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Speaker 1: M if. I strapped my silver word to five pound

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Speaker 1: weights while I burn more calories than I eat eat,

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Speaker 1: having worn yoga pants for twelve months in a row,

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Speaker 1: I greet the universe with not my stock. I look

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Speaker 1: for achievement. I only see worry, worry. Why are my

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Speaker 1: blunders so clear my triumph so blurry? A AC, sorry, ac, sorry, okay.

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Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about Kathy comics. She

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Speaker 1: burst into the world in nineteen seventy six. She's at what,

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Speaker 1: She's out on dates and she don't like politics. From

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Speaker 1: mama and urban to feminist friends. She's fighting all the

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Speaker 1: stands it with chocolate and hay. She's fighting back to

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Speaker 1: stressed with success. Let's go to see that o Cathy

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Speaker 1: Bacayan cat. She's got a luck going all. My name

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Speaker 1: is Jamie Loftus. I am a comedian and podcaster in

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Speaker 1: that order, by the way, and I've created shows like

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Speaker 1: Lolita Podcast, a show about the lingering cultural impact of

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Speaker 1: Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, and My Year in Mensa, a show

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Speaker 1: about joining me high i Q Society Mensa and accidentally

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Speaker 1: making my life a complete disaster for a year. I'm

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Speaker 1: very excited to be talking to you this summer about

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Speaker 1: Kathy comics. My favorite fixations tend to be sort of

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Speaker 1: innocuous things that have been floating around in pop culture

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Speaker 1: for a long time that we don't really think about.

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Speaker 1: And that's very, very much what's going on with the

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Speaker 1: Kathy comics. And as someone who grew up listening to

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Speaker 1: the Kathy comic character be used as shorthand for woman

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Speaker 1: who's stressed, I was really interested to find out if

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Speaker 1: the criticism around this property was valid or perhaps lazy

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Speaker 1: and full of ship. I grew up with a completely

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Speaker 1: warped idea of who this cultural figure was. By the

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Speaker 1: time I was a sentient person. Sometimes in the two thousands,

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Speaker 1: Kathy was more frequently used as a punchline than as

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Speaker 1: a work that evolved considerably over time. My mom loved Kathy,

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Speaker 1: and I knew I was legally obligated to think that

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Speaker 1: anything my mom loved sucked. Until I came back to

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Speaker 1: her work now in my late twenties, no one had

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Speaker 1: really challenged that at all, and so I was fascinated

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Speaker 1: when I started to read these comics to find that

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Speaker 1: most of these impressions that I had formed as a

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Speaker 1: kid seemed more based on the comics, advertising and merchandizing

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Speaker 1: rather than the actual thirty four years of daily content

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Speaker 1: that it produced. There are definitely elements of satire and

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Speaker 1: commentary that never really got the attention that I think

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Speaker 1: that they deserve. Even Kathy guys A White has told

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Speaker 1: me throughout the process of making this show that she

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Speaker 1: was initially nervous about me trying to make this show

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Speaker 1: at all because a lot of feminists have been very

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Speaker 1: quick to dismiss her work instead of actually reading and

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Speaker 1: engaging with it over the years. So I get her hesitation,

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Speaker 1: But there's a lot more than meets the eye here.

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Speaker 1: So I ask that you leave your cultural osmosis lazy

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Speaker 1: Kathy takes at the door and let's take an actual look.

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Speaker 1: So let me tell you about Kathy. Kathy was a

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Speaker 1: newspaper comic strip that ran from nineteen seventy six until

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Speaker 1: two thousand and ten. Every strip was written and illustrated

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Speaker 1: by Kathy guys White, a woman who left her job

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Speaker 1: at the advertising agency she'd worked her way up at

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Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies, submitted her drawings to the Universal

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Speaker 1: Press Syndicate at the insistence of her own mom and

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Speaker 1: continued to work at that ad agency until she was

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Speaker 1: sure the comic strip was a hit, and it was

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Speaker 1: a hit. The Cathy strip began when Kathy guys White

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Speaker 1: was only twenty six years old, and it quickly grew

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Speaker 1: into a national phenomenon in the United States, peaking in

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Speaker 1: the late nineteen eighties and early nineteen nineties. And that's

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Speaker 1: not for no reason. For many loyal comic readers, Kathy

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Speaker 1: was the first consistent comic strip in the newspaper that

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Speaker 1: dealt with a woman's life, written by a woman who

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Speaker 1: was also carrying the same name as her creator. The

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Speaker 1: Kathy comic character, while not a direct reflection of her author,

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Speaker 1: shared the traits of being a single working woman in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies who struggles with dating, overeating, work, and

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Speaker 1: her relationship with her mother and friends. Here's how Kathy

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Speaker 1: guys White herself described the themes of the comic in

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Speaker 1: four piece in the Detroit Free p Us Food. Men

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Speaker 1: eat because they're hungry. Women eat to reward themselves for

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Speaker 1: good behavior and to comfort themselves for pain, sorrow, or

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Speaker 1: because they're bored or excited or tired or full of pep.

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Speaker 1: Any problem can be solved by consuming large quantities of eminem's.

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Speaker 1: For example, every woman knows that love relationships are very

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Speaker 1: confusing to career women. If you're so self sufficient, why

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Speaker 1: do you feel like you need a man, especially an

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Speaker 1: MCP like Irving. Don't know what m c P means.

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Speaker 1: If you prize your independence, how come you want to

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Speaker 1: make yourself vulnerable and dependent upon Irving. Such contradictions in

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Speaker 1: love relationships drive career women nuts, and to the Sarah

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Speaker 1: Lee Cheesecake Box mother's a woman's first and most powerful

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Speaker 1: role model is mom, and mom is frequently quite different

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Speaker 1: from that which the career woman hopes to be herself.

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Speaker 1: We love mom, but we want to be independnt and

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Speaker 1: something else. When we find ourselves needing her comfort again,

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Speaker 1: taking her advice and mimicking her in thought word, indeed,

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Speaker 1: we are miffed at ourselves. We suspect she's pleased. She

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Speaker 1: usually is. Careers, we want it all. As previously noted,

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Speaker 1: job and home life conflict. What we believe is possible

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Speaker 1: to achieve may seem impossible in the daily reality. Unquote.

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Speaker 1: That context might make it easier to understand why there

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Speaker 1: was so much criticism of Cathy comics and it's the

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Speaker 1: criticism of her that seems pretty preserved in amber, at

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Speaker 1: least in terms of how it's been referenced in pop

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Speaker 1: culture in the last twenty years. Whenever Cathy comics come

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Speaker 1: up in pop culture, it's in a very particular way,

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Speaker 1: or that's the only runs I know about are the

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Speaker 1: ones in my panty hos my sighs one out time

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Speaker 1: I fell asleep on the sand and when I woke up,

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Speaker 1: I was in the tank at sea World, Embarrassments, Fladges,

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Speaker 1: swept drops, hot Flash, Herbic, Monday's at This is a

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Speaker 1: Kathy cartoon. Yeah, that cartoon copied exactly what you said

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Speaker 1: to the other date. Chocolate chocolate, chocolate ac She said

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Speaker 1: every night, every night, the same thing. That's a tad

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Speaker 1: bitchy for a takeout lady. Do you think I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: rut a food ruts. I'm sitting home with my cat

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Speaker 1: ordering the same thing almost every night. The only thing

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Speaker 1: that can make it sadder if I had a Kathy

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Speaker 1: comic taped to my refrigerator door. Can never say Kathy's

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Speaker 1: comic to me again. All three of these examples, to me,

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Speaker 1: exemplify the popular image of the Kathy comic. The critics

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Speaker 1: of this comic portray Kathy the character as pathetic as

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Speaker 1: this caricature of womanhood. A woman who can't lose ten pounds,

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Speaker 1: a woman who can't get a date, a woman who

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Speaker 1: has an overbearing mother who's two involved in her life

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Speaker 1: well into her thirties forties. At some point in the comic,

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Speaker 1: her age of the cubs kind of ambiguous. At her peak,

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Speaker 1: the Kathy character was as loved by her fans for

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Speaker 1: being terminally stressed out and overextended as she was hated

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Speaker 1: by her detractors for being cringe e. And I'm here

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Speaker 1: to tell you that these haters, these detractors simply have

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Speaker 1: not read enough Kathy comics. Are you going to believe

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Speaker 1: Carrie Bradshaw rich coming from her? By the way, She's

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Speaker 1: a literal Kathy comic over someone who spent the entire

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Speaker 1: spring of reading thousands of acts too, feminist movements worth

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Speaker 1: of acts, seven full presidencies worth of acts. Listener, I

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Speaker 1: ask you because I have read every single Kathy comic

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Speaker 1: and I really like to talk to people about it.

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Speaker 1: Here's a sample of the people I've entered you for

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Speaker 1: this show. Comic artists from multiple generations, women in the workforce,

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Speaker 1: at the height of the comics popularity, cultural anthropologists, experts

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Speaker 1: and critics of diet culture, and my mom saying what

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Speaker 1: their immediate association with Kathy comics is. Here's what my

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Speaker 1: mom thinks it's about. Well, that's a lot of questions

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Speaker 1: because I have so many thanks feelings um that she's

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Speaker 1: underappreciated and I always wanted her to work on, you know,

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Speaker 1: be presented better with her self confidence. I don't know

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Speaker 1: how to say that she's always aiming to please others

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Speaker 1: and suffering in silence. Okay, that wasn't helpful. Here's what

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Speaker 1: Kathy guys White says it's about. I think when when

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Speaker 1: I started doing them, I mean, of course it was

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Speaker 1: originally just for me to dump my frustrations on paper,

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Speaker 1: but it also I know from doing the comic strip

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Speaker 1: that one thing I can contribute to the world is

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Speaker 1: uh uh, you know, commiseration. I'll say, so, why am

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Speaker 1: I doing this show? Well, first, because I think Kathy

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Speaker 1: as a cultural touchstone is really interesting. The majority knee

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Speaker 1: jerk reaction to Kathy Cannon is rooted in dismissal, in oversimplification,

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Speaker 1: and not the kind of reception you'd associate with the

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Speaker 1: legacy of other long running, fairly repetitive comic strips. As

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Speaker 1: the years have passed, while some of Cathy's colleagues have

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Speaker 1: ascended to near sthood Think You're Charles schultz Is and

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Speaker 1: others have become full on Trump supporting n F T.

