Oh boy! 
Got a burning question for one (or more) of the LB Cast? Here's your chance to ask them! The first three commenters will have their questions answered (in drawn form) at the end of Chapter 6! I have so much fun doing them, I thought it'd be fun to have a few more to reply to come the end of chapter :D. So ask away!
10 thoughts on “CH6P58”
W
What are Riley and and Jaden’s fave veg meals? (and maybe, how did they come into the decision to be veg?)
rustyhearts
Oh excellent question! Really looking forward to answering this one come the end of Ch6 <3 Stay tuned <333
Ivy
Sorry, I kinda have three “Ask The Cast” questions cause I couldn’t decide. You don’t have to answer them all obviously…
1. What is Riley and Blaire’s favorite thing about each other respectively? ( they are adorable and I really just want to see Blaire again, her design is so so cute. )
2. What are the LB casts favorite desserts? ( got hungry from one of the person below’s food ask if you can’t tell…)
3. You mentioned that Ruth’s wife passed away I’m pretty sure. Would she ever remarry?
I also have a lot of questions that aren’t “Ask The Cast” related that I was hoping you wouldn’t mind answering? Some are about your beliefs and others are about LB. I don’t have a Tumblr so I thought I’d ask here… Feel free to ignore any of these that you don’t like. I’m just curious to hear your thoughts and I finally got up the courage to ask (I’m really very intimidated by you…)
First off, weird question, but how would you feel about what you’d define as ‘libfems’ possibly following, interacting with your work and being fans of the comic? Would you like that or would it annoy you? Would you prefer to alienate them from your audience entirely, encourage interaction or are you just indifferent? You obviously have a very passionate stance against most things they stand for so I was just wondering if that made you feel negatively about any interaction at all? Sorry if this doesn’t make sense, I’m having a hard time articulating what I mean.
Is there any part of Libfem ideology that you agree with? Is there any part of Radfem ideology you disagree with? Do you think there are positives to the Libfem community and on the flip side do you think there are negatives to the Radfem community? Do you think its possible for transwomen to be allies to you ( or the lesbian community in general since that’s your focus )? Do you think a libfem could be your ally in any sense or are you too diametrically opposed? I’m not really familiar with this term so I might not be using it right but did you have a “peak trans” moment? What was it, if you feel comfortable saying?
Do you think libfems are malicious or misguided? Do you have any compassion / or understanding for what they are trying to accomplish? Or do you find them too… damaging? (not sure if thats the right word)
And now for LB questions, obviously disregard any that could be spoiler heavy…
How far has Leasebound been plotted out? In its entirety? Does it have a solid path and ending or just strong ideas that could/might change or branch off if you choose? Is it completely scripted or do you just have a general timeline?
Will Ginger, Paige, and Asuka be recurring villains or are they pretty much already done with in the story– and were mainly just a sort of jumping off point to start the dialogue you wanted to start? I remember you mentioning a nonbinary character that will be coming in the story later down the line. Will they be villainous as well or less significant? It can already be understood what you are trying to say about GPA collectively but what will be the takeaway and general criticism you will try to address with this nonbinary person ( if you are able to say )?
Will the main Leasebound conflicts revolve primarily around gender critical stuff? Are there any specific themes you’d like to get across with this story? Aside from gender stuff, are there any other particularly strong messages you’d like to preach and have your readers take away from your work?
Will you ever make a cis girl character who has facial hair? I see you normalize leg hair and stuff but I was just wondering because even in body hair positivity circles I never see anyone bringing attention to stubble or anything? Also, have we pretty much been introduced to all the main characters or will there be more that are yet to be established? Out of who we’ve seen so far, who has been working at Yonique the longest? (aside from Ruth obviously).
What do you think Jaden would describe herself as ideology wise if she had the proper terminology? I know you mentioned her as being “normie” but do you think that she is lib leaning or rad leaning currently or is she just not aware enough about these topics to really say?
What would have happened if Shez or Parniya had been confronted by GPA that night instead of Jaden?
