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COMICS WITH PROBLEMS issue #17
1956/1962 Planned Parenthood
Comic Book about Birth Control
"ESCAPE FROM FEAR"
PLANNED PARENTHOOD U.S. Version:
with JOAN AND KEN HARPER (1956/62)
and
SINGAPORE HEALTH CLINIC Version:
with SWEE LIAN and AH CHONG (195
Each comic 8 pages, distributed to adults at Planned Parenthood, and elsewhere across the world, as the Singapore version suggests.
PROBLEM(s) DEALT WITH: Unwanted children, and /or the need for an ability to plan for children. Discusses birth control options, as well as incorrect methods and myths. The revised version shows only one different panel from the 1956 version - which is the description of methods currently available (page 9, panel two)
Ethan |
06.18.07 - 9:25 am | #
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 This couple reminds me of a blogger known only as Contraskeptic. Of course, rather than using contraception, he asked strangers on the internet to convince him that it's evil. He hasn't been heard from since March. :P
LM |
06.20.07 - 1:59 pm | #
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Fix bad URL! Now!
http://contraskeptic.blogspot.com
Fixerupper |
06.21.07 - 9:43 am | #
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 I'm a proud parent of seven great kids, and I find the tone of this comic to be extremely rude and insulting.
Susan James |
06.22.07 - 4:59 pm | #
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You're insulted? How do you think I feel? I'M MALAYSIAN!
H444 |
06.22.07 - 5:05 pm | #
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http://www.ep.tc/problems/sevent...venteen/
09.html
Page Nine, Panel Two - Is that Michael Jackson???
I Respect Michael Jackson |
06.22.07 - 9:56 pm | #
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> I find the tone of this comic to be extremely rude and insulting.
I agree. How anti-child can a comic get? I wonder how a mother of 10 or 12 kids would feel after reading this.
Deb.J.M. |
06.25.07 - 11:07 am | #
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Shit, after 10 or 12 kids I doubt she could feel anything, Deb.J.M.
People, Am I right or am I right?
Tuffy Delmont |
06.25.07 - 12:16 pm | #
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How anti-child can you get? Don't even get me started.
You know the rest of the planet likely views us as parasites, right?
http://www-formal.stanford.edu/
j...population.html
A child is a blessing, but having more than one or two on purpose is just pollution.
Advocate |
06.26.07 - 11:30 am | #
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You know the rest of the planet likely views us as parasites, right?
Dude, you been talkin to the squirrels and walruses or some shit?
Johnny Bong |
06.26.07 - 11:57 am | #
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It's funny that there are people talking about how offensive this is when there are such gems as "How To Spot a Jap" on the same site. :P
LM |
06.27.07 - 3:23 pm | #
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I think this comic is awesome. On many separate times, I have, myself, shoved my hand into a large factory press fixating over troubles of the heart.
Harevy Hoodli |
06.28.07 - 12:31 am | #
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 You guys who are ripping on this comic do realize that at the time, women really couldn't do much more than be homemakers, and with that many kids, she wouldn't have been able to find a job that would pay enough for her to be able to afford a reputable housekeeper or nanny... and kids are expensive.
Especially back then, before disposable diapers (and have any of you washed diapers by hand? Without disposable liners, made within the last decade or so, it takes freaking forever), powdered formula, pre-made baby food that has few enough preservatives to be healthy and yet enough to last more than a day or so after being made (much less being stocked by the store)...
Comparatively, for a family where the sole income is a guy who works in a factory, it's much easier to afford multiple kids these days than it was back then.
So before you guys get all "it's anti-child", re-read the part where it talks about planning the kids you have, instead of having 10 or 15 kids and not being able to afford them... Or as happens in so many places outside the US, not having a choice in the matter, and having too many kids too quickly and not spaced apart enough for your health will drain your body too fast (or did no one here ever hear the old adage "A tooth a child", where before calcium tablets, mothers used to lose teeth during pregnancy because the baby draws away much of her calcium for his/her own growth).
I volunteer in health organizations in countries around the world, and I'm really sick of people taking things that were meant well at the time, and bitching about how it's not applicable now.
Well, no shit - this was made 50 years ago, people. Before most of the commenters were born, I'd imagine.
So take your anti-child whining along, and go post on one of those child-free websites, or something.
And before any of you starts on the straw-man fallacy of "you obviously don't have kids"... Well, I'd write more, but my one-year old is waking up now.
Sonya |
06.28.07 - 7:08 am | #
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These comments are great!
I love how pages seven and eight show Ken and the doctor just casually having a good talk about fucking his wife over a few healthy indoor cigarettes.
Chuck Wagon |
06.28.07 - 11:29 am | #
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Incidentally, this thing is making the rounds on the Catholic anti-contraception message boards ...to, er, explain some of the comments.
Which brings up one of my favorite jokes:
"What's Catholic for Contraception?"
ANSWER: "Menopause!"
David Richards |
06.28.07 - 2:46 pm | #
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[has no one here ever heard] the old adage "A tooth a child", where before calcium tablets, mothers used to lose teeth during pregnancy because the baby draws away much of her calcium for his/her own growth
Holy shit, NO, I had not ever heard that! Thank you for your very cool post, that interesting tidbit especially. Damn...
Abram Esra |
06.28.07 - 3:02 pm | #
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It's funny that there are people talking about how offensive this is when there are such gems as "How To Spot a Jap" on the same site.
