Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for August 22, 2013

This is where this arc has a problem with the storyline. Last week Mel’s father advised her not to “dwell.”Most of the readers knew he was referring to the sexual assault. Now he acts as if this is all new to him and he had no idea how traumatized Mel was.

A 40 year rerun.http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/1973/03/07 BDs college projectMike

Melissa speaks uphttp://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2007/06/28

Counseling MelissaMike

I think Newshound41 has a point. Regardless of whether he understands it, her Dad can’t at the same time say “don’t dwell” and then say “I had no idea”. Apart from anything else, she was presumably at home on some form of sick leave when in counselling, so presumably he at least knew that. You can make an argument that he knew she was ill from stress but didn’t know what; however, unless there is a strip I’ve missed from that time which explains Dad’s reaction, I’d tend to agree with Newshound41 that it is an inconsistency. GT probably thought it was worth it for the joke!

Sad that this is a re-run from years ago and is still just as true today. News the other day had the military with lots of talk of accountability but in the end it was just talk and paperwork.

He knew it happened but not how much, maybe.

Put that on a recruiting poster…

Still in reruns, huh? Carry on, then…

I’ve never heard of a victim shooting his or her molester in the service. Must have happened sometime, though . . .

As I recall, in her case, it was the commander himself that was the rapist. Didn’t she (or her counselor) refer to it as “command rape”?I would think her father would take it more seriously. Cavalier as one may be about the subject, I’m sure that falls away when it’s one’s own daughter.

Kerovan, sorry it is still happening today. I know of 3 women who were “sexually assaulted” and their attackers are still in the service while the women are leaving. It isn’t getting better…..

They say female officers are so much better…not.

Whatever happened to th Halliburton case of the raped female contractor?

When the father says “I had no idea this was an interest of hers,” he is saying he did not know and does not realize she is speaking from personal experience.-There is the problem that we do not instantly know what is assault and what is a changed version of the past. Some DO intentionally drink to excess to excuse their consent and then claim thier associates took advantage of their inability to consent. Command rape would be especially hard to prove one way or another and is a good reason to avoid sexual contact with anyone in the service whatsoever. Even then, some will accuse.

Face it. The purpose of war is to get the population of wild, violent teenage males out of the country so they can kill and rape other peoples rather than our own. Women have no place in war; they should remain home for their own protection

Knuckledraggers.

…and she is?

I think she got killed in Benghazi. Why else would he mention her? Unless she has a rack like Fritzi Ritz.