Who
is... Donna Barr? Donna
Barr has been drawing since 1954, writing since 1962, published since 1986,
and publishing since 1996.
She has a Bachelors' Degree in German, and
is a veteran of the United States Army (1970-1973).
Readers worldwide
follower her THE DESERT PEACH, STINZ, BOSOM ENEMIES, HADER
AND THE COLONEL, among others.
She is recognized by her peers as
a pioneer in the field of drawn books and their use in new technologies of distribution
and reproduction. She is a contributor to the world's largest webcomics site,
moderntales.com, and its affiliate
sites.
She achieved her lifetime career goal in 2004 when her life's
work -- past, present and future -- has been accepted as part of the San Diego
State University's Library's Special Collection, and will be available to students
and professors for research, and to the public for exhibits.
She can
be emailed at barr at stinz dot com (remove spam barriers). She answers. Keep
the sentences short.
My books are in Diamond’s Free Comic Book Day, May 7 www.freecomicbookday.com, Diamond’s version of “The First One’s Free.”
Micheal Netzer wants you to see: www.michaelnetzer.com He says he’s going to save the world through Comics. Why not? At least he’s not asking you to tithe.
Now on to the – ahem – meat.
David B. poked me until I used the word “Clitoris” in my last article. Craig wrote me:
“Blame J, I wanted to put the clitoris quote on the front page....” “J” is Jason, the WebMonster. He put up the “Explicit Material” warning.
I answered: “Actually, I don't know what's ‘Naughty.’ Well, actually, I do. Racism. Sexism. Cruelty. Greed. Destruction. THAT's naughty. Not pictures and words.”
Now I’m steamed (actually, I told Craig I was Wheee totally flattered, but they don’t let me schill for being a nice girl). I’m not holding anything against Jason – but the society that makes him think he needs to put up a warning. Yes, this IS the subject that got me thrown off www.girlamatic.com My heels are worn out from Not Backing Down (bandages welcome).
This is your official Spoiler alert. Read on at your own peril.
=>:O
I want to know – RIGHT NOW – why a normal, natural, physical part of MY body and of the bodies of the majority of human beings on this planet is considered obscene.
And why the fact that, yes, the Tickler is responsive and a joy to hold warrants a warning to readers?
Today the media is all in total mourning about a man who kicked off in Rome – and man who represents the organization that helped turn part of MY body into a dirty word. They turned my body and me into a Vessel Of The Devil. They made MY honor a question of whether or not a meat-pop got put inside me. It’s just too grotesque. What must the inside of these men’s heads look like?
Icky icky icky.
Oh, Da Papa may have been – compared to the child-raping, property-grabbing, woman-and-native-culture-crushing norm of his fellows – a passably decent guy -- but he’s still the head of that church. Millions of my people – and by that I mean women – died because of his happy little mafia. And he didn’t do a whole lot in his lifetime to help our freedom or rights. Why the hell would I, as a woman, WANT to be Catholic? Or any other male-based religion, for that matter? They’re all about throwing the crumbs to the Dogs On The Hind Legs. We’re the dogs. Hell, we’re the Bitches (see later in this article). I’m not forgiving the Rome Plow for that. Or the Mecca Machine, for that matter.
Hell, this is the mindset that wants to make the Comics Conventions Family Safe. Damnit people, the kids belong in a child-safe zone. You put the children into a protected zone – you don’t try to lock down the adults. America’s having a hell of a time remembering that right now – that adults get the rights and the kids get the protection (LOTS of protection – there are predators out there). D’uh. Dealers who want to sell kiddy stuff should be willing to be in the kiddy room – and the rest of the show should realize that if you admit responsibility for what children see, you are swallowing responsibility for what their parents can sue you for. We’re talking about the kind of lazy, negligent, sloppy parents who use libraries and comic shops for free baby-sitting service! These people LIVE to blame other people for their failures, at the expense of their kids. Why put ourselves into their hands?
Simply sweep the rug rats into their own shiny little pastel rooms with the dealers who want to offer them happy goods. No distractions. No adult conversations. Balloons all over the floors. Toys and shiny things. Their own Special Place. Hell, no adult admitted without accompanying child. Willie Wonka and the Latest Gamecards. Everybody happy.
