Donald hitting Daisy

[Elaine Ramshaw]

A few weeks back there was discussion of the story in which Donald was shown
hitting Daisy (a "possessed" Daisy) in a particularly graphic way. I
appreciate the fact that Donald and Daisy are apparently fairly equally
matched physically (ducks' anatomy being different from humans'; men have
*on average* twice the upper body strength of women, though women have more
physical stamina). And I'm aware that in various stories Daisy has hit
Donald. I strongly prefer not to have either hitting the other. Still, I
will say that it is impossible to see any depiction of a male hitting his
girlfriend without that being colored by the social context. The #1 reason
for an American woman to end up in the Emergency Room is being injured by
her husband/boyfriend. Needless to say, the reverse is not the case (though
of course, there are women who abuse men or other women--and women do most
of the child abuse). We have not yet gotten over the effects of centuries
(millenia!) of explicit societal endorsement of the right of men to
physically abuse "their" women. If Daisy hits Donald, my reaction is that it
is Not Funny, and a sign of lazy writing, and that it makes her thoroughly
unlikeable. If Donald hits Daisy, it makes me sick to my stomach. It "breaks
frame" for me, takes me out of the comic's world--I can't help but think of
all those women in the Emergency Room, or in their grave. And I should add,
I have had *no* direct personal experience with domestic violence.

Elaine Ramshaw