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.
And the Tickler (Kitzler auf deutsch) goes on! Craig Johnson, of Silver Bullet Itself, commented on the last article. “I suspect J. (Jason the webguy) will be happier as Clitoris doesn't appear until the fifth paragraph and he might be able to just extract the first four for the front page.
As for the content.
Wow.
Am I blind?
Why do I not see this, because if guys are consistently this bad, shouldn't some of it overlap into my consciousness? Or am I just completely blinkered to the real world, wrapped up in my family's, my own concerns? I mean, ok, I don't hit the pubs or clubs, I've young kids, I tend to work nights from home on the 'puter, we are - as a family in general - quite insular.
Does every woman I talk to, then, view me as a potential murderer?
Do you?????
Food for serious thought.”
First of all, I discussed all sorts of things in the last article. But – BUT – if you (RY) bring up the subject of male-on-female violence, 999.9% of all guys will not be able to see any – ANY – part of the article except whether or not The Girls Think I’m Awful.
Is it THAT hard to get dates?
(Pause for Jesus Joke. “Do you know why Jesus got all the dates?” Make hanging-on-the-cross pose. “Because he was hung like this.” Picked that one up at Norwescon. www.norwescon.com)
Most guys will not even think whether a woman can move in peace and freedom anyplace she chooses to go, but must be cautious of every step. We get bashed for jogging. We do not get on elevators alone with any man we do not know. If you’ve ever wondered why a woman politely allows you to have the elevator all to yourself – it’s not because she thinks YOU may kill her. It’s because she doesn’t know for sure that any male WON’t. And how much civility does she owe you at the risk of her life? We’re polite enough as a people as it is.
No, Craig, I DON't view YOU as a potential murderer -- but I must be aware of the fact that any sort of approach by a male toward me can be – might be -- the first step toward violence. Children – especially female children and any male children who get anyplace around a priest -- need to be taught that they are not at fault for bad approaches. Women must be taught that a rape or attack was never "asked for." The perp did it -- not us. It’s the fault of the guy with the busy hands, not the way we walk or the way we’re perceived to have walked. Perception is just eye-tracks. Hands-on means No Longer Mint.
Ask yourself, Craig – have you ever put up with what women have to face in our society? Especially women who choose to move around as they please, where they please? If we aren't sitting at home "safe" and staying out of dark alleys or pubs or -- sooner or later we WILL be attacked. And if you tell me that your wife is safe with you – can you imagine having to helplessly spend your life with a bodyguard? Better that your loved ones know how to spot what’s coming, and, in the very worst case scenario, be able to at least put up a fight (although “putting up a fight” when it involves a child or a woman may mean no more than getting DNA under the fingernails so the murderer may be identified. If ghosts can feel satisfaction…).
I’ve heard males gaspingly tell each other that they’ve been hit on by a gay guy. And then get all confused when the females around him laugh at him.
I mean – what did the gay guy do? Ask him to have a cup of coffee with him? Grab his ass (though that’s bad enough)? I’ll bet said gg didn’t back him into a corner or follow him out into the alley making threatening noises. And if he did – then that’s one male who knows what it’s like to be a girl. awwwwwww (that’s me making sympathy noises). He needs to come over here and have White Russians with US. Been there, done that.
Women are murdered wholesale in war. Hell, anybody can tell you how many of their soldiers have been killed – but can anybody count the far greater numbers of women who get flattened in cowardly air-strikes? Huh. I’d like to see those numbers. Oh, that’s right – WE’re Collateral Damage (there’s a special place in Hell for whoever invented that little piece of porno).
(I recently changed my mind about snipers, after meeting one. As he said: “I only shoot officers. I didn’t have enough time or ammunition to waste shooting people who aren’t in charge. And I don’t kill women and kids.” Of course, there are situations where the main target IS women and kids – but better sharpshooters for the brass hats then families cowering in the bomb craters).
We get stalked and attacked on the street. Beaten at home. It's called "domestic violence" and it is rampant. Children are assaulted constantly, in all sorts of so-called “safe” environments.