If the sci-fi conventions can provide KidKons – why can’t we? We’re SOOO ahead of sci-fi in the technologies of publication and distribution – but they’re beating our asses on censorship. I mean, they are arm-wrestling us LOW. I, for one, am tired of having the knuckles of that arm down on the table. It’s humiliating.
Oh, you want to stop into www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/25/earlyshow/living/studyhall/main683050.shtml CBS reports on the use of Comics in the schoolroom. Jim Ottiviani’s GT-Labs books were featured www.gt-labs.com. Problem is, the teachers were using www.gt-labs.com/dignifying.html to teach what looked like 8-year olds. The CBS article says that kids should realize that “reading is hard.” Well, the commentator should check out www.gt-labs.com/suspended.html. And when kids don’t get it – because it’s just way way over their heads – is that going to back up the idea that comics can’t teach kids to read? Anybody want to lay me money on that one?
I would like to share with you an email conversation I’ve been having. And the guy I’ve been talking to – you all know damn well I consider secrets to be dangerous, and that email is NOT secret. And like Hell I’m going to keep THIS to myself. My mom, a long time ago, taught me I owe a bully or an abuser nothing. Or, as my brother, looking down his nose, said to a gang of bullies he’d simply turned in to the principle and were accusing him of “tattling:” – “You’re not my friends. What do I owe YOU?”
So what DO I owe these guys? I don’t see any money or goods or assistance from these clowns. Where do they get off thinking there’s a contract someplace that says I get to cut them a percentage for hiding or swallowing their baloney (yes, go ahead, get over THAT image)?
You know the line: “Don’t tell anybody. It’s a SECRET.” Brrrrrr.
First of all, I want to ask you guys – tell me, honestly – DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL TO LEARN THESE ANSWERS? I mean, I have heard these answers repeatedly. All my life. These are either clones, or they’re taking a course someplace. What is this – Testicle Bullshit 102?
He’s italics. I’m not. And I’m not making any comments on who’s slanted.
“So, you've been writing to me for the past few emails specifically about men who murder or commit violent acts toward women? Why didn't you specify in the first place? Besides, we're talking about a low percentage here...what's the big deal? So, if you start a new job you basically feel that you have to treat all your fellow employees that are male as if they might kill you one day, just to be sure you aren't a statistic?
Their feelings or my blood -- you choose. If they prove they're trustworthy we're okay. But till then...
“Well, you admit to being sexist which reminds me of some males who throw around women-bashing comments like "ALL Canadian women are cunts...bitches who'll fuck you over...self-centered man-eaters...gold-digger whores", etc. etc. just because there are many young, pretty women who are real assholes and they've hurt some of these young men.”
Women might take their money. Might insult them. But we're less likely by a WHOLE BUNCH -- to kill a guy for so little. Men will insult and steal from us just as readily. And they'll do it with the law, too. See the reference to the churches, above.
I’m down on any abuse going either way. I’m not forgiving anybody who considers MY Tickler or the Ticklers of my sisters as something that needs to be chopped off. We can only be glad that the women who have suffered from this so long are moving to refuse it. Male circumcision is just as horrible http://www.circumstitions.com/ We cut up the genitalia of babies and children – and we wonder why they are screwed up?
However -- you turn a guy down in a bar and you have to watch your back. Fact. Who do you think Lewis and Clark would rather meet? Who do you think would be more likely to see you as a threat and cut your throat – and who would be more likely to invite you in and feed you? I know which of the two groups I would have rather run into.
Ask Colin Upton. He once did a whole book that showed that all a woman had to do was talk wrong to a guy -- and he'd want to kill her – specifically, Big Thing #5 www.stinz.com/cupton/comics/bigthing/bigthing.html God, I love Colin’s stuff. Why do you think I give him webspace? www.stinz.com/cupton
And Colin’s stuff, by the way, is the sort of thing they’d end up wanting to stick in the Porn Zone. Simply because the man can write. Man, can he write. And, regardless of what some clueless reviewers have said, man can he draw. I love his style. He’s fearless.
Anyway:
“Well...to them I say GET OVER IT. It's clouding your vision. It might be a big cloud in your community but if you don't see beyond it then you will miss out on some nice people who aren't involved in that kind of b.s.”