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Speaker 1: Hawking nightmares think Mr Dilbert, this popular view of Cathy's

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Speaker 1: work has remained pretty static. I think that Kathy is

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Speaker 1: a symbol of how women's anxieties and concern can be

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Speaker 1: considered embarrassing or not worthy of discussion if the character

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Speaker 1: in question isn't a perfect role model. Also, I just

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Speaker 1: wanted to make a fun little summer podcast for the girls.

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Speaker 1: Also I love Kathy. So today we're going to look

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Speaker 1: at who Cathy was as a character on the newspaper

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Speaker 1: page from six and who she's become. Because yes, the

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Speaker 1: Kathy comic strip made a quiet but regular comeback last

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Speaker 1: year on Instagram to document Guyswhite's feelings about the pandemic lockdown.

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Speaker 1: And yes, you may find the Kathy character frustrating at times,

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Speaker 1: and no, you might not like girl all the time.

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Speaker 1: And no it's not the peak of feminist discourse. But

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Speaker 1: it never said it was going to be. That's what

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Speaker 1: Cathy is about. She tries a lot and she fails

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Speaker 1: a lot, and that doesn't make the existence of her

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Speaker 1: work not worth discus using. I think it makes it

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Speaker 1: especially worth discussing. What's included in the comic strip is important.

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Speaker 1: What is left out of the discussion of the comic

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Speaker 1: strip is equally important, and we're going to be discussing

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Speaker 1: it all. So please join me in getting Act pilled.

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Speaker 1: This is your last chance. After this, there is no

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Speaker 1: turning back. You take the blue pill. The story ends,

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Speaker 1: You go back to your podcasting app, you turn on

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Speaker 1: the Daily or whatever ship you listen to, and believe

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Speaker 1: whatever you want to believe. You take the act pill.

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Speaker 1: You stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep

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Speaker 1: the Cathy rabbit hole goes. Remember all I'm offering is

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Speaker 1: the truth, nothing more. I hope that was good. I

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Speaker 1: haven't seen the movie. Okay. Like many people my age

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Speaker 1: and many people not my age, I old a lot

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Speaker 1: of anger and resentment towards the Boomer generation, and Kathy

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Speaker 1: is unavoidably an icon of the Boomer generation and viewed

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Speaker 1: one way, Kathy guys Wides work is a day to

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Speaker 1: day chronicle of a boomer woman over the course of

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Speaker 1: thirty four years. And with this boomer womanhood comes a

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Speaker 1: lot of taglines. It goes without saying that there are

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Speaker 1: a lot of Kathy comics, and the collections released had

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Speaker 1: titles like men should come with instruction booklets, fourteen dollars

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Speaker 1: in the bank and a two d doll face in

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Speaker 1: my purse. I'd scream, except I look so fabulous, abs

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Speaker 1: of steel, buns of cinnamon. You get the idea, and

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Speaker 1: the taglines sold big time, And I will admit it

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Speaker 1: is easy and tempting to discuss Kathy as a protagonist

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Speaker 1: who says chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, ac because well, she does

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Speaker 1: say that chocolate, chocolate, chocolate what. But I think dismissing

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Speaker 1: her entirely as an insult to every woman who's ever

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Speaker 1: existed is a huge mistake. Kathy occupies a pretty interesting

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Speaker 1: place in American history and American feminism. She's a part

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Speaker 1: of a generation of women working full time to support themselves,

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Speaker 1: the boomers, putting off marriage but still desiring a fulfilling

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Speaker 1: and equitable ish relationship, struggling with whether she wants a

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Speaker 1: child of her own, while receiving a lot of external

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Speaker 1: pressure from her mother, who is a member of the

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Speaker 1: Silent generation. Women of Cathy's mother's generation were generally not

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Speaker 1: allowed to have careers and had to define themselves primarily

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Speaker 1: through being mothers. Kathy, the character was created by a

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Speaker 1: woman who was navigating many, if not all, of these

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Speaker 1: struggles herself, who also happened to win the highest award

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Speaker 1: in cartooning doing it, the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist

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Speaker 1: of the Year, who also happened to win an Emmy

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Speaker 1: for Outstanding Animated Program for a Kathy special that ran

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Speaker 1: on CBS in the nineteen eighties, who also adopted and

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Speaker 1: raised a child on her own, who got married, who

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Speaker 1: got divorced, and who ended her comic strip in two

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Speaker 1: thousand ten on her own terms. I grew up aware

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Speaker 1: of Kathy comics, but had basically no idea what they

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Speaker 1: were supposed to be about. There's plenty of daily comics

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Speaker 1: for kids, your Garfield, your Calvin's and Hobbs is is,

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Speaker 1: and your family circuses if you're not the brightest uh.

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Speaker 1: But Kathy's audience is adults, specifically adult women of that time.

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Speaker 1: Reading it back as an adult now I kind of

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Speaker 1: get it. I also have a complicated history with food,

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Speaker 1: past and present. I have worried about the role love

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Speaker 1: has in my life, whether it's romantic or with friends

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Speaker 1: or with myself. I don't want to even talk about

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Speaker 1: my mom with you in a public setting. And I

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Speaker 1: feel shitty about work constantly, especially now that my algorithm

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Speaker 1: seems fine tuned to see my peers just rocketing past

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Speaker 1: me each and every day. I also have a lot

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Speaker 1: of worries that the Kathy comic does not seem to.

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Speaker 1: I have notes for the issues that she chooses to

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Speaker 1: tackle versus the ones she doesn't. But the function of

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Speaker 1: this character is taking very commonly held insecurities for women

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Speaker 1: of that time and saying them out loud in the

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Speaker 1: newspaper every day. And whether you love it or you

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Speaker 1: hate it, no one else was doing that. As we'll

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Speaker 1: be discussing quite a bit in this show. Kathy the

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Speaker 1: character is also a very particular type of woman. She

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Speaker 1: is an upwardly mobile, straight white woman with a steady

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Speaker 1: white collar office job and a disposable income that would

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Speaker 1: honestly be impressive even without inflation for today's money. She's

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Speaker 1: got a support system through her parents who are very

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Speaker 1: present in her life, and she's got her girlfriends. She

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Speaker 1: truly embodies someone who feminism in America has traditionally served.

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Speaker 1: She doesn't seem to have friends who are not straight

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Speaker 1: or white. And while she struggles with money, she never

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Speaker 1: struggles with poverty. She's a middle class, white boomer lady,

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Speaker 1: and that comes with significant baggage, and it's what a

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Speaker 1: lot of this series is about. Kathy guys White has

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Speaker 1: gone viral on Twitter a couple of times this year

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Speaker 1: when pictures of her in her twenties started circulating. In

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Speaker 1: these pictures, she is a traditionally attractive, thin woman with

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Speaker 1: straight brown hair, holding her Kathy comics. Where were you

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Speaker 1: when you found out the lady who made Kathy comics

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Speaker 1: is super hot? One person said, the woman who made

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Speaker 1: Kathy comics was skinny and hot. The comic wasn't a

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Speaker 1: self insert at all. Another person said, just learned that

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Speaker 1: the woman who drew the Kathy comics was thin and

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Speaker 1: conventionally hot. All right, said a creator, I really like

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Speaker 1: five years ago. Now, these were all on Twitter, so

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Speaker 1: this barely made saying. But these takes are very clicky

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Speaker 1: and more stream of consciousness than actually saying anything. Kathy

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Speaker 1: guys White does look conventionally hot in these pictures from

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Speaker 1: the seventies, Yes, but that's obviously operating on a pretty

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Speaker 1: rigid interpretation of hot, and a simple Google would have

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Speaker 1: revealed that Kathy guys White struggled with her weight and

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Speaker 1: body image significantly as a young adult, and continued to

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Speaker 1: obsessively monitor her weight and try diets throughout her adulthood.

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Speaker 1: Another Google would have revealed that the Kathy character wasn't

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Speaker 1: intended as a one to one insert for its author,

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Speaker 1: and that naming the character after herself was the only

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Speaker 1: way that the Universal Press Syndicate would agree to publish

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Speaker 1: her work at all. So, no, she's not a fraud.

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Speaker 1: It's not as Sunday funny as psi op situation. It's

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Speaker 1: just people on Twitter being unwilling to do a single

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Speaker 1: fact check in their entire lives. I digress. In this case,

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Speaker 1: the shocking revelation is this that a single press photo

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Speaker 1: from nineteen seventy eight may not reveal all of the

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Speaker 1: pertinent details of a person's life or career, much less

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Speaker 1: the history of their body or their mind. It's shocking,

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Speaker 1: I know. To me, Kathy is an often frustrating contradiction

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Speaker 1: that feels familiar. She wants to have it all the

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Speaker 1: way she thinks women deserve to, but her attempts to

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Speaker 1: do that leave her feeling unsatisfied and exhausted. She fails constantly.

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Speaker 1: She fails at dieting, she fails at negotiating a fair salary,

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Speaker 1: she fails at establishing boundaries. She fails at loving herself.

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Speaker 1: We were watching a normal woman with a normal body

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Speaker 1: and a lot of insecurities, contradictions, and neuroticisms, fail and

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Speaker 1: be made to feel like a failure all the time.

