Is she talking to him, or on the phone with a female friend? Are they both being parodied for jargon? Or is his last panel speech supposed to be some sort of actually acute observation?
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I think it’s his rather wordy and mealy-mouthed way of unsaying what he said in the second panel and telling her to find someone female to go with her – mammograms are a bit out of his sphere.
Yes, instead of wanting to do something fun with a friend, she says she needs an “accountability partner” — that is, someone whose presence makes it more difficult to renege on a necessary but unpleasant appointment — for her mammogram.
He is disappointed that she’s trying to reframe friendship as purely utilitarian and suggests maybe she should stick to doing it with like-gendered individuals.
The real questions is, in panel 3, is she suggesting that he needs one?
“Mocking Poker”. Common in relationships with hearing disorders where participants raise the snide in opposite directions. Learned in early childhood, but laughable now ?
James, yes the phrasing in panel 3 (and the drawing of the coffee mug which I initially took as a phone) confused me into thinking she might already be talking on the phone with a female friend.
Then the man’s comment in panel 4 would read as applying to her current existing conversation with a female friend, instead of a projected or hypothetical one (as it probably is actually meant). But then what was his point? It does work better as a suggestion she call someone else for the medical visit, as commenters here have suggested.
“I need someone to make sure I go to my doctor’s appointments.”
“That’s called ‘going places together’ like people always used to do.”
“Want to come with me for my lady part checkup?”
“Oh, um, medical female things, no thanks, I’m out.”
But translating it doesn’t make it any funnier.
Mark, this particular “lady part checkup” involves putting the “lady part” being checked into a vise. Isn’t that entertaining for everyone? (not for the lady with parts stuck in the vise, obviously, I mean for all the spectators.)
James: yes, I know about that, but whether the guy knows or not, he’s squeamish about “female problems” as many men are, even when they don’t involve squishing something.
Men get cancer too, but for some reason our doctors don’t make us get testigrams.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I think it’s his rather wordy and mealy-mouthed way of unsaying what he said in the second panel and telling her to find someone female to go with her – mammograms are a bit out of his sphere.
Yes, instead of wanting to do something fun with a friend, she says she needs an “accountability partner” — that is, someone whose presence makes it more difficult to renege on a necessary but unpleasant appointment — for her mammogram.
He is disappointed that she’s trying to reframe friendship as purely utilitarian and suggests maybe she should stick to doing it with like-gendered individuals.
The real questions is, in panel 3, is she suggesting that he needs one?
“Mocking Poker”. Common in relationships with hearing disorders where participants raise the snide in opposite directions. Learned in early childhood, but laughable now ?
James, yes the phrasing in panel 3 (and the drawing of the coffee mug which I initially took as a phone) confused me into thinking she might already be talking on the phone with a female friend.
Then the man’s comment in panel 4 would read as applying to her current existing conversation with a female friend, instead of a projected or hypothetical one (as it probably is actually meant). But then what was his point? It does work better as a suggestion she call someone else for the medical visit, as commenters here have suggested.
“I need someone to make sure I go to my doctor’s appointments.”
“That’s called ‘going places together’ like people always used to do.”
“Want to come with me for my lady part checkup?”
“Oh, um, medical female things, no thanks, I’m out.”
But translating it doesn’t make it any funnier.
Mark, this particular “lady part checkup” involves putting the “lady part” being checked into a vise. Isn’t that entertaining for everyone? (not for the lady with parts stuck in the vise, obviously, I mean for all the spectators.)
James: yes, I know about that, but whether the guy knows or not, he’s squeamish about “female problems” as many men are, even when they don’t involve squishing something.
Men get cancer too, but for some reason our doctors don’t make us get testigrams.