I agree with you. Also: "Who Killed Junior?"
Who, dammit!
Tommy |
06.29.07 - 12:18 am | #
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What an incredible comic this is. The Planned Parenthood one. The dialogue is so sharp, great narration and it moves from panel to panel so assertively. Couple that with the subject of sex, pregnancy, arguing, etc. What a cool and unique 1950s comic. AND this was after the comics code! With all the other comics having to water down innuendo and violence this thing really sticks out as a significant and socially important piece of mid-century comics art.
Consumer Reports |
06.29.07 - 11:04 am | #
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I, for one am TOTALLY OFFENDED that people might consider participating in sexual intercourse for any reason other than procreation.
After all, where will this all lead? There are only three times as many people on earth today as there were when I was born. How will we ever maintain the population at this rate?
Just kidding. I know that SHOULD be obvious, but if anyone anywhere could be offended by this comic, I feel I need to make myself clear.
The world would be a better, happier place with fewer humans occupying it. Children would be happier and healthier if each and every one of them were wanted and loved.
Anything which can be done to achieve these goals should be welcomed warmly.
Anyone with seven children should have their throats slit, along with their septic spawn. How's that for offensive?
Oh the horror! |
07.14.07 - 9:01 pm | #
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 When they said "feminine hygiene products", I was thinking tampons and pads at first.
Hysterical Woman |
08.16.07 - 5:47 pm | #
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Wow, thanks for sharing this. It's such a weird thought that 50 years ago there were people who didn't know about birth control yet (well, arguably there still seem to be a lot of those, even in the Western World).
Korilian |
09.01.07 - 9:50 am | #
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 Hilarious comments! Unfortunately, I can't contribute to the hilarity. But I love the comic.. I love how the wife's solution is too "just go away". What the hell, these people know nothing. Thank god for the rest of the 60's. And little Dickie doesn't want to eat Dad's toast... what's Dad doing?
http://www.ep.tc/problems/sevent...venteen/
06.html
And its weird the doctor couldn't hook the man out with some condoms.
But remember, its NOT about not having children, its about spacing them.
http://www.ep.tc/problems/sevent...venteen/
10.html
Though technically, you could have one giant childless space, right?
Liz |
10.09.07 - 6:45 pm | #
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I find it interesting when I google "Margaret Sanger" (founder of planned parenthood) I find pics of her at a KKK rally.
Don't worry a population reduction of 80% is on its way.
kingsman | Homepage |
11.14.07 - 10:47 am | #
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 ?I wonder how a mother of 10 or 12 kids would feel after reading this.?
If she regrets having those kids, she?ll feel the same way she feels now: pissed, resentful, jealous, and cheated out of a life of her own.
If she doesn?t regret it, she?ll feel the same way she feels now: happy with her lot, and not really giving a damn.
froop |
01.26.08 - 1:09 am | #
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Don't worry a population reduction of 80% is on its way.
kingsman | Homepage | 11.14.07 - 10:47 am
Hey, did you know that when you Google Tim LaHaye you get this?
r@d@r | Homepage |
01.26.08 - 1:47 pm | #
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 Why is this offensive? Because some people might only want three children and telling them how to do that is bad? Seriously, what are you actually offended at in this comic?
McDuff | Homepage |
01.26.08 - 2:22 pm | #
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 "I wonder how a mother of 10 or 12 kids would feel after reading this."
I imagine she'd feel really pissed that she hadn't read it 8 or 10 kids ago.
Ralph Dosser |
01.26.08 - 3:10 pm | #
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kingsman: Thanks for the distortion. I personally think Sanger she should be lauded for helping KKK wives have fewer children.
From wikipedia:
In 1926, in what she called "one of the weirdest experiences I had in lecturing", Sanger even gave a lecture on birth control to the women's auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan in Silver Lake, New Jersey, a group she found so ignorant she had to use only "the most elementary terms, as though I were trying to make children understand."
Ralph Dosser |
01.26.08 - 3:18 pm | #
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 Awesome comic. Sharp, snappy and earnest. And that it could cross a cultural barrier so seamlessly only makes it damn near perfect
KJK::Hyperion |
01.28.08 - 11:39 am | #
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 Hey, Susan and Deb ...
I'm unable to have ANY children, so pick up the slack, okay? I figure you both need to have at least 5-6 more children to make up for the fact that I can't produce the requesite 10-12 children.
Jeez.
My maternal grandmother had THIRTEEN children (all at HOME, no less, and 1 at a time). This doesn't count the two miscarriages she had before my mother's birth (Mom's #13, and Grandma was 47 years old when Mom was born), the second of which almost killed her. This means she spent 9 YEARS and 9 MONTHS of her life PREGNANT. Did she want all those kids? She never said. On the other hand, she didn't really have a choice, either. The only contraceptive method she ever discussed using was douching daily with a quart of water tinted pink with MERCUROCHROME! Recommended by a doctor, no less! Yeppers, I'd sure love washing my insides out with a tincture of mercury.
Of course, God forbid that husbands and wives get to f*ck just because they love each other and not because they're supposed to be breeding at every opportunity.
Why is it bad to be able to *plan* on when to have your children, to decide to NOT have children, and to have sex just for its own sake between spouses?
Riddle me that, Batman ...
IceniQueen |
01.28.08 - 1:49 pm | #
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 Birth control makes baby Jesus cry.
"Pop" Benny |
05.22.09 - 11:19 am | #
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your letters
