July 9, 2013 - As stated above, many of the upcoming comics will deal with storylines regarding rape. I'm going to try my best to make note of any comics specifically in the archive (and I possibly should go back and amend some pages to include trigger warnings), but in the interest of finding a compromise that is both sensitive to survivors of rape and not spoiling future storylines, I've decided to put up a trigger warning at the top of the main page as well as place this paragraph at the top of the blog with considerable lead time before the comics depicting such situations are posted.

I kinda don't want to comment on these comics as I'd like them to speak for themselves. Rape's extremely prevalent at college campuses with statistics suggesting female college students have a 1 in 5 chance of rape (a much higher ratio than a woman who chooses not to attend college), more frequently from an acquaintance than a stranger. I've also mentioned these crimes are both underreported and poorly prosecuted. But rather than focus on such attrocities I'd rather look at how such things can change. Patience may be a rape victim, but that's not all she is and certainly not how she'd like to be defined. At the same time it's impossible to ignore the fact that her experiences affected her and the questions this raises as well as their potential solutions are intentionally both ambiguous and complex.

In terms of defining rape, New York state is seriously considering passing a bill redefining rape to include things previously classified as sexual assault as the distinction between sexual assault and rape implies that one is somehow less severe than the other (even though they carry the same penalty). And I'd also like to once again draw attention to Tucker Reed's fundraiser as I think her case could impact significant change over misconceptions about rape. I'd planned Patience's backstory far before I heard Ms. Reed's case, but the similarities reinforce for me how serious and prevalent an issue this truly is.

-D