give a false name which aroused no suspicions” (Ezard).

Ezard, John. “Alec Guinness’s gay side revealed”. Guradian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media Limited, 16 Apr. 2001. Web. 22 Aug. 2010

I think the default personality matrix for protocol droids is British/ Subcategory: Gay. anican was only 9 when he built him ANd a slave so it’s not like he could buy the parts

Nagging at me slightly but gender identity has nothing to do with who you are attracted to Gender Identity defines whether you are Male/Female/Both/Neither/Fluid perhaps Thomas is referring to Sexual/Romantic Orientation
not meaning to be OCD but its an easy mistake to make and to fix.

Nina used to look better earlier in the comic.
Or at least that is my opinion on the matter. She looked odd the last few pages.

Super-late comment, I know, but I’m fairly sure that the EU of Star Wars has droids talking in rather gender-specific manners, as well as droid/organic romantic stuff (correct me if I’m wrong there).

Of course, feel free to ignore me because it’s all non-canon, now…

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