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Speaker 1: I don't think this has no value because it's hard

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Speaker 1: to think of pop culture where I've seen that reflected,

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Speaker 1: where it doesn't just resolve in the space of a

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Speaker 1: single comic strip or a single episode, depending on how

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Speaker 1: you feel, the Cathy comic strip concluding with her getting

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Speaker 1: married and having a baby could either resolve nicely or,

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Speaker 1: as many fans indicated, could be seen as her settling

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Speaker 1: for what she thought she deserved, what she thought that

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Speaker 1: she should want, or what others wanted for her. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't seem like the Cathy of the comic strip ever

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Speaker 1: really found herself. So let's set the stage. Here I

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Speaker 1: got a chance to look at a Funnies page from

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Speaker 1: the day The Kathy comic debut in the Detroit Free

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Speaker 1: Press on November twenty second, nineteen seventy six. Here is

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Speaker 1: who she was sharing the page with. Don't worry if

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Speaker 1: you haven't heard of these. There was The Dumplings by

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Speaker 1: Fred Lucky, a comic about a young couple who are

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Speaker 1: very in love, and most of the jokes are about

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Speaker 1: how they're overweight. There was Big George by Virgil Parch,

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Speaker 1: with George being a single comic strip husband whose wife

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Speaker 1: father's him. There was Broomhilda, the green skinned comic strip

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Speaker 1: which by our Myers, who made a big splash in

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Speaker 1: the seventies. There was Dondee by Gus Edson and Erwin Haysen,

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Speaker 1: a strip about a World War Two orphan who remained

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Speaker 1: a World War Two orphan well into the nineteen eighties

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Speaker 1: for some reason. There was Gasoline Alley by Frank King

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Speaker 1: and Dick Moore's a comic strip that's now been running

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Speaker 1: for over a century and is about quote traditional American values,

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Speaker 1: unquote drier conclusions. There there was High and Lowis by

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Speaker 1: Mort Walker and Dick Brown, a spinoff of the Beatle

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Speaker 1: Bailey strip that was a celebration of mundane white American suburbia.

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Speaker 1: There was The Girls by Franklin Folger, who was a

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Speaker 1: man in a suit who described his strip as quote

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Speaker 1: poking fun at adult women in funny hats unquote that

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Speaker 1: ran for over twenty years and was about how rich

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Speaker 1: women with husbands are so shallow. There was Brother Juniper

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Speaker 1: by Fred McCarthy, a comic strip about Catholic friars by

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Speaker 1: a Catholic friar. And there was Modesty Blaze by Peter O'Donnell,

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Speaker 1: a serialized story about a fem fatale who was written

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Speaker 1: and illustrated by men for almost forty years. Are we

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Speaker 1: noticing a pattern here? And then there was the first

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Speaker 1: Cathy comic strip. But before I tell you what happens

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Speaker 1: in the strip, we have to introduce a few people

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Speaker 1: to voice the people in Cathy's life. So here they are.

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Speaker 1: This is Cathy, played by Jackie Michelle Johnson. Hi, I'm Kathy.

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Speaker 1: Here's Kathy's on and off boyfriend who she eventually marries,

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Speaker 1: even though that is annoying to me. His name is

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Speaker 1: Irving and he's played by Miles Gray. Hi. I'm irving.

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Speaker 1: This is Kathy's friend Andrea, who's best known for encouraging

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Speaker 1: Kathy to get more involved in the women's movement in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies and eighties. She's played by Melissa Losada Oliva. Hi,

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Speaker 1: I'm Andrea. Here's Charlene, Cathy's work wife, who falls on

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Speaker 1: the other side of Kathy ideologically. She is extremely interested

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Speaker 1: in finding a husband and is often accused of being desperate.

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Speaker 1: She is played by Maggie may Fish. Hi, I'm Charlene.

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Speaker 1: And of course, there's Kathy's mother, Anne, who is most

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Speaker 1: commonly referred to in the strip as Mom. She's a

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Speaker 1: lifelong housewife who wants her daughter to get married and

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Speaker 1: have children, and struggles between being supportive of her daughter's

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Speaker 1: career and modern lifestyle and with her own self image.

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Speaker 1: She's played by my producer Sophie Lichtman's Mom. Hi, I'm ann.

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Speaker 1: So the rest of this episode is going to be

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Speaker 1: a look at the Kathy character's life in the strip,

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Speaker 1: beginning on November two. In this first strip, Kathy is

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Speaker 1: in her twenties. She's standing by the phone and she's

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Speaker 1: thinking to herself, Kathy, he's hurt you too. Many times.

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Speaker 1: Next time he calls, just bite your tongue and give

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Speaker 1: him your answer. The phone rings, Kathy seems to literally

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Speaker 1: bite her tongue. In the last frame of the comic,

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Speaker 1: she picks up the phone with a swollen tongue and says, yes, Kathy,

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Speaker 1: she's funny. Okay. So here's what happens to Kathy over

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Speaker 1: the years, and it's a lot more than you'd think.

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Speaker 1: At the start of the comic, Kathy's in her twenties

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Speaker 1: and in a relationship with Irving that he refuses to define.

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Speaker 1: She has a low level job at an office call

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Speaker 1: Product Testing Services Incorporated, working door to door for a

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Speaker 1: man named Mr. Pinkley who doesn't respect her or treat

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Speaker 1: her equally. Her friends are Andrea, who lives in the

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Speaker 1: same apartment building as Kathy, and Charlene, the secretary at

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Speaker 1: Product Testing ink that makes even less money than Kathy does.

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Speaker 1: Early on, Andrea tries to get Kathy involved in second

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Speaker 1: wave feminism by attending consciousness raising sessions with other women

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Speaker 1: and learn to live life without a desire or dependency

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Speaker 1: on men. Kathy, while supportive, is clearly uncomfortable. Welcome to

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Speaker 1: the Women of Today Club, Please repeat our motto after me.

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Speaker 1: I am woman. I am woman, I am equal and independent.

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Speaker 1: I am independent. I can survive without men? Are you nuts?

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Speaker 1: In the seventies and eighties, there is a particular focus

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Speaker 1: on this theme. Kathy is torn between the second wave

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Speaker 1: feminism of the nineteen seventies that was pioneered on the

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Speaker 1: liberal end with figures like Betty free Dan of the

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Speaker 1: Feminine Mystique and Gloria Steinham, and on the radical end

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Speaker 1: by figures like student activist Casey Hayden and Mary King.

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Speaker 1: We'll be talking more about this movement in future episodes,

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Speaker 1: particularly it's centering of white women, but as far as

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Speaker 1: its effect on Kathy's storyline, Kathy believes that women should

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Speaker 1: be respected as professionals and is doing what many women

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Speaker 1: of her generation did, putting off marriage and children in

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Speaker 1: order to build a career. But she still feels that

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Speaker 1: she doesn't fit into the movement that Andrea is representative

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Speaker 1: of because she's still craves male attention and love. Here's

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Speaker 1: how Irving treats her in those early years. You don't

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Speaker 1: need a cigarette, Kathy, just concentrate on other things. Oh, Irving,

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Speaker 1: maybe we could do something to take my mind off

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Speaker 1: it I have a cigarette, Kathy, Because there are other

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Speaker 1: men in Kathy's life besides Irving. While it's never shown

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Speaker 1: in the comic, obviously, Kathy Fox she Fox, and to

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Speaker 1: think that she only dreams of fucking but never does

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Speaker 1: is to fundamentally misunderstand Kathy. Here are some of her

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Speaker 1: boyfriends that sorry she fox. There's Emerson, a guy who

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Speaker 1: is completely hung up on her, but Kathy is put

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Speaker 1: off by his cleanliness. There's also Alex, Kathy's male secretary,

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Speaker 1: who Kathy is attracted to, but she can't get used

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Speaker 1: to the power dynamic of being in charge of a

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Speaker 1: man in the workplace. She deals with this pressure by

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Speaker 1: caving and ends up not giving Alex much to do,

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Speaker 1: which he kind of takes advantage of. There's this guy

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Speaker 1: from the late seventies who tries to take advantage of

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Speaker 1: the rhetoric of the women's lip movement as a way

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Speaker 1: to get someone in bed faster than they're comfortable with. Hey, baby,

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Speaker 1: how about if we don't you even want to hear

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Speaker 1: the question? No, but Kathy, my sweet, this is a

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Speaker 1: new age. There's no right and wrong anymore, No right

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Speaker 1: and no wrong. No, Kathy, there's no ethical standard anymore.

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Speaker 1: Nothing's morally good or bad. No ethics, no morals. There

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Speaker 1: are no rules anymore, Kathy, you can't worry about breaking

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Speaker 1: the rules because there aren't any rules. No rules, no right,

428
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:32,640
Speaker 1: no wrong, no ethics, no morals, no rules. This leaves

429
00:28:32,760 --> 00:28:36,080
Speaker 1: me with only one question, Walter, where does all the

430
00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 1: guilt come from? Other guys? She dates around this time,

431
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,600
Speaker 1: pullsh it like you can get to check, Kathy, if

432
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 1: you want to be equal to me so badly. At work,

433
00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,720
Speaker 1: Cathy starts a class that is consciousness Raising for men.

434
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 1: It's a play on the women's consciousness raising sessions of

435
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:57,480
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies, where women would gather to discuss inequality

436
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:01,680
Speaker 1: and organize. At Kathy's session for men, men can learn

437
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: about the changing roles of women in the late seventies,

438
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 1: and she ends up trying to teach them how to

439
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: do basic cleaning tasks at home to be less useless

440
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: in that arena. Ultimately, none of the men care and

441
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 1: everyone flunks out of the class, a classic Cathy failure.