Expanding on that line of intrigue; lets say in an AU where Jaden and Riley’s jobs were swapped– as in Riley was a Yonique bouncer: How do you think Riley would have handled Ginger, Paige and Asuka? Do you think whatever could have occurred would push her over the fence shes sitting on right now? Had Blaire been in the situation, how would she have dealt with it? Do you think she would have let them inside without any questions?
Got a few more Blaire questions because I’m really excited to see more about her but these might be pretty spoilery so disregard any of them as you please.
In these last few pages, can you clarify one thing? Is Riley afraid of BLAIRE? Or just how she’ll react? Like… is Blaire just very passionate about her opinions to the point that Riley knows there could be major conflict or is Blaire actively nasty about her beliefs? Would she snap at Riley if she misspoke about these issues? Or would she be patient?
You said you will give Blaire nuance but do you think her arguments can be granted the same? Do you think there will be any narrative / audience empathy that can be afforded her side of the conflict? Or do you disagree with her far too strongly for you to feel shes justified in whatever you have planned for her? Again sorry if I’m having a difficult time articulating what I mean…
And lastly– a sillier question, what do you think the craziest “crackship” would be to see of your characters? I ask because when I was looking at your LB dress up post– I glanced between Parniya and Blaire and thought they kinda looked cute together. ( I’ll see your “Rairely” and raise you a “Paire” lol. Though I’m not sure how well that one would work out considering they probably radically oppose eachothers beliefs… )
Sorry for so many questions and I’m sorry if I come off as antagonistic at all.
rustyhearts
Holy crap, you have no idea how excited it makes me to readers so invested in LB. I could cry ;_; Thank you so much for leaving such a long, thoughtful comment. You pretty much already acknowledged it, but I won’t be able to answer EVERY question for spoiler reasons, but I’ll do my best!
I love your Ask-The-Cast questions – I’ll be posting their responses come the end of chapter 6, so keep your eyes peeled 😀
As for your other questions, lemme hop straight to it! I’m sorry that you feel intimidated, that’s definitely not something I’m trying to do intentionally <3
1)How would I feel about having libfem fans?
As a niche webcomic, I’m always happy to know I’ve got more readers, and I wouldn’t want to intentionally alienate or discourage women and girls from reading. I’d definitely be puzzled by a reader maintaining her status as a libfem, while being able to enjoy Lease Bound, considering the openness of my stances – but I guess I also tolerate things I disagree with in media that I like. But yeah! I certainly wouldn’t be annoyed or angry if libfems found something to enjoy. The only cases of that I’ve had are hate-reading libfems, who then started exploring gender critical feminism through LB, haha.
Or libfems who read and tell me I’m an evil terf b*tch who deserves to be raped and killed, and also all my characters are trans, because they say so. So, yeah lol.
2) Is there any part of libfem ideology I agree with/ Radfem ideology I disagree with?
Because liberal feminism is focused so heavily on choice, it feels a lot less like a cohesive movement and more like a poor imitation stitched together from several other movements, that ultimately fails to prioritize women, or critique anything at the route. On the surface some of the ideas sound good, so rape is obviously bad to them. But then they also support prostitution, pornography, bdsm, and sugar daddies. There’s no backbone, or follow through in anything they do. And that comes down to the fact that they don’t see sex as the basis of female oppression. They believe it’s femininity. And that men are also unwilling victims. They don’t hold men as a class accountable for anything, and spend so much time trying to include them. So no, there’s nothing really I agree with in liberal feminism.
I honestly haven’t done a lot of reading of radical feminist texts – something lots of tumblr radfems are guilty of, which is likely why there’s a lot of infighting there. At the end of the day there’s a lot of lesbophobia present from some of the prominent writers, many of whom were political lesbians or supported the idea of it. So I disagree with concepts like compulsory heterosexuality. And reformist radfems, who believe we should be changing men rather than separating from them.
I try my best to frame my behaviour and actions from the perspective of someone with the goal of female liberation. It doesn’t mean everyone of my actions facilitates that, but that’s my base line.
