Cathy Classics by Cathy Guisewite for June 07, 2010

Cathy stayed home from work sick today?

I started getting ready for swimsuit season Jan1. Unfortunately the gym was closed. I ought to see if they’re open yet.

Not only do women endure more in the process of buying a swimsuit, they pay more–a lot more.

So why are women such doormats? Why don’t they just tell the swimsuit sales people where to stick it, go pick up a pair of shorts and a tank top and head for the beach?

Enquiring minds want to know…

LOL, Lewreader! Once again, thanks for my daily laugh!

I don’t think we’re exactly doormats, puddleglum. Cathy is turning this into an ordeal, but that’s what she does best. Shorts and a tank top aren’t exactly going to work well though either. Ideally, she could go to a discount store, pick one up off the rack, and go to the pool/beach without worrying about it. But that would be a boring comic. Once again, this comic doesn’t reflect most people’s normal lives. There might be bits and pieces that we can relate to, but we certainly don’t spend days in the dressing room talking to wacky saleswomen and spending half of our salary on one item.

She could save herself a whole lot of stress and aggravation by heading to the nearest clothing optional resort/beach. Of course being Cathy that would just open up a whole ‘nother series of anxieties: “Aack, I’m too white! Aack, I’m too fat, round, saggy, wrinkly….!”

I just read the Cathy bio on the right. She has a Career? Professional shopper?

I know it’s my pet peeve, but she really should stop shopping once or twice a month to go to work, doncha think?

She goes through this agony of swimsuit buying every year for over 30 years now. When do we ever see her at the beach or pool? Inquiring minds want to know which suit she finally decided looked good on her.

puddleglum1066, a part of the problem with that idea is that many pools do not allow you to wear street clothes in the water. Also, a tank top is probably not going to give a woman the support she needs from a bra. If a bra is worn under the shirt, it’s going to take a long time to dry off, being an extra layer of clothing. That’s a good thing sometimes, but uncomfortable other times, not to mention embarrassing wet sections as you wait for it to dry.

The truly dumb question is why doesn’t she just accept she’s flabby and be happy?

My swimsuit season strategy is “pull the old one out of storage”. Oh, and I didn’t buy it; it was a gift.

Tell me, does Cathy ever intend to swim, or does she just do this because it’s mandatory?

There’s a lot of anti-feminist thinking that women just seem to accept without questioning it. It just comes and goes. It’s four steps forward, three and a half steps back.

In the sixties, big strides were made in the way women lived. Some decades later, we lost very much of that - force of habit, I guess. Oh well, at least there’s no more “Help Wanted - Male” and “Help Wanted - Female” columns in the newspaper. (Yes, I am old enough to have lived thru that time.)

Too bad the Equal Rights Amendment never got passed. It would have helped.

But the fundamental injustice still applies:

“To men a man is but a mind. Who cares what face he carries or what form he wears? But woman’s self is woman’s body - oh, stay with me love and do not let me go - But heed the warning that the sage has said: A woman absent is a woman dead.”

written by Ambrose Bierce, about 100 years ago. Has anything changed since then?

She’s been trying on swimsuits for 3 months – read my lips – there aren’t any that look good on aging women – and being pudgy certainly doesn’t help.