442
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:33,840
Speaker 1: From the beginning of the strip, Kathy is in a

443
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: nearly constant battle with her body image. She always feels

444
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: that she weighs about ten pounds too much and has

445
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:46,720
Speaker 1: that standard reinforced even by feminist Andrea. Body acceptance and

446
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:50,240
Speaker 1: fat activism was definitely not a prominent component of the

447
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 1: second wave feminist movement, and so Cathy struggles with fashion

448
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:57,200
Speaker 1: trends and dreads being seen in a bathing suit above

449
00:29:57,320 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: all else. And as the seventies come to a close,

450
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: as the Equal Rights Amendment fails, and Kathy hasn't made

451
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 1: much progress in her love life or her career, so

452
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 1: Kathy gets generally frustrated. The men in her life are

453
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 1: frustrated that she wants to be independent. The women in

454
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 1: her life don't think she's independent enough. Here's an example.

455
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: Kathy is standing with Andrea outside in the rain in

456
00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:26,920
Speaker 1: this strip from nine Irving has deserted me, Andrea, And

457
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 1: it's no wonder I've been devoting all my time to

458
00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:33,080
Speaker 1: my work. I've been too caught up in May. Kathy.

459
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,720
Speaker 1: This is nineteen seventy nine. You're supposed to be caught

460
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: up in me. You're supposed to rejoice in me. You're

461
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:45,360
Speaker 1: supposed to revel in me. Wonderful. Now I'm stuck with me. Okay.

462
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 1: Here's a strip from the same year that reflects Kathy's

463
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,480
Speaker 1: view of herself. I spent twelve hours a day working

464
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 1: at a meaningless job for a pathetic salary. I spend

465
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 1: the other twelve hours trying to save a floundering relationship

466
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 1: from jealousy boredom. In mutual disguise, I am woman. I

467
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 1: have it all, the worst of both worlds. In the

468
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:09,240
Speaker 1: early nineteen eighties, there's a lot going on at Cathy's work.

469
00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:12,680
Speaker 1: She is eventually promoted to a full time office position,

470
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 1: where she remains in vaguely middle management for the most

471
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,520
Speaker 1: of the strip. She's bad with money, but she is

472
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 1: financially comfortable. She's firmly upper middle class. She's sickened by yuppies,

473
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 1: and yet she aspires to be a yuppie. This is

474
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,719
Speaker 1: known as the eighties suburban white woman paradox. In her

475
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: place of work, a few things of note happen. First,

476
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,280
Speaker 1: she is sexually harassed by her boss, Mr. Pinkley after

477
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: work when he guilts her into letting him into her

478
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 1: home and then forces a kiss on her. Cathy is shocked,

479
00:31:45,400 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 1: punches him in the nose. He passes out from her

480
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,480
Speaker 1: punching him in the nose overnight, and he still goes

481
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: into the office next day and sort of plays it cool,

482
00:31:56,160 --> 00:32:00,040
Speaker 1: as if spending the night at Cathy's passed out and

483
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: we're punching him in the face as if they had sex.

484
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:05,800
Speaker 1: Charlie and empathizes with Kathy and says that she'll start

485
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: a whisper network to set the record straight and it's

486
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,480
Speaker 1: never a problem again. So going back a little, here

487
00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:16,760
Speaker 1: is how Pinkley weasels his way into Cathy's apartment. I

488
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 1: appreciate the ride home, Mr Pinkley, but you're my boss.

489
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 1: You can't invite your boss in for a drink. All

490
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 1: my other business associates have me in for a drink now,

491
00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,080
Speaker 1: and then I'd be hurt if you thought so little

492
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,720
Speaker 1: of our professional relationship that you couldn't even have me

493
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 1: in for a drink. Cathy, Oh okay, come on in,

494
00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:41,800
Speaker 1: Mr Pinkley. Earl. And here's how Andrea reacts when she

495
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: learns that Kathy has been harassed. Kathy, do you realize

496
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: that sexual harassment is a power play of the worst kind? Yes?

497
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 1: Do you think it's right that millions of women suffer

498
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: because they're too afraid for their jobs to take a

499
00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 1: stand against it? Nope? Right, then, what are you going

500
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 1: to do about Mr Pinkley. I'll show him. I'll quit

501
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 1: my job. Wrong, wrong, wrong, I do better on the

502
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:14,720
Speaker 1: yes or no questions. During this storyline, it's never brought

503
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 1: up that Mr Pinkley might get fired for this behavior

504
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 1: at this time. Based on how Kathy and the other

505
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,480
Speaker 1: women communicate with each other, as well as the real

506
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 1: life uptick in workplace harassment in the United States in

507
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, it's clear that this is an outcome

508
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,680
Speaker 1: that would make them safer, but wouldn't ever actually happen,

509
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,680
Speaker 1: to the point where it doesn't even seem worth discussing.

510
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: This storyline crops up again a couple of years later

511
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 1: when Kathy and Mr Pinkley have to go on a

512
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:49,360
Speaker 1: business trip together, but this time she successfully gets him

513
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,720
Speaker 1: to funk off for reasons we will get to later

514
00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 1: in the show. Kathy sees the Big Chill in theaters

515
00:33:57,160 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 1: five times in a row in We'll put a pin

516
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,360
Speaker 1: in that. As the decade goes on, Cathy continues to

517
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,480
Speaker 1: date irving on and off, but in the Kathy verse,

518
00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: you are canonically considered single until you're either engaged or married,

519
00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: so she's still dating like a ton of people on

520
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 1: the side. Maybe they were open. I don't really get it. Uh.

521
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 1: There is Paul, who has a kid. There's Bill, who

522
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,320
Speaker 1: Kathy realizes is hung up on his ex, but she

523
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,320
Speaker 1: doesn't know how to break things off with him because

524
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,319
Speaker 1: Bill keeps saying he's definitely not hung up on his ex.

525
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,879
Speaker 1: She dates a guy named Jake, who she's really into

526
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,760
Speaker 1: until she realizes he's a self absorbed eighties Reagan adult

527
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:39,240
Speaker 1: business bitch, and she breaks up with him. There's Max,

528
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: who's way too into tech gadgets, which is a continuing

529
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 1: theme in the comic because in this rigid gender binary

530
00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 1: Cathy verse, women hate technology and men use acquiring tech

531
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:55,200
Speaker 1: gadgets to avoid expressing their feelings. This is technically game

532
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 1: or girl erasure. But I don't play games and I

533
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 1: don't even have a driver's license, so didn't bother me

534
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:04,719
Speaker 1: too much. Then there's a favorite storyline of mine, one

535
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 1: that puts Kathy in the Don Draper role. Cathy starts

536
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 1: hooking up with her younger assistant, Grant, who was both

537
00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 1: very hot and very bad at his job. She tries

538
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 1: to get off on this power imbalance in the way

539
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: that a male executive typically would, but she ends up

540
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 1: getting annoyed at the fact that Grant is so bad

541
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,840
Speaker 1: at his job and is using Cathy as an excuse

542
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:30,760
Speaker 1: to continue to be bad at his job. She breaks

543
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:34,960
Speaker 1: it off, but I repeat Kathy Fox, and younger men

544
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:37,400
Speaker 1: are obsessed with her. Andrea gets married in the mid

545
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:41,760
Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, marking a distinct point of departure for the comic.

546
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:46,480
Speaker 1: In Pique Andrea Fashion, Andrea schedules herself one week and

547
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:50,200
Speaker 1: her supercharged career woman having it all schedule to find

548
00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 1: a husband and is actually successful at doing this. She

549
00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:56,560
Speaker 1: meets a guy named Luke on a chat site who

550
00:35:56,719 --> 00:35:59,360
Speaker 1: is up to her standards, and they get married that

551
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 1: same year. It's worth saying that it is implied in

552
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:05,480
Speaker 1: the comic that Andrea hasn't had sex for maybe ten

553
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:10,160
Speaker 1: years before this happens, But anyways, she has a big

554
00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:13,359
Speaker 1: traditional wedding and all of her friends comment on how

555
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 1: the feminist wants to wear a white dress. Andrea getting

556
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 1: married sends Kathy into a tail spin because by the

557
00:36:21,719 --> 00:36:25,080
Speaker 1: mid eighties from where she's sitting, she has been encouraged

558
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:28,520
Speaker 1: to establish herself in the workplace instead of focusing on

559
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,720
Speaker 1: relationships as a part of participating in the women's liberation movement,

560
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,640
Speaker 1: and now the same friends who were encouraging her to

561
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 1: do that, we're starting to settle down. It's an act situation.

562
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,719
Speaker 1: The back half of the nineteen eighties focuses on Kathy's

563
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:48,120
Speaker 1: reaction to the progressive women's movement of the seventies, settling

564
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 1: in and backsliding into the more conservative Reagan values of

565
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 1: the Deep eighties, and the rampant rise in consumerism and

566
00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:59,800
Speaker 1: diet culture that came with that. And the babies, the

567
00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:03,200
Speaker 1: wave of babies in the mid to late eighties through

568
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:07,719
Speaker 1: Kathy and Charlene for a goddamn loop. Here's Charlene on

569
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,520
Speaker 1: the loudspeaker at work in her capacity as secretary in

570
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:16,320
Speaker 1: the mid eighties. Attention, all employees. Four of our programmers,

571
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 1: two of our lawyers, and our entire accounting department are

572
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:23,320
Speaker 1: announcing their pregnancies today. Margot, who's lectured us all on

573
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:27,720
Speaker 1: the joys of childlessness, has changed her mind. Jan who's

574
00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:30,160
Speaker 1: been in therapy for five years because of her mother,

575
00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:34,840
Speaker 1: has decided to become one. Julie, who has convinced me

576
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:37,880
Speaker 1: to call off my engagement because it conflicted with my career,

577
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,680
Speaker 1: is waltzing around like she's sprouted wings and Sheila who

578
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:46,000
Speaker 1: Cathy turns off the microphone. Babies make me very emotional.