3)Do you think its possible for trans women to be allies to you ( or the lesbian community in general since that’s your focus )?
As long as trans identified males continue to call themselves women? No. I do not believe they can be allies to women, and especially not lesbians. I’m not particularly invested in any male ally-ship for feminist causes, tbh. I’d rather just focus on women. If men are speaking up against other men’s misogyny, that’s good of them. I do have gender critical gay male friends who support LB, and stand up to other men perpetuating misogyny. I appreciate them, but they’re not my focus you know?
4) Do you think a libfem could be your ally in any sense or are you too diametrically opposed?
It really depends, as I said before. I’d be very confused as to why a libfem, someone who believes every choice is empowering, that prostitution and bdsm are healthy, that femininity and partnering with men are feminist choices, would want to be my ally – without completely overturning her own beliefs, and thus not being a libfem anymore.
With radical feminism, it is made with the intent to benefit all women. It’s goal is to get to the root, and liberate all women under patriarchy, including the women we don’t like. Because we believe that nothing a woman can do makes her deserving of misogyny. Libfems do not believe that. There’s countless examples of them going after women they disagree with, armed with sexually charged insults, the words ‘bitch’ ‘whore’ ‘slut’ ‘cunt’ at the ready, and usually the offending woman’s appearance in their sites as well.
5) Did you have a “peak trans” moment?
I did. As a woman who’s always been GNC, I never fully engaged in trans activism or gender ideology. In the back of my mind I just never truly believed it, but I played the performatively woke game for several years.
When I came out as a lesbian, I discovered cotton ceiling discourse when looking for community. I started following a few radfem blogs and it was all over from there, haha. Suddenly I had all the words to explain the conflicted feelings I had. I never looked back lol.
6) Do you think libfems are malicious or misguided? Do you have any compassion / or understanding for what they are trying to accomplish? Or do you find them too… damaging?
I don’t think women who subscribe to choice feminism are bad. It’s a product now. And I can understand following along with it. Cuz it feels like things are changing and you’re a part of something good, but it requires very little effort because you don’t have to change any of your behaviours, you just have to change how you see them.
Ie: femininity isn’t harmful! I just hated it being forced on me as a kind, but choosing to wear make-up as an adult and enjoying girlie things is feminist!
As for compassion.. I mean not really. I care about women deeply. That’s why I want to plant as many questioning seeds, and engage wherever I can in real life, to keep them critical of things like choice feminism and gender nonsense. I understand what they’re trying to accomplish, a vague sense of ‘gender equality’ and ‘fairness for all’. I know this because I was a part of it, and it made sense to me growing up – again because I didn’t have to change my behaviour I just had to change the way I thought about it.
But it doesn’t have any direction, any weight. And at this point they’re actively damaging things for women. They’ve fallen for the pimp driven message of ‘sex work is work’ (despite pimps being included under the umbrella of ‘sex-workers’), they believe pornography is good for them, they’re advocating the transition of young girls, rather than telling them that girls can wear blue, and play with trucks and be assertive.
There’s no redeeming qualities. There’s no critical thought. Everything and anything is feminist action. And if you critique anything it’s ‘shaming’. No progress is made.
Hope those all made sense haha, now onto LB questions! I’ll let you know if things are too spoilery for me to answer, haha!
LB1) How far as LB been plotted?
Excellent question. I know how it’s going to end, but I haven’t worked out ALL of the points between A and B, you know? When I first started LB, I wrote out 13 chapters before I started drawing anything, to give myself a good direction of where I’m going. But even as early as Chapter 3, has drastically changed, and thus affected a lot of the details of the comics trajectory.
a bunch of bullet points of definite things I want to include, OR very specific, detailed scenes I’ve written, but am not entirely sure how to place within the story yet.
LB2) Will Ginger, Paige, and Asuka be recurring villains or are they pretty much already done with in the story– and were mainly just a sort of jumping off point to start the dialogue you wanted to start?
