RADAR Alert: "Curtis": Wife Can Break Husband’s Arm if he Forgets their Anniversary

Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2005-01-24 09:34

Contact Ray Billingsley (the comic strip artist) and King Features Syndicate (which distributes the comic strip) and tell them the following:

  1. The Curtis comic strip which ran on January 18, 2005 represents mean-spirited and highly inappropriate humor.
  2. The comic strip reinforces a societal double-standard which warns, "There is no excuse for domestic violence" when the victim is female; but then says, "But it's perfectly fine for a wife to injure and maim her husband."
  3. Mr. Billingsley's comic strip is extremely offensive to the hundreds of thousands of men who suffer from domestic violence each year.


Click "Read more..." for background and contact information.These are the people to contact:

1. Ray Billingsley: kfs-cartoonists-at-hearst.com


2. King Features Syndicate

a. Rose McAlister, Promotion Manager: kfs-public-relations-at-hearst.com
or telephone: 212-455-4180

b. Keith McCloat, Vice President: telephone: 1-212-455-4000 or snail mail: King Features, 2nd floor, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019

3. Your local newspaper, if your paper features the "Curtis" comic strip.

Folks, this "humor" is downright offensive. Would King Features run a similar comic strip if the butt of the joke was a woman? Then why do they tolerate this double-standard?

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Ray Billingsley is an artist whose comic strips “always try to influence his young readers in positive ways,” according to his own description. His Curtis comic runs in more than 250 newspapers nationwide.

On January 18, the Curtis comic went like this:

Frame 1:

Hearing the sound of a baby crying, Greg runs in the front door. Greg exclaims to his wife, “Diane, what is THAT?!” Diane deadpans, “It’s a baby, Greg!”

Frame 2:

Greg responds, “I know what it is! I mean, Why is it HERE?”

Frame 3:

Diane explains what the baby is unable to say: “I’m from next door! My daddy got a black eye and a broken arm, and mommy had to rush him to the emergency room!”

Frame 4:

Greg is appalled. He wonders, “Oh, man! Poor guy! What happened?” Diane then lands the punch line: “He forgot her birthday for the third year in a row.”

You can see the comic strip by visiting the website of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. However, if your computer has Norton Internet Security, you may first need to adjust your Privacy Control.

If you are unable to see the actual comic strip, the information about the four frames presented above is accurate and complete.

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NOTICE: This story was migrated from the old software that used to run Mensactivism.org. Unfortunately, user comments did not get included in the migration. However, you may view a copy of the original story, with comments, at the following link:

http://news.mensactivism.org/articles/05/01/24/0445230.shtml

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