579
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,240
Speaker 1: He is kind of funny. Then Irving cheats on Kathy,

580
00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,239
Speaker 1: because of course he does, and he then disappears from

581
00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:56,600
Speaker 1: the comic for a couple of years. Andrea is very

582
00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:00,320
Speaker 1: much a part of this wave of reproduction, something that

583
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:05,240
Speaker 1: Kathy and Charlene initially view, like the marriage, as hypocrisy

584
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:09,319
Speaker 1: and betrayal. Andrea overprepares for the birth of her kid

585
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:14,000
Speaker 1: in a classically yuppy way. She plays baby classical music

586
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,359
Speaker 1: and French tapes to her pregnant stomach, only to find

587
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 1: that her baby, Zenith, is pretty overwhelmed by all this attention.

588
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 1: Upon arriving into the world, Andrea goes to the matt

589
00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:29,720
Speaker 1: fighting for parental leave in her workplace, but ultimately loses.

590
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,560
Speaker 1: In spite of the millions of mothers in this same

591
00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 1: era facing this exact same issue, Andrea tries to raise

592
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:40,480
Speaker 1: Zenith in a gender neutral environment, but she fails at

593
00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 1: this too. The toys of the eighties were so extremely

594
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,279
Speaker 1: binary that she ends up giving up due to lack

595
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,840
Speaker 1: of options and lack of energy. Kathy, in the meantime,

596
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 1: continues to struggle at work and with irving, but buys

597
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,320
Speaker 1: her own home and adopts a dog name Elektra. Remember

598
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:02,080
Speaker 1: when people could just buy Holmes. I'm kidding, It's not

599
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,160
Speaker 1: going to happen. She spends over a week in the

600
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:07,279
Speaker 1: comic psyching herself up to ask for a raise at work,

601
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,320
Speaker 1: but she's only successful in getting a raise that is

602
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:12,960
Speaker 1: much less than her male co workers, and even that

603
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,120
Speaker 1: is only after her boss, Mr. Pinkley, finds out she's

604
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,759
Speaker 1: actively interviewing with other places. She starts to date a

605
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,279
Speaker 1: superior at work, this time a guy named Mitch, but

606
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 1: then she finds his personality annoying and breaks it off.

607
00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:29,560
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, she doesn't give a fuck. She's fucking

608
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,359
Speaker 1: It's around this time where Kathy's mom comes into play

609
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:36,480
Speaker 1: quite a bit, and we see a series of Mom's

610
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:41,200
Speaker 1: insecurities be reflected in the comic. Mom constantly bristles with

611
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:46,160
Speaker 1: Kathi and Andrea's views on feminism, but she also expresses

612
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:49,880
Speaker 1: her own confusion at her role in the world. Starting

613
00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 1: in the late seventies, Mom starts to question her life

614
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:56,800
Speaker 1: as a housewife, and the eighties brings in a series

615
00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 1: of small businesses that Mom starts with her friend Low

616
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:04,120
Speaker 1: in order to give their lives more structure and more purpose.

617
00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,560
Speaker 1: Most of these businesses are somehow tangentially related to Kathy.

618
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 1: They start a body building business to get Kathy in shape,

619
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:16,919
Speaker 1: they pivot to muffin making, then they pivot again to childcare.

620
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:21,280
Speaker 1: None of the businesses are successful, and at one point

621
00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:25,239
Speaker 1: Kathy's dad gets threatened by Mom's latest business scheme and

622
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:29,040
Speaker 1: she has to give it up. In Kathy makes the

623
00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:34,239
Speaker 1: only overt political statement of the comics Run Andrea and

624
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:38,839
Speaker 1: her mom friends convinced Kathy to canvas from Michael Ducacus.

625
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:41,719
Speaker 1: More on this in a bit, But Andrea in particular

626
00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:44,440
Speaker 1: is a big fan of Ducaucus is because of his

627
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:48,960
Speaker 1: initial plans to support working parents mothers in particular. Du

628
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,640
Speaker 1: Caucus loses, and the comic never gets specific in its

629
00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:56,399
Speaker 1: politics again. By the end of the eighties, Kathy has

630
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 1: secured what she was told she needed to secure. She

631
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,600
Speaker 1: has a steady job that she doesn't like, she owns

632
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:04,920
Speaker 1: a home that she's in the hole four, and she

633
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 1: has a dog. No notes. Because she is Kathy, she

634
00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:12,200
Speaker 1: also is struggling with the same body image issues, the

635
00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:16,480
Speaker 1: same money management problems, and has the same desire for

636
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 1: a true equitable partnership. So things have changed, but the

637
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,560
Speaker 1: expectations of what Kathy should be doing with her life

638
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:28,240
Speaker 1: continue to shift. Now firmly in her mid thirties, Kathy

639
00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:32,479
Speaker 1: and Charlene are constantly trying crash diets and reading self

640
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:36,480
Speaker 1: help books. Between dates. Irving shows up again and has

641
00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:40,319
Speaker 1: a midlife crisis, and by the early nineties and they're

642
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:45,480
Speaker 1: back together. Andrea then has her second child and marks

643
00:41:45,520 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 1: the change in time by being much chiller raising her

644
00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:53,040
Speaker 1: second kid. Here's an early nineties strip between her and Kathy.

645
00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:57,160
Speaker 1: You named your daughter Zenith, and you're naming your son Gus.

646
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:01,640
Speaker 1: Different decade, Cathy. When we had Zenith, we were in

647
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:06,440
Speaker 1: that a whole eighties over achieververy yuppy thing. But Gus

648
00:42:06,719 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 1: will be our baby for the nineties, wholesome, down to

649
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:15,160
Speaker 1: our earth, a return to simple, honest family values. Of course,

650
00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:18,560
Speaker 1: we're redoing our home and naughty country pine with heirloom

651
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:21,440
Speaker 1: quilts and rustic hand their own pots filled with azaleas

652
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:24,560
Speaker 1: snip from mommy's organic garden, with our stainless steel smith

653
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:26,840
Speaker 1: and hock and gardening shears grown in the rich soil.

654
00:42:26,920 --> 00:42:33,040
Speaker 1: From Daddy Sharper image compostmaker. Who what a departure. I

655
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:35,680
Speaker 1: just can't believe we ever used to be so materialistic.

656
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:39,520
Speaker 1: In the early nineties, Product Testing, Inc. Deals with the

657
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:44,000
Speaker 1: fallout of the Anita Hill sexual harassment case, mainly through

658
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:47,640
Speaker 1: many men in the workplace becoming extremely self conscious of

659
00:42:47,719 --> 00:42:52,719
Speaker 1: themselves and their behavior, especially the men who were actually

660
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:56,799
Speaker 1: active sexual harassers. Kathy and Charlne kind of roll their

661
00:42:56,880 --> 00:43:00,120
Speaker 1: eyes at the men panicking because their coworkers added, it

662
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:03,040
Speaker 1: is very a man can't do anything in the workplace

663
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:07,239
Speaker 1: anymore without getting called out, which is just time is

664
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 1: a flat circle. Here's a conversation that Kathy has with

665
00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:14,400
Speaker 1: Mr Pinkley, who, I will remind you has been sexually

666
00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:19,040
Speaker 1: harassing her for years following the Anita Hill case. Ever

667
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:21,719
Speaker 1: since the Thomas Hill flap, employee morale has been in

668
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,239
Speaker 1: the toilet, Cathy, No, I didn't mean toilet. I meant

669
00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:26,960
Speaker 1: the bathroom. No. I didn't mean bathroom, I meant the restroom. No.

670
00:43:27,239 --> 00:43:29,560
Speaker 1: I'm in the ladies room. No, the women's room, no,

671
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,320
Speaker 1: the men's room no. No. The unisex room no, not unisex. No. Sex.

672
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:36,440
Speaker 1: I didn't mention sex. I didn't say anything. Strike the record,

673
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:40,920
Speaker 1: I am innocent. Cathy says, it's okay, Mr Pinkley, we're

674
00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:43,320
Speaker 1: all kind of flirting with disaster right now. I was

675
00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:47,919
Speaker 1: not flirting. No flirting. That wasn't flirting. Instead of doing

676
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:52,160
Speaker 1: anything for the women in his workplace, Mr Pinkley waste

677
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:54,840
Speaker 1: company money to take the men in his office on

678
00:43:54,960 --> 00:44:00,560
Speaker 1: a warriors retreat to quote unquote reclaim their manhood again.

679
00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:04,239
Speaker 1: Was something that actually happened around this time. After this,

680
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,840
Speaker 1: Charlene gets engaged to her boyfriend Simon, and she is

681
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:11,880
Speaker 1: repeatedly judged in bridal stores for being a quote unquote

682
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:15,399
Speaker 1: mature bride. I think she's close to forty at this point.

683
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:18,560
Speaker 1: Kathy is very supportive of the wedding, but now is

684
00:44:18,640 --> 00:44:23,000
Speaker 1: insecure that she's the only single woman left in her group. Meanwhile,

685
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:27,080
Speaker 1: Andrea returns to the workplace after having her second child, Gus,

686
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:31,440
Speaker 1: after spending over ten years building her career to vaguely

687
00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:35,719
Speaker 1: high powered eighties executive lady. For context, she was making

688
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:39,160
Speaker 1: sixty thousand dollars a year in the early nineteen eighties.

689
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:43,360
Speaker 1: By the late eighties, things have changed. Having children and

690
00:44:43,680 --> 00:44:47,239
Speaker 1: George Bush Senior as a president instead of Ducacus has

691
00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:52,760
Speaker 1: completely destroyed Andrea's career progression, so instead she begins working

692
00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:56,440
Speaker 1: as attempt at Product Testing, Inc. At six dollars and

693
00:44:56,520 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 1: fifty cents an hour. It's infuriating. Here's how Kathy is

694
00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,480
Speaker 1: feeling by the mid nineteen nineties, a full twenty years

695
00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:23,680
Speaker 1: into the comic To Do nineteen fifty five, Mary Well

696
00:45:24,719 --> 00:45:30,840
Speaker 1: To Do, Transform the role of women in society. To do.

