Letters to the Editor
smallfox
Published Letters: 111 Editor's Choice: 8
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SB4609 -
[Read the article: The myth of "rape hype"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The biggest distinction there is that, presumably, you have several inches and many pounds on those girls, and the advances, while not welcome, were likely in no way actually threatening. That's almost never the case with women. Even in cases where the woman knows self defense or could possibly put up a fight, a 6 ft/200 lb man is formidable and the fear of what he might do is often enough to get women to "consent" when they are really just acquiescing to being quietly raped rather than hit and violently raped.
So the rape/sexual assault issue will never be gender balanced, because literal force will never be equal between the genders. Men can certainly be assaulted by other men or women, but by and large men face far less of a threat of being raped by women because there's little threat of being overpowered.
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If they were a white-only "club"
[Read the article: Breaking into the boys club]
[Read more letters about this article: Here](following the same membership principles -- basically anyone and everyone can join, so long as they're white) would you misogynists be so quick to defend them?
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@ doug_in_india
[Read the article: Breaking into the boys club]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ethnic- or religious-based clubs (at least at public universities) are open to all students. Many students join who are not of the race/religion for personal or civil rights reasons. Plenty of students join because of who they're dating or because of an interest in the culture/religion.
Discrimination is allowed if the discrimination is inherently important to the institution. Therefore you could have a lactation/infant care club limited just to women, or a disabled men's club limited to just men. What you can't have is something that for all intents and purposes is a public bar with a membership requirement tacked on to keep a certain gender or race out. The discrimination must be justified (i.e. only women can lactate, disabled men have a need to talk about certain sexual disfunction issues away from women). Believe it or not, you can't exclude anyone you want from a quasi-public facility and always justify it by it's mock "exclusivity". For the club in this case to be legal, it either needed to be specifically discriminatory (i.e. a club for Catholic men only) or let anyone in.
The obvious difference is that a discriminatory club is unlikely to be used as a place to conduct business, unless all of your employees happen to be German men. The club in this case was very clearly not in existence to cater to a specific need of men that would be crippled by the presence of women.
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I'm just wondering
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]if Clinton supporters hold the Clinton campaign and other Clinton supporters liable for the racism and Islamophobia directed at Obama. ...No? What makes the so-called sexism so much worse?
And what ever happened to reasonable differences of opinion in politics and candidates?
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Really?
[Read the article: Lowering the bar ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What's so hard about "surviving" law school? It's roughly a full time job (with "overtime" only just before finals/papers) that's not even particularly difficult. I'm a law student and have no emotional or social issues, have a great circle of friends, a healthy romantic relationship, and a lot of fun. (Oh, and I only drink, in moderation, once every three or four weeks, too.) It's the best kind of challenging, and my professors are literally the most brilliant people I've ever met. People who need help or advice to "survive" law school are either freaking over nothing and overcomplicated their lives or trying to do it all (moot court and law review and an A-average is not the best recipe for sanity.)
Law school is definitely one of the better choices I've made (and I did waffle a lot because of the constant barrage of "You'll hate your life, and if you survive all you get is the privilege of being a scum-sucking bottom dweller!" Maybe it's true for you, but it's clearly not true for everyone.) If you really want to swear people off a frustrating career that doesn't pay as well as people think it does, talk to potential med students.
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P.S.
[Read the article: Lowering the bar ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]M. English's 2nd suggestion is the best way to get a C on your final. (At my school, anyway. Your mileage may vary.)
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I agree
[Read the article: Why they stunted their daughter's growth]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree with dataguyx -- there's no harm (and it should be an inherent right) in euthanizing children with no self awareness, no mental capacity, and no hope of ever developing either. In this case, the parents clearly love her and want to keep her, so what is so grossly unethical about making her life as comfortable as possible? (presuming she can process discomfort which, as the basest animal sensation, is probably all she is capable of; likewise her parents think her capable of comfort, and her only comfort is being held. Pretty hard with a 150 lb adult.) She will never have sex, and removing her secondary sex characteristics spare her the discomfort of menstruation and lying on full grown breasts and, somewhat more morosely, also limit her risks of getting raped when the inevitable happens -- her parents die and she ends up in a care facility, where, as a nonverbal, nonsentient body, she is an easy target for molestation. At least this way if she is molested, she can't wind up pregnant.
Medical technology is already grossly unethical if you think this case is noteworthy. We play god by keeping people alive who nature would've summarily dispatched upon birth or short there after. We transplant organs, do surgery, treat genetic illnesses and diabetes, and perform plenty of technically unnecessary (though practically necessary) quality of life treatments and procedures. How is this so different?