Featuring Katie Grubbs, Victoria Reynolds Farmer, and Sarah Thomas

-Introductions

-Why discuss Cathy?

-What’s your past experience with comics in general and with Cathy in particular? When did you first encounter this comic strip, and what did you think about it?

Knowing/Reading

-Background info on Cathy Guisewite, her work, and the history of this comic strip

–“The Feminist Paradox of Cathy Guisewite” by Rachel Syme (published at The Cut)

–“On Hating Cathy” by Juliet Kahn (published at The Comics Journal)

Discussion Questions:

-Syme notes that Guisewite herself has described Cathy as “extremely of its time.” Do you agree with that characterization, and if so, how and why?

-Kahn praised Cathy for “[making] women laugh about the circumstances of their lives without blaming them for those circumstances”: do you think that’s true?

-Syme referred to Cathy’s “aggressive vulnerability.” Do you think that was a weakness or a strength in the strip? Why?

–Cathy is rife with intergenerational pressure and expectations among women, and it explores how those pressures affect our choices. How do we see this play out specifically in the Christian world?

-What other comics/books/TV/films have you seen that fill the same cultural space as Cathy?

Passing On

Katie: Nathan W. Pyle’s Strange Planet comic series; Caroline Siede’s series at AV Club When Romance Met Comedy

Victoria: The Tortured Poets Department, especially the Anthology tracks and “So High School”

Sarah: Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way; Pope St. John Paul II’s “Letter to Women” https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/letters/1995/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_29061995_women.html