697
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:37,520
Speaker 1: Earn living by, furnish and maintain home. Pay all bills,

698
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:42,520
Speaker 1: do all laundry, by all groceries, cook all meals, located,

699
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:47,400
Speaker 1: marry husband, have unraised children, Tone all muscles. Rebel against aging,

700
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:51,560
Speaker 1: save planet by and maintain automobile. Fight against evil, Take

701
00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:56,040
Speaker 1: charge of life. Go into therapy to regain vulnerability. I

702
00:45:56,160 --> 00:46:01,879
Speaker 1: am woman, hear me snore. Kathy starts dating Alex, her

703
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:06,400
Speaker 1: young hot trainer. As I said, young men love Kathy.

704
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:08,759
Speaker 1: They love her, and they're in love with her. Why

705
00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:13,080
Speaker 1: don't we ever talk about that anyways? Alex Alex loves

706
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:18,000
Speaker 1: fitness and dating Cathy. Cathy does not love fitness and

707
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:21,319
Speaker 1: is hesitant to commit to Alex at first. She does

708
00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:26,440
Speaker 1: fall for him after a while, until in he proposes

709
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:29,719
Speaker 1: and Cathy turns him down. He leaves the ring with

710
00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:32,480
Speaker 1: her and asks her to think about it, and then

711
00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:36,399
Speaker 1: comes back with her name tattooed on his bicep. Young

712
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:40,080
Speaker 1: men love Kathy. Ultimately, she does dump him, and he

713
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:43,480
Speaker 1: takes it very well. Here's a conversation from the aftermath

714
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:47,759
Speaker 1: of Cathy turning down his proposal with her. Mom, you

715
00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:52,160
Speaker 1: couldn't try being engaged to Alex, Cathy. You entitled me

716
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,560
Speaker 1: with high standards. Mom. You couldn't overlook a few little flaws.

717
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:59,120
Speaker 1: You taught me that I deserved the best. You couldn't

718
00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:03,000
Speaker 1: just give it a whirl. You gave me the values discretion,

719
00:47:03,120 --> 00:47:05,520
Speaker 1: self respect, and patience to wait until the end of

720
00:47:05,640 --> 00:47:08,200
Speaker 1: time for a man who's worthy of my heart. Never

721
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:10,560
Speaker 1: the mother of the bride, always the mentor of the bride.

722
00:47:11,640 --> 00:47:15,040
Speaker 1: And there's Irving's que to return. He comes back in

723
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:18,239
Speaker 1: the late nineties after a couple of years of complete

724
00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:22,480
Speaker 1: absence from the strip. This time, he's pivoted in his

725
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:27,000
Speaker 1: career to be a downsizer, which means that he fires

726
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:31,440
Speaker 1: people from other companies as a job gross. Here's how

727
00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:34,960
Speaker 1: he comes back. He is hired as a downsizer by

728
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:38,640
Speaker 1: Product Testing, Inc. And in his first face to face

729
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:42,600
Speaker 1: with Cathy in years, he tells her she's been laid off,

730
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:48,399
Speaker 1: fucking irving. Kathy has to adjust to this, and does

731
00:47:48,640 --> 00:47:52,640
Speaker 1: by beginning her own small consulting company from home. When

732
00:47:52,719 --> 00:47:55,840
Speaker 1: she goes back to visit product testing, inc later, she

733
00:47:56,040 --> 00:47:58,560
Speaker 1: learns that a twenty two year old has taken her

734
00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:02,000
Speaker 1: old position. This becomes a pattern later in the comic.

735
00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:05,640
Speaker 1: Kathy has a tendency to get annoyed with women younger

736
00:48:05,719 --> 00:48:09,640
Speaker 1: than her at first, but then realizes that they share

737
00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:12,880
Speaker 1: a lot of the same anxieties and usually end up

738
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:16,080
Speaker 1: making a truce or forming a friendship. Her first reactions

739
00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:18,040
Speaker 1: to this twenty two year old taking her job is

740
00:48:18,160 --> 00:48:21,319
Speaker 1: very funny, though. Here's her gut response to meeting her

741
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:24,719
Speaker 1: as she speaks with Charlene, she got my job right

742
00:48:24,760 --> 00:48:27,359
Speaker 1: out of college. Does she know it took me ten

743
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:30,480
Speaker 1: years to create that position. Does she know it took

744
00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:32,640
Speaker 1: a generation of women to earn her right to have

745
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:35,920
Speaker 1: a career? Does she know how hard we fought for

746
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:39,839
Speaker 1: what she assumes as her birthright? Ask her, Kathy, ask

747
00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 1: her what we all want to know. Then Cathy walks

748
00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:45,880
Speaker 1: over to the twenty two year old and says was

749
00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:50,400
Speaker 1: pants or those anyway a size too. So Kathy is

750
00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:54,160
Speaker 1: pretty successful as a one woman business operation, but she

751
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:57,520
Speaker 1: does struggle with the work from home life. She gains

752
00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:00,439
Speaker 1: weight she's not happy about, and she lose his touch

753
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:03,320
Speaker 1: with her friends. By the end of the nineties, she

754
00:49:03,480 --> 00:49:06,920
Speaker 1: negotiates her way back into Product Testing, Inc. With a

755
00:49:07,080 --> 00:49:11,640
Speaker 1: higher salary and position title because guess what, the damn

756
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,640
Speaker 1: place doesn't run without her. Even as her career reaches

757
00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:18,040
Speaker 1: this peak, Cathy's self esteem is at an all time low.

758
00:49:18,560 --> 00:49:21,280
Speaker 1: She dates an older guy for a little bit strictly

759
00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:24,400
Speaker 1: because she's convinced that that's the only person she has

760
00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:26,759
Speaker 1: a chance with. Then she breaks things off when she

761
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:31,560
Speaker 1: realizes that that was a bit of an overreaction. Irving

762
00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:34,840
Speaker 1: returned to the comic with a broken heart after a

763
00:49:34,960 --> 00:49:39,000
Speaker 1: woman named Lydia dumped him. He and Cathy rekindle a

764
00:49:39,239 --> 00:49:43,360
Speaker 1: platonic friendship and seemed to grow genuinely closer and build

765
00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:46,759
Speaker 1: some trust that we hadn't seen in their romantic relationship.

766
00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:50,920
Speaker 1: Irving's career pivots again and he becomes a Y two

767
00:49:51,120 --> 00:49:54,520
Speaker 1: K consultant and decides that he wants to be an

768
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:57,560
Speaker 1: Internet millionaire. At the peak of the dot com boom

769
00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:00,360
Speaker 1: and uh it doesn't work out Cath He thinks that

770
00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:03,600
Speaker 1: Irving is getting a little to midlife crisis for her taste,

771
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:07,160
Speaker 1: and he disappears again. In the early two thousand's let's

772
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:10,799
Speaker 1: see Irving and Cathy do get back together and break

773
00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:14,920
Speaker 1: up again. She goes to her almost fiance Alex's wedding

774
00:50:15,160 --> 00:50:18,480
Speaker 1: and brings a midlife crisis Irving as a date. Mr

775
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:24,000
Speaker 1: Pinkley gets bow talks. There's an obligatory patriotic cartoon Thanksgiving

776
00:50:24,040 --> 00:50:28,440
Speaker 1: two thousand one because Hinda Levin Kathy doesn't understand computers

777
00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:32,839
Speaker 1: or phones. Real boomer content there. Honestly, I think it's

778
00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:36,160
Speaker 1: the last ten years of the comic that most closely

779
00:50:36,320 --> 00:50:39,600
Speaker 1: matched this popular criticism. There are a lot of strips

780
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 1: in these years. That's a lot of women be like this,

781
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:46,520
Speaker 1: men be like this. There are diet storylines that aren't

782
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:50,440
Speaker 1: as critical of diet culture as they were in earlier decades.

783
00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:52,480
Speaker 1: There is a lot of chocolate, and there is a

784
00:50:52,560 --> 00:50:55,600
Speaker 1: lot of act By two thousand three, Irving has done

785
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:58,719
Speaker 1: some work on himself and shows up at Cathy's door,

786
00:50:59,239 --> 00:51:03,920
Speaker 1: calling himself of the King of Vulnerability. Kathy gives him

787
00:51:03,920 --> 00:51:06,319
Speaker 1: ship for it, but it's the first step in them

788
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:09,440
Speaker 1: remaining together for the rest of the comic. He pops

789
00:51:09,480 --> 00:51:11,840
Speaker 1: the question in oh four, and in two thousand and

790
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:17,759
Speaker 1: five they get married. I hate Irving. Here's how Kathy

791
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:21,239
Speaker 1: guys White introduces this plot point in the last major

792
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:25,400
Speaker 1: published collection of Kathy comics, The Wedding of Kathy and Irving.

793
00:51:26,080 --> 00:51:30,200
Speaker 1: They dated for twenty seven years, two months, three weeks,

794
00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:33,439
Speaker 1: and one day. She was devoted. He was a pig.

795
00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:38,760
Speaker 1: She became enlightened. He remained oblivious. She aspired to goddess.

796
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:43,919
Speaker 1: He clung to king. She walked, He wooed her back.

797
00:51:44,520 --> 00:51:49,840
Speaker 1: She came back. He ran away. She studied books, tapes,

798
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:54,480
Speaker 1: and astrological charts to understand him. He watched sports. She

799
00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:59,359
Speaker 1: went to workshops, retreats, psychics, seminars, and shrinks. He took

800
00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:03,600
Speaker 1: up golf. They survived the most divisive years in history

801
00:52:03,719 --> 00:52:07,840
Speaker 1: between men and women. They weathered the me Decade, the

802
00:52:08,080 --> 00:52:14,719
Speaker 1: we Decade, the Information Age, the Digital Revolution, the communication explosion,

803
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:18,120
Speaker 1: the militancy of the seventies, the greed of the eighties,

804
00:52:18,800 --> 00:52:22,640
Speaker 1: the regrouping of the nineties, the humility of the two thousand's.

