Post by K-Box on Oct 28, 2008 21:21:46 GMT -8
No? You don't?
Well, lucky for you, psychousagi posted the whole story on scans_daily.
As ham-handed and cringe-worthy as this Old-School Marvel After-School Special might seem to our modern storytelling sensibilities, I have to say, there's a lot that it does right.
Back in the days when most portrayals of sexual assault in the mainstream media still amounted to "stranger-in-the-bushes rape" committed by obviously creepy, often older men (and ALWAYS men, never NOT men), this simple little PSA comic showed that both men AND women, who were relatively young themselves, were capable of committing the sexual abuse of children.
More importantly, it addressed the fear and pain that a child would feel, from being violated by an adult whom they'd previously liked and trusted so much, as well as the guilt that a child would feel, from sensing that they've somehow done something "wrong," to displease either the adult who violated them or the adults they've been told to "keep a secret" from.
Even more importantly, it gave an iconic superhero like Spider-Man a background as a survivor of sexual abuse, but it didn't reduce his life story to that one moment. On average, one out of every four women, and one out of every six men, suffers such an assault during his or her lifetime, and yes, that's obviously going to be a huge trauma for them to recover from, but the mistake that too many writers make is to assume that such an event will somehow exclusively define those people's lives, like Bruce Wayne seeing his parents get shot turned him into Batman. By contrast, what Peter Parker's story shows here is that you can heal from this type of hurt, and it doesn't make you "damaged" or "broken" or "unlovable" or any other such nonsense.
Most importantly, though, this PSA comic, for as clunky as its plotting and narration might seem to our more sophisticated tastes, deals with this subject in a sensitive, non-threatening way, that makes it clear to kids that it's okay to tell, if something like this is happening to you.
Well, lucky for you, psychousagi posted the whole story on scans_daily.
As ham-handed and cringe-worthy as this Old-School Marvel After-School Special might seem to our modern storytelling sensibilities, I have to say, there's a lot that it does right.
Back in the days when most portrayals of sexual assault in the mainstream media still amounted to "stranger-in-the-bushes rape" committed by obviously creepy, often older men (and ALWAYS men, never NOT men), this simple little PSA comic showed that both men AND women, who were relatively young themselves, were capable of committing the sexual abuse of children.
More importantly, it addressed the fear and pain that a child would feel, from being violated by an adult whom they'd previously liked and trusted so much, as well as the guilt that a child would feel, from sensing that they've somehow done something "wrong," to displease either the adult who violated them or the adults they've been told to "keep a secret" from.
Even more importantly, it gave an iconic superhero like Spider-Man a background as a survivor of sexual abuse, but it didn't reduce his life story to that one moment. On average, one out of every four women, and one out of every six men, suffers such an assault during his or her lifetime, and yes, that's obviously going to be a huge trauma for them to recover from, but the mistake that too many writers make is to assume that such an event will somehow exclusively define those people's lives, like Bruce Wayne seeing his parents get shot turned him into Batman. By contrast, what Peter Parker's story shows here is that you can heal from this type of hurt, and it doesn't make you "damaged" or "broken" or "unlovable" or any other such nonsense.
Most importantly, though, this PSA comic, for as clunky as its plotting and narration might seem to our more sophisticated tastes, deals with this subject in a sensitive, non-threatening way, that makes it clear to kids that it's okay to tell, if something like this is happening to you.