When
Spider-Man revealed in a 1985 comic strip that he had been sexually
abused as a youngster, the response was phenomenal,` according to the
National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse.
``We actually
got hundreds of letters here addressed to Spider-Man saying, `You know
what happened to you? It`s happening to me, said Anne Cohn, executive
director of the committee.
Now
the committee and Marvel Comics have produced another comic strip in
which Spider-Man takes on the issue of emotional child abuse.
The
four-page color supplement is included in today's Tribune and has
already appeared in several other newspapers across the country,
including the Houston Chronicle, the Des Moines Register and the
Columbus Dispatch, said Christine Benuzzi, the committee`s director of
resource development.
The committee has turned its focus to
emotional abuse because ``it`s probably the most hidden and yet most
insidious type of abuse,`` Cohn said.
A child may be told,
`You`re disgusting. I wish you were never born.` If they`re told day
after day that they`re worthless-that they`re never going to amount to
anything-then sure enough, they don`t.
Children believe what their parents tell them.
The
new Spider-Man comic is part of the committee`s nationwide campaign
against emotional abuse. Television spots showing parents angrily
insulting their children are also featured.
Cohn said the
committee has already seen responses to the ads and to the comic strip
in areas where it has appeared. She said one woman-the mother of two
boys-wrote that ``I first saw myself and my actions reflected on the TV
in a short but painful commercial. I felt very ashamed of myself.
The
1985 Spider-Man comic, which dealt with sexual abuse, was produced
after Pamela Rutt, Marvel Comics` publicity director, called the
committee.
She spoke with Cohn, and the two came up with the idea,
Rutt said. Since then, more than 16 million copies of the sexual-abuse
comic supplement have been distributed through 150 papers nationwide,
Rutt said. Two million more were distributed through the committee.
Spider-Man
himself made appearances at schools, day-care centers and shopping
malls in areas where the supplement was distributed, she said. When
Spider-Man spoke of his frightening childhood experience, it was
``astonishing`` to see how children reacted, Rutt said.
When
children came up and told Spider-Man that they also had the problem,
``Spider-Man would say, `I`m glad you came forward and told me that, "Rutt said. He would then refer the child to an expert for help, she said.
Spider-Man,
(whose secret identity Rutt refused to reveal), is making similar stops
for the new supplement, although there are no plans for a Chicago
visit.
If copies in Sunday`s Tribune are included, about 4 million
copies of the new supplement have been distributed, Rutt said. In the
comic strip in today`s Tribune, Spider-Man discusses the problems of a
boy and his sister, who are tormented by their cruel alcoholic father.
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