Originally I imagined AGP with a bigger role, but as I’ve been writing the story more, I think they suit better as an inciting incident, that continues to influence further points in the story without direct appearances being necessary. I’m not entirely sure though. Their day in the sun isn’t over yet, that’s for sure. But just how prominent they’re gonna be in the rest of it, I’m yet to decide. I can see what I have planned working both with, and without their active involvement – but it’s a while off so I’m not too sure yet!
LB3) What will be the takeaway and general criticism you will try to address with this non-binary person ( if you are able to say )?
To me, trans and non-binary stuff is all in the same alphabet soup mess. So I intend the non-binary character to be part of the same sort of criticism, just a different facet of it. I intend to get some comedy out of Jaden being exposed to the concept through her, and using her normie perspective show how asinine and ridiculous it all is.
LB4) Will the main Lease bound conflicts revolve primarily around gender critical stuff? Are there any specific themes you’d like to get across with this story? Aside from gender stuff, are there any other particularly strong messages you’d like to preach and have your readers take away from your work?
I intend the AGP storyline (and all the gender stuff that the inciting incident brings with it) to act as a fairly big part of the story – as much like in real life, it is greatly affecting the lives of lesbians, and their ability to find community.
That said, I have lots of non-gender critical stuff to focus in on the main cast, particularly Riley and Jaden. I want to spend a lot of time developing their friendship, and having them heal, and grow from things in their pasts (that have yet to be more than hinted at).
All of the main cast have a backstory/ ‘how they got to the club’ origin story, that I plan to release as in between chapters when the time is right. So yeah, my other focus is creating very well-defined, interesting lesbian (and bi) female characters that readers can invest in.
LB5) Will you ever make a female character who has facial hair? I see you normalize leg hair and stuff but I was just wondering because even in body hair positivity circles I never see anyone bringing attention to stubble or anything?
I haven’t been planning on it, but I might. I want to try and represent as many interesting, diverse lesbian characters as possible – sometimes it feels like a balancing act between that and not tokenizing, you know? Like how every other tumblr artist has a character with vitilago, for no other reason than to look woke.
But yeah, it’s definitely not a ‘no’.
LB6) Have we pretty much been introduced to all the main characters or will there be more that are yet to be established?
Jaden’s family has a bigger role to play than they have currently, and there’s a few more minor (but still there) characters that work at Yonique I haven’t introduced but intend to!
LB7) Out of who we’ve seen so far, who has been working at Yonique the longest? (aside from Ruth obviously).
She’s only been mentioned in passing and ‘Nelly’ (the medical officer) has been working there the longest alongside Ruth. I’m looking forward to bringing her and other staff more into the story!
LB8) What do you think Jaden would describe herself as ideology wise if she had the proper terminology?
I know you mentioned her as being “normie” but do you think that she is lib leaning or rad leaning currently or is she just not aware enough about these topics to really say?
I guess it depends on what you consider the proper terminology. Jaden cares about her family, and the women at Yonique first and foremost, so that’s really where her priorities lie. She’s definitely not knowledgeable on feminism of either strain, but she is very academically bright and a critical thinker.
So if you sat her down with a radfem or a libfem, she’d have questions either way. Radical feminism just makes more sense in general, so while she wouldn’t agree with everything, that would make more sense to her.e
LB9) What would have happened if Shez or Parniya had been confronted by AGP that night instead of Jaden?
Good question! I haven’t really thought of that. Since both of them are familiar with gender nonsense, they would likely have had a better chance at deescalating the situation without outright saying ‘sorry female only’. Even though Jaden wasn’t wrong for doing so, she was just saying what she observed in a civil way, obviously not a good options with entitled TIMs.
If not de-escalate, they likely would have called for back up, on site of them, to be prepared for any push back.
With Shez specifically, considering her background, and upkeep of physical and metal defensive training, she likely could have handled them if things got violent.
LB10) Expanding on that line of intrigue; lets say in an AU where Jaden and Riley’s jobs were swapped– as in Riley was a Yonique bouncer: How do you think Riley would have handled Ginger, Paige and Asuka? Do you think whatever could have occurred would push her over the fence shes sitting on right now?
