I completely agree with you, but that's only because Chris has been beaten into submission by society (metaphorically). Yes, I agree that the Wallflower and Catherine may have led him on, but that didn't stop him from exploding with rage when he realized he wasn't getting any. It didn't stop him from touching them after they said, "no, stop". The same thing with Megan. His being beaten into submission by society is the reason he stopped blabbing about all the imaginary sex he wants to have with straight women and lesbians. Get his guard down, and I am sure he will violate boundaries like no one's business.
I think you underestimate the degree to which Chris has internalized these lessons.
When Chris learns lessons about how he should/shouldn't behave, it doesn't happen easily. You really have to had fucked with Chris something fierce to get him to admit fault (whether he just admits it internally to himself or publicly). He doesn't give up these lessons easily. I think they're definitely long term changes.
It's kinda like training a dog not to shit on the carpet. After you've succeeded, if you leave them alone in the house, they still refuse to shit on the carpet. If you leave them long enough, they shit on the carpet and are extremely sheepish and embarrassed about it. Now, if you let them shit on the carpet regularly, they'll return to their old behavior of doing it with impunity.
He's kind of doing that with Patreon, in that no one's really punishing him for not sending out the comics, but he knows he's supposed to, so he gets all nervous and whiny about failing to send them out. He does that whether or not people are complaining. (Of course, if no one complains for long enough, he'll stop caring about it.)
So if you got his guard down, I still think he views these rules (regardless of how little he understands them) as pretty important. He'll stick to these rules as long as he sees evidence that people care about them. It doesn't need to be much evidence. Just signs that, for the same reasons he got bitched at by past galpals, those rules still apply today.
It's why Chris is so absolutely indignant about being called creepy for creeping on people on twitter. I think he really is "following the rules", and that's why he's so pissy.
Because they've probably made it abundantly clear and direct with, "I have a boyfriend or partner". That's what makes it so terrible is that Chris isn't friends with the sake of being friends with them, he's always in it for the thought of the potential Chyna. Sure, ponies and shit must be great to discuss, but Chris still has a singular mindset.
I think Chris' mindset includes sex and all of that stuff as equal. He's concerned about finding a replacement Barb, but that's a more practical concern. I think Chris' time would be very rarely sex focused without that.
I think a big issue is that Chris doesn't believe in boundaries. "Sex with your therapist? Why not??", says Chris. Chris doesn't go to therapy for the sake of having sex, he just wouldn't see any inherent reason why you can't have both.
Every limitation in the world seems arbitrary and unfair to Chris unless he was the one to invent it.
Heh, like put Chris in charge of a parole board and he'd let out ever hardened criminal who whines to him about "past mistakes" and "how they've changed".
Welp, here we go. The depression of loneliness is setting in once again.
I love that he says he hopes "she will find me"
That translates to : "I refuse to get off my lazy ass and go find someone. I want a girl to literally come ring my doorbell (NOT OVER THE INTERNET, BECAUSE OF THE DAMN DIRTY TROLLS!) and say she's in love with my beautiful lesbian trans soul. And then we can have sex time together"
Oh, he tries to find people.
It's just that there's like 10-20 nerds/gays in Charlottesville that he might want to bang. And they aren't interested.
Chris can't find someone without not being himself. Or just not living in bumfuck VA.