2013-01-23
Explanation
This comic plays on two well-known academic sayings: "physics is sex and math is masturbation" (meaning physics is the exciting, applied discipline while math is a solitary, self-referential pursuit) and "physics is just applied math" (meaning physics relies on mathematical foundations). A blonde woman states both of these premises to a dark-haired woman with glasses, then draws the logical conclusion: if physics equals sex, math equals masturbation, and physics is just applied math, then sex must be just "applied masturbation."
The dark-haired woman, rather than objecting to the syllogism, instead personalizes the conclusion, saying it means she has "a lot of theoretical sex." This is a self-deprecating admission that she does plenty of the "theoretical" (solo) version but not much of the "applied" (partnered) version, flipping the metaphor back onto her own love life.
The votey panel continues the joke with the bespectacled woman claiming her theory involves "resonance frequency and pictures of wieners," adding a crude physicality to the abstract theoretical framework and doubling down on the masturbation metaphor with absurd pseudo-scientific language.