Does "get over it" really mean, "I get to define how you think and feel"? Does “clouding your vision” mean “You don’t see the way I want you to?” I think it's been used to just about anybody with grief, shell-shock, stress. It's a major industrial line -- "Get over whatever's bugging you or has been done to you and get back to work and earn us a profit." The Church (above) does it with confession – talk to the nice priest and go back to plowing.
“Or another example. I'm a conservationist. I recycle. I don't own a car, etc. etc... Most N. Americans aren't so careful.”
We can be such schmucks. Yeah, I recycle, and I collect water and have a greywater system and don't litter and... but I still have a car and a computer. Admittedly the car don't use much gas, and I'm in the boonies -- but I'm aware of it. I consolidate all my trips and try to keep from replacing stuff. Not much, but every little bit helps. There we agree.
But – if a guy recycles, is he more or less likely to see a woman as a threat? Or hurt her or not? Hey, the connection makes no sense to me, either.
“I don't think that gives me the right to say that ALL N. Americans should be tarred with the same brush and be considered uncaring, polluting assholes.”
Why not? We bloody well deserve it. We’re perfectly happy to scarf up the results of our ancestors’ theft. AND pretend we’re sorry. Such hypocrites.
“Doesn't make sense. I find your generalizations to be completely defeating in terms of any real progress on the issues of gender inequality. I see no reason to be as imbalanced as some sexist men are.”
How do I know which is which? One mistake, and I'm a dead body. I can’t afford those odds.
One does NOT let a man one does not know get too close to one's personal space -- and one certainly does not one walk up too close behind one. D'UH.
They'll trail you, and throw their arms around your neck and back you into corners, and pull knives on you if you give them the chance, and threaten you in a gang, etc., etc
Ask your female friends. Or sit by when they're drinking a few beers and start swapping war-stories. Oh, they'll be laughing -- but we're all a little amazed by what guys will pull...
And we are sharing war-stories, and realizing that every guy who tells us to "get over it" and "don't be a sexist" is just denying what we've been through and know. And why would he do that? How is that to his advantage? What is he up to? And it's not just women -- it's children and guys in prison and gay guys and you name it. Anybody knows you can't let a man get too close behind you. Not if you have any brains and want to live.
We have something out here called the White Ribbon movement -- it's men and boys who fight against violence to women and girls. They know. They've seen it. They know that the problem is THEIR people -- and they want it to stop. In many cases, it's like AA -- been there, done that, hate having done it, want to break the circle of abuse. This takes guts. THESE guys I respect and see as allies.
People who put together How To Survive booklets for kids on the street Fair-Used’d my material on surviving guys out of Fantagraphics Real Girl (and for that purpose, they can FU me all they like). http://www.fantagraphics.com (tho’ it may be sold out). What applies for women applies for kids. We are targets, and the guys will do us. I think it might be a matter of population control. We’re rat-breeders – we breed way too many, and then our males kill off the overload. Well, that makes as much sense as the fact that our males DO kill us, and in great numbers. We’re always the biggest number dead in war. Total weirdness. ‘splain this stuff to me. If you can. ‘cuz I don’t get it.
“Oh well...sorry but I can't help you or the war zone you're in. Obviously you are going to cling to your identity as a sexist but it's getting boring as hell.”
Dismissive AND a sense of entitlement. We have a whole government like that in this country. I’ll give you one guess which people run it. I just heard the same tone at a sci-fi convention when another panelist said that Alexander The Great was a great guy. Later, in the Green Room, I said that I didn’t think so, he’d caused my people too much grief. The other writer asked, “What are your people?” And he was perfectly respectful up to when I said: “I’m a women.” Then he began to hoot – absolutely HOOT – “You’re a woman. Oh, you’re a woman!” Then he looked around and realized that people had heard him. And they were not approving. This wasn’t in a red-neck bar. This was in a room full of sci-fi writers. Damned from his own mouth. In front of his own peers. He did it to himself.
This was a writer. A writer and teacher of history. Can you imagine what the girls in his classes are learning? You know he’s got the attitude.
And the reason I should care if I'm boring that italics guy or not is -- ? He must have a copy of that user contract he never sent to me.
Hell, read my book Lady Luck (www.stinz.com/home/desertpeach/dpeach22.html -- and cover warning -- this is a rape scene that is not for fun) and every single filthy thing that guys say about women in that book I have witnessed, word for word. It's amazing. It's appalling. It’s ghastly. It’s a hell of a source for dialogue, lemme tell you.