Oh maaaan. Riley would be such a cute lil bouncer. If in that situation, I think Riley definitely be feeling conflicted because she knows what she’s SUPPOSED do around TIMs (validate them uwu~), but she also wouldn’t want to compromise her job, or go against her boss. She likely would have called for backup, and tried to play it off as a ‘sorry we have a.. policy I’m not sure on, I just have to check’. How well that would have gone, I don’t know.
If AGP had used similar intimidation tactics to the ones they used with Jaden, I could see Riley caving.
LB11) Had Blaire been in the situation, how would she have dealt with it? Do you think she would have let them inside without any questions?
Oh man, I don’t think Blaire would have made it the point of actually working on door. Simply because she would have questioned when going over the policy of ‘female-only’, if it was ‘inclusive of transwomen’, and then quit when finding out that Ruth really meant ‘female-only’.
LB12) iS Riley afraid of Blaire?
I think their relationship is gonna become clearer in the next few updates, as well as chapters as it’s one of the things I’m focusing on establishing. So I won’t give away too much. You’re definitely on the right line of thinking tho :O
LB13) You said you will give Blaire nuance but do you think her arguments can be granted the same? Do you think there will be any narrative / audience empathy that can be afforded her side of the conflict? Or do you disagree with her far too strongly for you to feel shes justified in whatever you have planned for her?
I want to afford empathy and nuance to Blaire, in the sense that I UNDERSTAND why she’s making the decisions she’s making, but they are not good decisions. I disagree with Blaire wholeheartedly, but as a female character who represents a lot of who I, and my readers were at some point, I don’t want to completely demonize her.
Blaire has good qualities (things that Riley’s gonna talk about when answering your question :D), and that she’s going to exhibit throughout the comic. It’s her beliefs rather than her character I want to critique.
Where as with AGP, while I was critiquing their behaviour, I also did not afford them much depth, because they’re male characters. I just don’t think it’s necessary. And I feel justified in that judgement, not just because of my critical view of men as a class, but in the way many of my detractors, despite seeing them threaten Jaden with sexual and regular violence, jump to defend, and humanize them.
That’s a product of patriarchy, and a product of liberal feminism. Looking passed the evil doings of men, while crucifying women who civilly disagree.
LB14) And lastly– a sillier question, what do you think the craziest “crackship” would be to see of your characters?
Oh maaaan. Paire is QUITE the crack ship, I do not think they would get along at all lmfaoo. But it is quite funny to think about!
I know I’ve got a friend and reader who likes Shade (Shez/Jaden), OR also enjoys the swap of Parniya/Jaden, and Shez/Riley, but I think those are really cute, so, idk if they count lol!
I think you’ve found a winner with Paire, tbh! Maybe Jaden/Blaire? But I think Paire more so lol
Please don’t apologize for asking so many thoughtful questions! I really enjoyed reading through them and really thinking about my answers! I also hope I didn’t come off as cold or antagonistic <3
I’m gonna jump back into working on the next update, I really hope you enjoy it when it comes out. I’m looking forward to drawing the cast-answers for your questions! Thanks again <33
Parniyas biggest fan
Oh.. uh.. I used to be a transmasc libfem with internalized misogyny before leasebound… I guess I am the first questions stereotype lmao
at
i rly love this comic. jaden is my favorite!!! one of my favorite lesbian characters in any webcomic i’ve read…she’s just so good 😮 my question is, do riley and jaden have any celesbian crushes/icons?
rustyhearts
Thank you so much for reading and commenting! That’s a mighty compliment for Jaden too, omg! <3
I love your question too 😀 Keep an eye out for it at the end of chapter 6, that's when i'll be posting the drawn answers <33
Molly
Oh Riley, sweet baby ?
rustyhearts
She’s got some big growing to do 🙁
Molly
This panel is just so vivid and evocative. It makes my heart hurt </3
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