Again, they’re not real. Nothing they “do” affects me. Nothing I wonder about or talk about affects them. There’s no level of “acceptable” or “unacceptable” to be found here.
I know I’d be surprised, given the preponderance of rather nice-looking transgender women I know who are still very painfully and sadly single. 
Una: what do you think of Miller’s description of someone dating a trans person:
(I’ve deleted his addition of “and you find out if there’s a pussy or not.” since that implies “pussy” is the most desirable outcome.)
Are the sexual politics really like that? Obviously meeting someone at the bar, chatting with them a bit, then blurting out: “so, hey, you got a dick?” is beyond boorish. But are there any in-between stages there, something before Miller’s scenario of making out one day and something, um pops up? (sorry.) Can the couple really not just discuss this judiciously?
Actually I didn’t think that Miller was saying it was most desirable… just going for the Schrodinger’s cat pun, which as a Trans Woman I thought was kinda cute.
Anyway I think bottom line is it’s gotta be at the trans person’s discretion (as is, even revealing trans status in the first place)… It doesn’t necessarily have to be right before sex, but it’s really up to that person when they want to make the call to discuss it… and certainly if you’re not expecting to see them naked any time soon, it’s probably not the best idea to bring it up.
Have we commented before on how tall Marten’s mother is? Assuming Marten’s of average height, she’s well over 6 foot tall, maybe around 6’6".
No she’s about the same height as her bakery store boyfriend and, presumably, given her current or past occupational choice she probably wears quite high heels. Marten is a touch below average male height. He looks bigger because most of the time he is next to women. I peg his height at about 5’ 8". Plus he slumps. He’s a congenital slumper.
There’s no Word of God on specific heights of his characters, but Jeph had this to say about the issue:
Jeph is also notoriously inconsistent at drawing even relative heights, which can change even within a single daily strip.
As someone who never has dated a transsexual (and very likely never will since I’m married), I find that interesting and even a little surprising. But then, that’s why I’d have a curiosity to see this explored in the comic for reasons other than “hur hur, is Marten gonna find a dong?”
Reading the comic though, my assumption would be that Claire has fully transitioned. Both by her saying that she “started transitioning” years ago and because in a world of sentient androids, holograms, casually visited space stations and a brother with a robot hand, I assume that cost and technology isn’t a barrier for her.
Of course it isn’t “necessary”. The issue is whether it would be “funny” or “advance the drama”.
Here we have Martin ‘owning’ a robot with apparently no disrection or tact to speak of, who is obsessed with sex. It exists for crude, explicit sexual humour. Martin, owner of said robot, is dating Claire. We are to believe that, suddenly, said robot is going to grow a sense of tact and maturity about their bedroom behaviour - this being the same robot who, when Martin broke up with his last partner, taped a pic of an ass to itself and wagged it in Martin’s face? 
Uh … not true: we have had a “clitoral hood piercing” story arc. So obviously, genital configuration discussions are not verboten for other characters.
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1247
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1248
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1249
“My girlfiend is cooing over my bosses’ vulva like it was a newborn kitten”
Also, we know Martin has balls because Faye first puked on them, then head butted them.
And Marten once told Dora’s father “Your daughter has put my penis in her mouth.”
What I’ve been hearing (this was actually the subject of a big ol roundtable discussion I was in last month) is that more and more frequently younger transwomen will tell a date on the first date. This is for two reasons - first, the (chronologically) young ones are getting bolder, braver, less subjected to discrimination and therefore more likely to expect a non-violent outcome. Also, most people do not have much investment by the first date, so even a man who is really turned off is unlikely to start beating you up if the most you’ve done is hold hands. Others tell a few more dates into the process.
We older ones are much more secretive about it, and sometimes never tell until directly asked, or until it’s “3rd base” time.
But for those over 30, it seems to be related to fear and our expectation of trouble, how “out” we are, and just how brave we are. It can be awkward and terrifying, and lead to nasty unilateral break-ups from either side, fights, physical abuse, or worse.
So maybe soon he can tell Claire’s mother “Your daughter has put her penis in my mouth.”
(Seriously, I’m more inclined to Jophiel’s theory.)
Una, to clarify - are you talking about at what point people come out as trans, or at what point people talk about how much genital surgery they’ve had? In the comic under discussion, Claire came out as trans to her boyfriend before they started dating. The question in this thread is, would they necessarily discuss the state of her genitals before they have sex?
You’d be surprised at how many people would argue that if you don’t mind a dick you’re not completely straight.
I even know a few unreconstructed bigots who would cavil at the notion of someone with a dick being a girlfriend, may perdition attend them.
Yes, I’m sure we’ve that argument even on these boards, which I thought tedious and silly, but there’s people who say that if you don’t mind the dick, you’re obviously 100% gay, case closed. Which is ridiculous.
I subscribe to the notion that someone’s sexual orientation is whatever they say it is. It seems like basic manners to me. Which can lead to silly responses like “what about a man who says he’s a lesbian?” which is a bit obnoxious. But fine, dude, you’re a lesbian. Go away.
I don’t think I would be, actually.
You’re probably much more enlightened than I am, and I’m sure it’s to your credit, but I incline to the view that if you’re even going to bother having words to describe sexual orientation, then they should be as objective as any other, and the notion of a man self-identifying as “100% straight, but I actually really like sucking dick” is a patent absurdity.
If you want to say “Who I have sex with, and what we do, is my business and theirs, and none of yours” then I’m entirely cool with that. 
I’m not sure what you’re using “objective” to mean here, but depending on your context, anywhere from “a huge number of” to “all” words are not objective. In particular, words like “homosexual” and “heterosexual” are very broad categories invented to describe an extremely variegated phenomenon. They’re best understood as being at least slightly fuzzy. Insisting on the narrowest possible definitions of these terms generally reduces their utility.