It's just the way it is. As my friend and colleague Leanne Franson (http://liliane.keenspace.com/)says, “It’s not anti-tiger to recognize that tigers eat meat.” And the decent men I know -- which are the majority -- want it to stop as much as any woman or child.
I will tell you one thing that will almost immediately make a man start looking out for the welfare of females – he becomes the father of a daughter. Getting related to a brand new X-chromosome can make him throw down the Y flag and come leaping over to our side so fast it’s breathtaking.
Right about here Craig jumped in and wanted to know how he could stop it. Well, there are so many ways to get involved. Just google “White Ribbon,” and choose your local chapter of anti-violence groups. They got ‘em in foreign languages, too.
And speaking of porno – I’ve about had it up to HERE that my sexuality is considered something evil and dirty and to be hidden from kids. The day the comicons slap all those war comics and disembowelment comics and other forms of violence into a little room, that’s the day I’ll think – THINK – about putting sex into a little room so the kids don’t see it. People having fun in bed – woman on man, man on man, combos and sandwiches – is people having fun in bed. I don’t care what it is, and how goofy or yucky somebody else may think it is. I may not be into jello/spaghetti fetishes, or picking up endorphins in the Sun Dance, but that’s just me.
You can hide the sex away the day the books about killing women with forks get put away – and only if there’s room. I do NOT get the mindset of the kind of parent who can send a child out alone onto a room full of murder and mayhem, and then get all shivery that said child might see a pair of mammary glands.
Though it might be pointed out that that it’s been proposed that kids may be screwed up because they’re not allowed proper access to their original natural feeding devices in the first place. Are guys being porc sinistre even with their own kids’ food sources? “That’s mine, boy, you can’t have?” ACK!!!! Me go frow up right now.
My God, there is a whole book I read someplace that goes into the mindset and spirituality behind Jack The Ripper – and totally ignoring that when it comes right down to it, all that rotten loser did was kill more women. And there’s nothing innovative or spiritual about that. US Cavalry troops at the Washita, or Jackie boy – somebody explain the difference, huh?
Prism Comics agrees with me. Take a look at their Prism Goes Ape book, Unsafe For All Ages, in which I get to do the forward making nasty poetry about those black boxes you see in comics catalogs. (Thank you Bud Plant): www.prismcomics.com/display.php?id=1057
Alternate Press Expo (www.comic-con.org/ape) already has the childfree thing down right. It’s a show for grown-ups. There’s even a nice bar on the floor, and we get to take our selections to our tables (No, nobody gets sloshed. We just have a beer or a nice little Vodka Tonik, that we nurse all day – and I’ll bet the alcohol cuts down on those post-convention diseases, too. And cuts down on bad nerves getting in some of the more obnoxious fans’ faces.). Parents are expected to supervise their children at APE. And I don’t think there’s any sign of Losing The Future Generation at THAT show.
I once told a pair of very chipper 12-year olds that, “No, you probably won’t get The Desert Peach – it’s full of stupid grown-up tricks. But when you’re about 18 or 20, there will be a whole new series waiting for you to enjoy.” They were very cool with that. No chance of those readers sadly having “outgrown the artform.”
Next time I’m sitting at a table watch for my little headache-massager. The little purple one. That hits all the bad muscle knots in my temples and behind my skull. You can get your own at: www.goodvibrations.com/cgi-bin/sgsh0102.exe “Aquatic G Purple.” Anything designed for the g-spot is killer for shoulder knots (actually it’s better. It’s not really a good sex vibrator.). I hope I get a chance to use the AGP in one of the Old Slave (Red) States next time I have a headache. You know. The ones that have banned sex toys. The South Shall Rise Again – and nothing else should (I take that back – they sell Viagra like Vitamin C. Something wrong with the danglers down south? Too much Agent Orange and Moon Pies? Too scared de black bucks gonna violate dey wimmens?).
Hell, as far as sex on the floor goes -- I have too much fun helping Booth Bimbos in the women’s room stuff their costume bras with toilet paper and getting them bandages for their heels, because, let’s face it, those are just costumes owned by the companies, and they aren’t tailor-made for the hired models. Those are really nice girls, Booth Bimbos. They’re funny. And why not?
They’re selling sex and joy, not how to kill people.
