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CathyCathy is a daily comic strip drawn by Cathy Guisewite. Featuring a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life—food, love, mom and work—the strip gently pokes fun at the foibles of modern (90's) women's lives. Cathy's characteristics and issues both make fun of and sometimes feed into negative sterotypes about women. The strip debuted in November 1976, and currently appears in over 1,400 newspapers. The strips have been collected into more than 20 books. Guisewite received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for 1993 for the strip. Initially, the strip was based largely on Guisewite's own life as a single woman. However, Guisewite had Cathy's longtime boyfriend Irving propose marriage on Valentine's Day 2004, a move that many readers felt breathed new life into Guisewite's work, as the strip had up until that point become repetitive, with plot lines often indistinguishable from previous strips. The two characters married in the February 5, 2005 strip. Cathy — the protagonist of the strip Electra — Cathy's dog Mom — just as likely to provide frustration as inspiration Dad — helpless bystander to Mom Charlene — one of Cathy's best friends, receptionist at her office Andrea — one of Cathy's best friends, once an ardent feminist, now married with two kids Irving — on-again-off-again love interest, now her husband as of February 5, 2005 Mr. Pinkley — Cathy's boss, who often manages to make what little control he actually has of his work environment go a very long way As an aside, in the now-discontinued Bloom County comic, one of the characters – Steve Dallas – is shown as being in a Cathy strip, after (along with all of the other characters) being "fired" from B.C. While that strip only appears within the Bloom County world, Steve is shown as being one of the many men Cathy would consider dating ("ack!" she is seen exclaiming). Defined by Cathy Guisewite, the four basic guilt groups are four types of temptation that the character Cathy faces in her daily life. Cathy has a love/hate affair with food. She loves it, but hates what it does to her thighs. She is often shown in a department store fitting room trying to stuff herself into a bathing suit. She is constantly on a diet, weighs herself maniacally and many mornings fears to get up, believing that she has ballooned overnight. Cathy is particularly fond of chocolate. Cathy has dated extensively, but was unable to find "Mr. Right". Although a number of love interests have come and gone over the years, none has come back like Irving, who is now her husband. Although well-meaning, Mom's advice often frustrates Cathy, especially when Mom is right. Cathy and her mother are from two different generations, of course. Cathy grew up in the era of feminism, women's rights and the sexual revolution. Mom is from an earlier, simpler time. Although an equal in her marriage to Cathy's Dad, Mom holds many old-fashioned ideas. Check out the following recipes that are tagged "Cathy":
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