Comments on: It’s Ok, Guys–You Can Sleep in a Queen-Size Bed

By: mattress

mattress — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:39:12 +0000

I think it’s just a lame old comic, but it’s cute.

By: Clara

Clara — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:50:49 +0000

another way to think about it all is dennis’s dad is not the stereotypical man, he is a little of a femme man, and works hard to make sure he appears as masculine as he can – something common for that time period. also, saying that there’s nothing sissy about the matter also implies that nothing cam impinge upon male masculinity – not even a ‘female’ queen size mattress. dennis is also the child, he represents the future to a degree and a definite clear view of society – out of the mouths of babes comes the truth. i think people of that time WOULD think of it as sissy, but on kids would admit that its sissy, the adults would just play it off and say its not, while they ignore in the back of their mind that they think it is. and they would probably not go around the office telling co-workers that they have a queen bed!

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 10:32:06 +0000

I dunno, the man looks like a fairly feminine type (going by period typecasting) and also, the cartoon is generally from Dennis’ perspective, so… while I don’t think the cartoon is telling us not to sleep in a queen bed (it might make you GAY OMG) I think it’s generally validating the idea that being sissy is to be avoided at all costs. Even if that means sleeping in a single bed.

I was looking for information on bedding sizes the other day and I found many american sites called Queen size ‘regular’ or ‘normal’ size, rather than Queen, which is not something I’d ever come accross before (I live in Australia) I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but…

By: Tintin LaChance

Tintin LaChance — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:17:55 +0000

You can be all fancy and use HTML, but the easiest way to post a link is just to copy-paste it: http://snipurl.com/rmlbr (this is the link to the cartoon–the url was just veeeeery long!)

By: Vincentine

Vincentine — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:32:51 +0000

I am irresistably reminded of a 1999 Haefeli cartoon from the New Yorker–sorry I don’t know how to paste it in here. It shows two men lying, fully clothed, on a mattress in a mattress store. The caption: “I still say we should get a queen-sized mattress–despite the obvious jokes it will invite among the sales staff.” (Search “42817” on cartoonbank.com to see it.)

By: genderkid

genderkid — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:48:23 +0000

Even if the father is being mature by saying that masculinity isn’t about avoiding “girl” things, he’s still implying that his son has to be masculine. By being so emphatic in his assurance that Dennis is NOT be a sissy, he’s saying that a sissy is a bad thing to be.

Either way, Dennis has learned to limit himself. He can’t just do whatever he wants to do: he has to consult with the gender police, first.

By: rachel

rachel — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:50:38 +0000

crshark, good points. another way I saw it was that, well, kids are anxious to learn and absorb everything around them…this means following “rules” as closely as they can. And since he’s already obviously received some indoctrination on the “this is for boys/men, this is for girls/women” mentality…of course he applies that learnin’ to this situation. So here he is, being told that there is an exception to the “rule.” Yes, how terribly confusing.

reminds me of when I was working as a cashier in this little buffet place in 2007. At the end of the night when we were getting ready to close, I had to go ahead and start sweeping out the bathrooms and getting ready so I could mop them quickly and get out of there. So, one night a mom and son were there, and it was getting close to closing. before they left, the little boy had to use the men’s room, and I had the door propped open and was in the process of sweeping it out. I finished up as he came toward the door. his mom was waiting in the little hallway. As I unstopped the door, he said, “Why is she a girl in the boy’s room?” and his mom said, “She’s cleaning it.” He said, “But she’s a girl…?” “Yes, but she’s cleaning it. It’s different.”

By: crshark

crshark — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:32:04 +0000

I don’t know. Isn’t it obvious that Dennis the 5 year old child is the one who thinks there’s some contradiction with a male sleeping in a Queen sized bed and the adult male is telling him, no, there’s not. So if there’s any comment at all to this cartoon, it’s that the view that masculinity means avoiding anything related to girls/women is a childish, immature view?