Dear editor,
My name is Autumn Bullard. I am a doctoral student at The University of Mississippi. I am well educated, I am a humanist, I am a feminist and I am disgusted.
The cartoon in (Tuesday’s) issue, with the obvious title “Men and relationships,” not only espouses the great heart/brain fallacy with a noted lack of grace, but it glibly suggests that men everywhere are torn between domestic violence and paternalistic overprotection. A war only solved by, what, being distracted by some other piece of ass? I am appalled The Daily Mississippian would reproduce an artifact so committed to making light of domestic violence.
We all know where that final speech bubble (“HEY LOOK AT THAT ONE”) is pointing. It gestures to a phallus The DM felt indelicate to publish. You have chosen to protect your viewership from the horrors of a cartoon penis (one I am sure would be as shoddily drawn as the other organs depicted) but not from the impropriety of domestic violence, systemic and harmful reproductions of patriarchal rhetoric, reductive notions of heteronormative masculinity, a continuation of the pathetic fallacy that is the male sex drive, or any other metric of good taste. As a result, I cannot help but question your priorities.
Quite apart from feeding off the worst case scenarios of any present minded young woman, this obnoxiously heteronormative cartoon actually suggests that the so-called rational male mind’s response to the so-called irrational woman (which so niggles him) is that he empirically determines the best course of action is to actually murder that woman. This cartoon mocks the pain of women (and really anyone else that has ever been threatened by domestic violence) and insults any man that has ever held himself to a higher standard. It reduces men to a compartmentalized network of cognitive, emotive, and sexual impulses, and diminishes the functions of each to efforts of violence, paternalism, and objectification.
Perhaps I should thank your deft judgment and this artist’s wry wit for so perfectly illustrating the point third wave feminists espouse daily; feminism isn’t anti-male, it’s a humanist agenda that promotes equal rights, thoughtful speech and the demystification of inherent power structures for all. This cartoon not only mocks the daily struggles of women, but it also makes men appear to be at war with their violent instinct and condescending moralism to the point only the idiocy of their inherently straight sex drive can save them.
That said, the most novel offense this cartoon commits (let’s be real I have long been indoctrinated with the DM’s lack of sensitivity and publishing standards) is that it simply isn’t funny, it lacks wit, or any shred of the social awareness that motivates humor. It is easy, and violently unfunny in its reproduction of ignorant rhetoric. And you chose to publish it. The next time you so lack for space that you will publish a banal yet offensive cartoon, I recommend you pull from UWire.
Cheers,
Autumn Bullard
Doctoral Student
English Department
Dear editor,
Only a short time after the Ole Miss campus has had to examine its real racism because of students hanging a noose around James Meredith’s statue, The DM has provided us with an opportunity to see the real misogyny on campus through that disgusting cartoon that suggests that men want to kill the women in their lives.
In an era where other campuses have had real discussions of rape culture, is The DM so backwater and so illiterate that it did not see it was making a joke that tacitly advocates violence against women? Or is it a deliberate attempt to make female students afraid? After all, women on other campuses are getting brutalized, why should Ole Miss women feel safe — is that the logic of the cartoon?
Do women need to carry firearms to Greek events? Why not make a cartoon about the male brain thinking this over?
Shame on you,
Anne Babson
Graduate Student
English Department
Dear editor,
As the current editor of The Daily Mississippian, you should already be aware that the newspaper published a cartoon today entitled, “Men and relationships.” This cartoon depicts—and therefore promotes—a cavalier attitude toward domestic violence. The illustration suggests that it is normal (and amusing) for men to think with regularity about killing their girlfriends.
The joke, if we can call it that, is supposed to derive from the compartmentalization of the average man’s conflicting motivations in a relationship. The penis — which is curiously not depicted, as though that would be the offensive part of this cartoon — objectifies a woman who is ostensibly not in the relationship. The heart wants to “love” and “protect” the woman, which is at odds with the brain that wants to “kill her and never get another one.”
The implication is that the most rational part of a man is driven to kill his girlfriend. He has to fight this urge on a regular basis. There is no humor in this depiction. There is no wisdom in this depiction, and there is apparently no awareness by the illustrator or The Daily Mississippian staff of how this negatively contributes to a larger conversation about domestic violence, which is a pervasive, lethal problem around the world.
Domestic violence can affect anyone, but right now I would like to address the impact on women, since the cartoonist portrays the supposed perspective of a typical male in a heterosexual relationship. According to the American Psychology Association, on average, “three or more women are murdered by their boyfriends or husbands” each day. A simple online search will yield a multitude of similar, horrifying facts. This is a life-and-death issue. The Daily Mississippian should not foster depictions that normalize violence as an inherently masculine trait that targets women-as-objects.
As an alumnus of The University of Mississippi, I hope that current students will challenge themselves to be more aware. I hope that they will not devalue the degree by perpetuating harmful and ignorant rhetoric. As editor, you should hold your contributors to a higher standard. I hope everyone involved engages in a serious conversation, and I hope that a future issue will address concerns raised by this cartoon.
Sincerely,
Maegan Poland
M.F.A. Alumna ‘13
English Department
Dear Editor,
I’m emailing to complain about the cartoon in (Tuesday’s) DM. I’m not sure what y’all were thinking when you ran this – it’s offensive, not funny, unoriginal, heteronormative and most significantly, the suggestion of violence against women as a “normal” male reaction is incredibly disturbing. As is the suggestion that women are “interchangeable” subjects to male desire. Surely you’re aware of how rampant rape and sexual assault are on college campuses. Surely you’re aware that last year in California, a teenage boy literally gunned down a crowd of women as a misogynistic act. Sexual violence and misogyny are not a joke, and the reason it persists is because it’s normalized – through idiotic cartoons like this one. Good humor doesn’t reaffirm social inequalities, it subverts them. I’d really like to see y’all issue an apology.
Best,
Marty Cain
M.F.A. Student
English Department