805
00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:26,560
Speaker 1: At least nine thousand, eight hundred and sixty five diets

806
00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:31,840
Speaker 1: and many, many, many total eclipses of the sense of humor.

807
00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:38,080
Speaker 1: So yeah. After twenty seven years, Kathy and Irving get married. Irving,

808
00:52:38,280 --> 00:52:41,919
Speaker 1: of course, hates the wedding planning process, always asking really

809
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:45,320
Speaker 1: annoying questions like could someone explain why you get to

810
00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:48,720
Speaker 1: be a control freak and a victim. Kathy and Irving

811
00:52:48,840 --> 00:52:52,040
Speaker 1: also struggle with deciding how they're going to combine and

812
00:52:52,200 --> 00:52:57,520
Speaker 1: negotiate their finances. Everyone in Cathy's life is thrilled about

813
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:03,280
Speaker 1: this upcoming wedding, except for Andrea. During wedding prep, Cathy

814
00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:06,160
Speaker 1: gets back in touch with Andrea after falling out of

815
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:10,080
Speaker 1: touch for a good seven or eight years, and they reconnect.

816
00:53:10,440 --> 00:53:14,800
Speaker 1: This storyline is really really sweet. Andrea still hates Irving

817
00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:19,400
Speaker 1: on principle because Irving sucks, but loves Kathy and agrees

818
00:53:19,480 --> 00:53:23,439
Speaker 1: to be a bridesmaid. Kathy gets to tell Zenith, Andrea's daughter,

819
00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:26,919
Speaker 1: who is now a teenager in the wedding's flower Teen,

820
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:31,200
Speaker 1: how Andrea inspired Kathy to be a better person over

821
00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:34,680
Speaker 1: the years. This one always makes me tear up. It

822
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:38,200
Speaker 1: is Kathy talking to a teen Zenith, who she's known

823
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:42,879
Speaker 1: and loved since she was a baby. Your mom fought

824
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:46,000
Speaker 1: for years against women being viewed as sex object, Zenith.

825
00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:50,320
Speaker 1: She worked tirelessly to elevate women's dignity and respect. Because

826
00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:53,160
Speaker 1: of the sacrifices of your mom, young women like you

827
00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:57,440
Speaker 1: can have the confidence and personal power, Zenith says, to

828
00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:00,480
Speaker 1: assert my right to show as much skin as I want.

829
00:54:01,680 --> 00:54:05,760
Speaker 1: Andrea says oof, and Kathy comforts her. Makes it all worthwhile,

830
00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:09,239
Speaker 1: doesn't it? Kathy guys White felt some kind of way

831
00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:12,319
Speaker 1: about third wave feminism at this time. We'll get there.

832
00:54:12,719 --> 00:54:16,080
Speaker 1: A few strips later, Kathy speaks more on her relationship

833
00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:19,880
Speaker 1: with Andrea to teen Zenith and Gus. I wanted you

834
00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:22,359
Speaker 1: to be in my wedding, Zenith and Gus, because your

835
00:54:22,440 --> 00:54:24,600
Speaker 1: mom has had so much to do with making me

836
00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:28,480
Speaker 1: who I am today. She was my guiding light, my mentor.

837
00:54:29,080 --> 00:54:31,440
Speaker 1: Because of what I learned from her, I'll be a stronger,

838
00:54:31,520 --> 00:54:34,280
Speaker 1: more confident, and equal partner for the rest of my life.

839
00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:40,080
Speaker 1: Zenith and Gus say, Wow, someone actually listened to our mother. Anyways,

840
00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:42,920
Speaker 1: Kathy and Irving get married and then they buy a

841
00:54:43,040 --> 00:54:47,000
Speaker 1: house together. Fine. Their house hunt is actually pretty interesting

842
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:50,360
Speaker 1: because their shopping in the housing bubble that is ultimately

843
00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:53,719
Speaker 1: shorted in the two thousand eight recession, and that is

844
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,800
Speaker 1: made very clear based on how out of range the

845
00:54:56,880 --> 00:55:00,440
Speaker 1: house they get approved for. Is the wedding happens, fine,

846
00:55:00,880 --> 00:55:03,960
Speaker 1: they don't funk on the wedding night. What they go

847
00:55:04,080 --> 00:55:07,320
Speaker 1: on a honeymoon, and then it's literally six months of

848
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:12,160
Speaker 1: real estate and move in comics, Okay, home stretch. Charlene

849
00:55:12,239 --> 00:55:15,680
Speaker 1: gets pregnant in two thousand and seven, and Kathy realizes

850
00:55:15,880 --> 00:55:18,759
Speaker 1: that she wants to have kids after all, now in

851
00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:23,200
Speaker 1: her early forties, she worries about conceiving. Meanwhile, Kathy and

852
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:28,319
Speaker 1: Irving watch mad Men, thirty Rock and Heroes Remember that one.

853
00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:31,920
Speaker 1: Then the recession happens in two thousand and eight, and

854
00:55:32,040 --> 00:55:35,640
Speaker 1: Kathy and Irving have to reduce their spending after realizing

855
00:55:35,680 --> 00:55:40,719
Speaker 1: they're in debt, which means Kathy can't shop as much.

856
00:55:41,400 --> 00:55:44,440
Speaker 1: The strip doesn't really get into the absolute wreckage the

857
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:49,200
Speaker 1: recession caused for families that weren't uh white and well off,

858
00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:53,719
Speaker 1: but the theme is explored in the most Kathy way possible.

859
00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:57,799
Speaker 1: Here is a strip from November one, two thousand and eight.

860
00:55:58,320 --> 00:56:02,160
Speaker 1: The first panel is happy reading a newspaper. It says

861
00:56:02,760 --> 00:56:10,080
Speaker 1: stocks down, bonds down, funds down, commodities down, confidence down,

862
00:56:10,239 --> 00:56:14,480
Speaker 1: credit down, sails down, jobs down. In the second panel,

863
00:56:14,600 --> 00:56:18,279
Speaker 1: she's walking somewhere with her coffee. Only one system in

864
00:56:18,360 --> 00:56:21,840
Speaker 1: the universe is resilient enough to defy the trend and

865
00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:26,719
Speaker 1: go in the exact opposite direction. The third panel is

866
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:31,360
Speaker 1: Kathy standing on her bathroom scale with a little steam

867
00:56:31,400 --> 00:56:39,000
Speaker 1: above her head. It says, wait up, it's funny. Irving's

868
00:56:39,040 --> 00:56:41,680
Speaker 1: mom then moves into the house with Kathy and Irving.

869
00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:45,400
Speaker 1: In two thousand and nine, Kathy gets a Facebook and

870
00:56:45,560 --> 00:56:49,120
Speaker 1: she can't choose a profile picture. Irving has I think

871
00:56:49,320 --> 00:56:52,880
Speaker 1: the fifth midlife crisis. He might just be in crisis,

872
00:56:53,160 --> 00:56:55,680
Speaker 1: and then the comics starts to wind down and we

873
00:56:55,840 --> 00:56:59,839
Speaker 1: see these beloved characters for the last time. Andrea's last

874
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:03,440
Speaker 1: parents is really interesting. In OH nine, she and Kathy

875
00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:06,239
Speaker 1: meet to catch up over coffee, and we learned that

876
00:57:06,360 --> 00:57:10,319
Speaker 1: Zenith has just graduated college, gotten married, and is going

877
00:57:10,400 --> 00:57:14,400
Speaker 1: to have a baby. Cathy is shocked and asks if

878
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:17,720
Speaker 1: this is somehow against all that Andrea had been fighting

879
00:57:17,840 --> 00:57:21,680
Speaker 1: for for her entire adult life. But Andrea is very

880
00:57:21,840 --> 00:57:24,960
Speaker 1: excited to be a grandma. I love it. Here's a

881
00:57:25,040 --> 00:57:30,160
Speaker 1: slice of their conversation. I devoted my life to breaking

882
00:57:30,240 --> 00:57:34,920
Speaker 1: down barriers, changing laws, rejecting stereotypes, and opening a new

883
00:57:35,120 --> 00:57:39,120
Speaker 1: universe of equal opportunities so my daughter could have options

884
00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:43,160
Speaker 1: I never dreamed of. So when your daughter decided to

885
00:57:43,240 --> 00:57:45,840
Speaker 1: become stay at home all right out of college, it's

886
00:57:45,880 --> 00:57:48,600
Speaker 1: the option I never dreamed of. Wow, you created a

887
00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:53,600
Speaker 1: true independent thinker. Even success is more complicated for our generation.

888
00:57:54,720 --> 00:57:58,040
Speaker 1: And here is what happens in the last comic strip

889
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:02,720
Speaker 1: ever published on October third, two thousand ten. It's Kathy

890
00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:05,520
Speaker 1: and Irving who are now married to the horror for

891
00:58:05,600 --> 00:58:08,760
Speaker 1: everyone except the people in the comic strip, and they're

892
00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:16,800
Speaker 1: going over to Cathy's parents house too. Well, you'll see, Mom, I, I,

893
00:58:17,320 --> 00:58:19,680
Speaker 1: whatever it is, sweetie, Dad and I are here for you.

894
00:58:20,120 --> 00:58:23,800
Speaker 1: Unless we're too suffocating. Then we'll stand over there, or

895
00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:26,280
Speaker 1: dead could stand here and I could stand over there,

896
00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:30,160
Speaker 1: or we can hop around trading places, or what am

897
00:58:30,200 --> 00:58:32,800
Speaker 1: I saying? You don't need us to fix anything. You're

898
00:58:32,800 --> 00:58:36,600
Speaker 1: an incredible woman from an incredible time for women. Your generation.

