Comments (21) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   RinaFarina said, about 9 hours ago

   I was actually expecting to get the cartoon for Feb. 8, but here I am making the first comment for Feb. 9. So anyway, I will re-post my comment from yesterday (it was the last one, so I expect no one saw it):

   @piratePTG, you are saying? that men shouldn’t fight in wars? so then if the sexes are to be equal, neither should women.

   not sure what else your post could possibly mean.

   or that the men are too young? so they shouldn’t be fighting till they are older?

   @joe, you say “there is no cure for war-zone-related PTSD”. excuse me, but how do you know? how can you be sure? Shouldn’t you better say, “At the present time, there is no known cure….”?

   Just because no one has found one yet, doesn’t mean none exists.

   @pbarnrob, what did ike say? These posts often confuse me, because I’m not that familiar with recent American history.

2. 

   Fairportfan2 said, about 9 hours ago

   From “yesterday”:

   Joe-Allen “Joe” Doty said

   If she meets the man who tormented her, she might do some things which should never happen.

   Speak for yourself.

   I’d say her former assailant comes under the Texas “Needed Killin’” law.

   EDIT: No - i am not one of those who believes every rapist should be castrated and then executed.

   I am one who believes that anyone who preys on his/her fellow soldiers, resulting in dissension and suspicion in the ranks, in a situation where everyone is pretty much needing to depend on everyone else to keep them as safe and sound as possible should come under the same rubric as deserters in the heat.

3. 

   Joe-Allen "Joe" Doty said, about 8 hours ago

   Getting rid of her tormentor will not stop the trauma she suffered.

   Castration does NOT stop a person from committing rape.

   Haven’t you ever heard of “rape by instrumentation?”

   The guy who caused Melissa to have the traumatic experience should have been tried in a court-martial and put in Leavenworth for the next 20 years or more (if he were a real person, of course).

4. 

   rayannina said, about 8 hours ago

   Well … can’t we do that AND castrate the rapists? It doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive, does it?

5. 

   Joe-Allen "Joe" Doty said, about 8 hours ago

   So, what I wrote is a question of semantics? I didn’t claim that there would never be a cure for PTSD.

   I wrote in the PRESENT TENSE, ” there is NO cure for war-zone related PTSD.” “Is NO” does not equal “will never be.”

   I have met a few men who were Vietnam Veterans and they thought they would never experience PTSD when they returned to the States and got released from active duty.

   A decade or more later, something happened to trigger a war-zone related flashback and they reacted to it as though they were back in Nam and under attack.

6. 

   Joe-Allen "Joe" Doty said, about 8 hours ago

   Why is the stout-looking woman talking to Melissa thinking she looks sexier in a war zone when her uniform looks just like the ones the chunky men wear?

   Melissa is positive that she doesn’t like being looked at like a sex object.

7. 

   Kiba65 said, about 8 hours ago

   On comments today,,,”Whew”..

8. 

   Fer Lefer said, about 8 hours ago

   Ahhhh… did I lost something here? It’s 01:06 AM, and there is too much turbulence in the forum…

   …and I prefer a seven, by the way…

9. 

   Ravenswing said, about 7 hours ago

   There was a big case in NC ten years or so back, where a judge gave three convicted rapists their choice: either to be castrated or spend a long time behind bars.

   Now like most everyone else, I was jumping up and down and yelling “Cut it off!” until I read an Ellen Goodman editorial in which she said she’d had similar sentiments, until she stopped and thought about it: would the victim feel particularly safe knowing that there were three violent criminals, walking the streets, having been castrated and quite possibly blaming her for it?

10. 

    FriscoLou said, about 6 hours ago

    Just think how we can mutilate women who commit violence against fetuses. They’re even more innocent.
    …just suggesting alternatives to your brutal and barbaric impulses.

11. 

    Joe-Allen "Joe" Doty said, about 6 hours ago

    Rape isn’t about sex; it’s about control.

    People can be raped even when the rapist has been totally emasculated previously.

12. 

    dirtmusic said, about 6 hours ago

    It’s just a cartoon folks - stop trying to be so wise.

13. 

    cdward said, about 4 hours ago

    Though just a cartoon, it is a serious subject that needs discussion (as can be attested by looking at the comments).

    My opinion? Addressing violence with violence only breeds more violence. We have a long history to show it despite our most base impulses to get revenge. Court martial (and imprison) those who abuse fellow soldiers sexually. In general, imprison those who commit rape and other forms of sexual abuse - for a very long time.

14. 

    emory458 said, about 2 hours ago

    Just a reminder - it;s te old men with more experience sending the youg in-experienced men off to war - why dont we change that around? Might find peaceful solutions a little quicker then….

15. 

    Potrzebie said, about 2 hours ago

    Ok going back to the strip. I am also guilty of fantasizing of fellow female GI’s. I did see some guy divorce his wife and hook up with a five over there. I wonder how that plumper soldier is going to capitalize off of her status?

    Oh, and guys, have you ever heard of exposure threapy? I have heard that some combat vets have felt better after that.

16. 

    royman said, about 2 hours ago

    Joe Doty’s right, rape isn’t about sex but about domination, and rapists who have been castrated still can, and do, rape. The demand for castration as a punishment for rape is a useless knee-jerk, emotional reaction and displays a total ignorance of human biology.

    @ emory458 - Heh, heh! As the old saying goes, if the fat old men who declare the wars had to fight them, we’d have world peace overnight.

17. 

    catters613 said, about 1 hour ago

    Joe-Allen said

    “Why is the stout-looking woman talking to Melissa thinking she looks sexier in a war zone when her uniform looks just like the ones the chunky men wear?”

    Are you saying the uniform makes her look like a “chunky” man? In panel four GT shows that the uniform doe’s not hide her breasts. Even if the uniform hid that fact the soldiers she’s serving with know she’s a woman.

    Melissa’s friend knows soldiers in war zones are lonely and missing intimate relationships. She says “Back home, we’re fives, sixes.” She knows the arbitrary rating system used by some people may change the number they rate someone depending on the situation, like the “dark bar at closing time” scenario.

    If Melissa’s friend were a real person I would want her to know there are men who find chunky women attractive in any situation and she may even find one who would honestly rate her a nine.

18. 

    montessoriteacher said, 44 minutes ago

    If you are so worried about violence against innocent fetuses wear a condom, get a vasectomy or keep it in your pants and you won’t have to worry about it all… if you are against abortions, don’t have one. You take care of your family and I’ll take care of mine. Worrying about other people’s private parts is way too much government control!

19. 

    Nemesys said, 37 minutes ago

    “If Melissa’s friend were a real person I would want her to know there are men who find chunky women attractive in any situation and she may even find one who would honestly rate her a nine.”

    If you have never been a “chunky woman” going through adolescence, you’ll never be able to appreciate how much like heaven it must seem for her to be found desirable by entire platoons of he-men.

    High school for “chunky” women can be pure hell. Your long-time friends desert you because you’re not “cool” enough any more, your peers either avoid you entirely or say cruel things to you behind your back or directly to your face in groups to get a laugh, you’re assigned cruel nicknames, and all during a time when you’re most sensitive and vulnerable.

    Both women here do share something in common. They both do want to be found attractive, but on their own terms and on their own time. That seems fair enough.

20. 

    notinksanymore said, 22 minutes ago

    Many states offer the voluntary castration for a lighter sentence trade. It actually helps many offenders who take the option. Castration reduces the amount of testosterone the body produces, and lower testosterone often leads to a reduction in aggression. However, most offenders will go to prison for longer before taking physical castration. We also have to be careful with the label of “rapist” or even “sex offender.” A drunk man who relieves himself in an alley is technically a sex offender. And many states have their statutes written in such a way that an 18 year old who has consensual sex with his 17 year old girlfriend can be put in jail for rape. The parents have the right to press charges, even if the girl doesn’t want to. I am very thankful that the La. legislature considered that and put safeguards in the statutory provisions.

21. 

    Susan001 said, 6 minutes ago

    I apologize for seeming insensitive, but does Mel’s friend even like men?
    She looks very butch to me; in fact, yesterday I first thought she was a man.