899
00:58:36,720 --> 00:58:42,760
Speaker 1: Open doors, demanded chances, raised expectations, transformed society, and exceeded

900
00:58:42,800 --> 00:58:46,000
Speaker 1: the dreams of every generation before you. You have to

901
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:50,959
Speaker 1: know anything's possible. I do know anything's possible. Mom, There's

902
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,120
Speaker 1: going to be another girl in the world, and I

903
00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:58,320
Speaker 1: ship you not. A small act is heard coming from

904
00:58:58,520 --> 00:59:04,000
Speaker 1: Kathy's apparently pregnant stomach. Mom says, I'm going to be

905
00:59:04,080 --> 00:59:07,520
Speaker 1: a grandma, Cathy's dad says to Irving, buckle up son.

906
00:59:07,880 --> 00:59:11,160
Speaker 1: Irving says, I want to see the ultrasound on my iPhone.

907
00:59:12,720 --> 00:59:18,080
Speaker 1: And with that happy comic strip concluded in the newspapers. Anyways,

908
00:59:18,600 --> 00:59:22,200
Speaker 1: for ten years. In two thousand twenty, as you are

909
00:59:22,560 --> 00:59:26,400
Speaker 1: certainly aware, there was a massive lockdown across the world

910
00:59:26,600 --> 00:59:29,760
Speaker 1: due to the coronavirus that, as I write and record,

911
00:59:29,840 --> 00:59:33,960
Speaker 1: this continues to affect the entire world. It was at

912
00:59:34,040 --> 00:59:37,160
Speaker 1: this time, after ten years of silence in the Funny Pages,

913
00:59:37,560 --> 00:59:40,080
Speaker 1: and a year or so after releasing her book of

914
00:59:40,240 --> 00:59:43,760
Speaker 1: essays called Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault, Kathy Guys

915
00:59:43,840 --> 00:59:48,080
Speaker 1: why it's Instagram began to post the first consistent Kathy

916
00:59:48,160 --> 00:59:51,440
Speaker 1: comics in a decade. So there was this little media

917
00:59:51,520 --> 00:59:55,240
Speaker 1: burst around Kathy. But here's what's interesting to me about

918
00:59:55,320 --> 00:59:59,320
Speaker 1: the comics. These new Kathy's were only one panel at

919
00:59:59,360 --> 01:00:04,040
Speaker 1: a time, and there is no Irving, no daughter, and

920
01:00:04,480 --> 01:00:07,800
Speaker 1: they were firmly rooted in the present. During the pandemic

921
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:12,360
Speaker 1: induced lockdown, there had been sporadic one panel comics posted

922
01:00:12,400 --> 01:00:17,600
Speaker 1: to Guyswhite's Instagram since two thousand eighteen, occasionally featuring Electra,

923
01:00:17,720 --> 01:00:21,800
Speaker 1: the dog or Kathy's mom. Many commented on something happening

924
01:00:21,840 --> 01:00:25,200
Speaker 1: in the news. One supported the March for Our Lives

925
01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:29,360
Speaker 1: following the Parkland shootings. Another shows Kathy with a box

926
01:00:29,400 --> 01:00:31,320
Speaker 1: of tissues and a flag with a heart on it,

927
01:00:31,480 --> 01:00:34,840
Speaker 1: the day that Christine blasi Ford gave her testimony about

928
01:00:34,880 --> 01:00:38,160
Speaker 1: Brett Kavanagh. One shows support of the Time's Up movement.

929
01:00:38,520 --> 01:00:41,640
Speaker 1: One encourages people to vote in the mid terms. One

930
01:00:41,760 --> 01:00:44,480
Speaker 1: is a p s A about climate change. But it's

931
01:00:44,560 --> 01:00:48,760
Speaker 1: during the pandemic that these comics became nearly daily. There's

932
01:00:48,840 --> 01:00:52,160
Speaker 1: one of Kathy and Electra gazing out their window peacefully

933
01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:56,480
Speaker 1: labeled church. There were references to the toilet paper shortage.

934
01:00:56,640 --> 01:00:59,560
Speaker 1: There were jokes about Zoom. There were reminders to wear

935
01:00:59,600 --> 01:01:04,040
Speaker 1: a mask, anxious eating, and so on. Irving isn't there

936
01:01:04,680 --> 01:01:10,960
Speaker 1: The little act emanating from Cathy's womb in October never materializes,

937
01:01:11,280 --> 01:01:13,560
Speaker 1: and that at least at the time of this release

938
01:01:14,040 --> 01:01:17,080
Speaker 1: is Kathy Cannon. Maybe you're surprised at the amount of

939
01:01:17,120 --> 01:01:20,600
Speaker 1: things that did happen during this comics run. Maybe it's

940
01:01:20,640 --> 01:01:23,480
Speaker 1: not enough for you, but it's a lot and a

941
01:01:23,640 --> 01:01:26,160
Speaker 1: lot more than I expected. As I was going through

942
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:29,720
Speaker 1: these thousands and thousands of pages and comic strips, one

943
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:33,120
Speaker 1: thing really stuck out to me, and it's that the

944
01:01:33,280 --> 01:01:37,960
Speaker 1: women of Cathy lose. They fail a lot. And this

945
01:01:38,120 --> 01:01:41,240
Speaker 1: might be something that isn't immediately clear unless you read

946
01:01:41,400 --> 01:01:44,600
Speaker 1: strip after strip. Not really the way any comic was

947
01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:48,040
Speaker 1: meant to be enjoyed, and because I am scary how

948
01:01:48,200 --> 01:01:51,480
Speaker 1: I consumed it. Sometimes these women lose because of their

949
01:01:51,520 --> 01:01:55,440
Speaker 1: own human frailties. Other times they lose because the system

950
01:01:55,560 --> 01:01:58,240
Speaker 1: is pitted against them or they don't have the tools

951
01:01:58,320 --> 01:02:01,400
Speaker 1: they need to be successful. What the comic is to

952
01:02:01,480 --> 01:02:07,320
Speaker 1: me is a lighthearted exploration of one character's experiences failing

953
01:02:07,560 --> 01:02:11,439
Speaker 1: and being failed and how she reacts to it. Even

954
01:02:11,480 --> 01:02:14,360
Speaker 1: if it's not your cup of tea, this is really

955
01:02:14,520 --> 01:02:18,640
Speaker 1: singular for this time. Kathy might not be clinically depressed

956
01:02:18,880 --> 01:02:22,080
Speaker 1: because she's a boomer lady and doesn't believe in therapy.

957
01:02:22,280 --> 01:02:25,280
Speaker 1: For the majority of the comic strip. But she's very

958
01:02:25,400 --> 01:02:29,120
Speaker 1: weighed down by the expectations that came with being alive

959
01:02:29,240 --> 01:02:32,920
Speaker 1: when she was that weight, not the thigh weight or

960
01:02:32,960 --> 01:02:36,760
Speaker 1: whatever the fuck. That emotional weight is where I feel

961
01:02:36,840 --> 01:02:40,360
Speaker 1: most connected with her. The weight of her anxiety that

962
01:02:40,520 --> 01:02:44,520
Speaker 1: she isn't living correctly ends up preventing her from really

963
01:02:44,640 --> 01:02:47,400
Speaker 1: living at all. There's a lot to talk about here,

964
01:02:47,680 --> 01:02:51,200
Speaker 1: what Kathy gets right, what Kathy gets wrong, what Kathy

965
01:02:51,320 --> 01:02:54,520
Speaker 1: leaves out, what she says about the generation and the

966
01:02:54,640 --> 01:02:58,480
Speaker 1: lifestyle she represents, and how the backlash against her was

967
01:02:59,360 --> 01:03:03,880
Speaker 1: extremely questionable. The Kathy character we see now exists basically

968
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:07,040
Speaker 1: out of context, finding a new life as a punchline

969
01:03:07,080 --> 01:03:10,880
Speaker 1: on Twitter, but the reality of the character is far

970
01:03:10,960 --> 01:03:14,920
Speaker 1: more interesting. In some ways, the character's presence shook up

971
01:03:14,960 --> 01:03:18,400
Speaker 1: the funny pages in a very unprecedented way, and in

972
01:03:18,520 --> 01:03:22,800
Speaker 1: others it upheld a status quo that some people found infuriating.

973
01:03:23,040 --> 01:03:25,240
Speaker 1: For this show, I'll be speaking with a number of

974
01:03:25,320 --> 01:03:29,840
Speaker 1: cartoonists who are currently working in the autobiographical comic space

975
01:03:30,240 --> 01:03:33,160
Speaker 1: as it has grown far beyond the funnies, and we'll

976
01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:35,600
Speaker 1: also take a look back at how it even became

977
01:03:35,680 --> 01:03:39,000
Speaker 1: possible for a woman to have a widely syndicated comic.

978
01:03:39,480 --> 01:03:42,200
Speaker 1: Will learn more about what was going on in the

979
01:03:42,240 --> 01:03:46,080
Speaker 1: women's movement as Kathy was being released, how diet culture

980
01:03:46,160 --> 01:03:49,280
Speaker 1: became so pervasive in the time this strip was on

981
01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:52,840
Speaker 1: the pages, and more so. Now you know what the

982
01:03:52,960 --> 01:03:55,880
Speaker 1: character does. But who is more interesting to me and

983
01:03:56,000 --> 01:04:00,840
Speaker 1: in many ways more emblematic of her generation. Is Kathy

984
01:04:00,920 --> 01:04:03,840
Speaker 1: Guys White herself. So we're going to learn all about

985
01:04:03,880 --> 01:04:07,960
Speaker 1: her and talk with her next week on ac Cast.