Dear MISTER Editor:

Ihave trouble seeing you as a person believing in equal rights in this patriarchal world when you write ‘an article such as your Editorial Comment in last week’s X-Press. Your last paragraph was the usual diatribe and so-called cute ‘‘joke’’ that we as womyn have to put up with. I remember being taught in English 101 thata writer should be explicit in their written work to the naive reader so the reader can really gain from the information given. You, how- ever, have not defined your perception of ‘‘radical’’ or even ‘‘feminist.’’ I ‘assume’ by ‘‘radical’’ you mean humans out ‘burning their bras’ or just plain “stepping outside the norm’. According to the Oxford Dictionary “‘radical’’ means ‘‘1) affecting the founda- tion, going to the root; 2) naturally inherent, essen- tial, fundamental.’’ Based on this definition I have trouble seeing your point that not enough ‘‘average Wwomen’’ are speaking up or that these radicals ‘‘are helping to destroy the movements (sic) credibility. ”’ In fact, I would say that this definition says it all. To de a ‘radical feminist’ is essentially wanting equality in this world, changing the foundation of patriarchy to let womyn through the door. Based on the definition of “‘extreme’’ (same reference) ‘‘ farthest from the entre, last’’ and based on present day statistics on ages and poverty levels, I would conclude that extreme feminist (sic) are just ‘average’ womyn in pur patriarchal society. Now that the technical is out of the way, I would like to look at your assumptions pr miscommunications. Womyn do not want ‘‘all the Dower’’ nor have we ever stated that ‘‘all the worlds sic) problems would be solved.’ When you mention hat “* more of the feminist energy was use (sic) in i ying to give a more accurate picture of the feminist novement’’ maybe you too should climb on this jandwagon and find out the real mandate of the omyns’ movement. (A couple classes from Vaughn ffe are in order here.) I would like the editor to ir k about his paragraph on how ‘‘men have messed the world’’, Justa little history lesson would show it | that men have been, and still are, in control of the onomic and political sector. When in control one lakes the decisions. Conclusion - men have messed c. economic (lack of equity), political(wars, too erous to list), and environmental (global warm- g) spheres, This does not, however, lead to the mclusion that ‘‘men are ‘bad’’’ but it does say that en have made ‘bad’ decisions. You state that womyn ould be more vocal against these ‘‘radicals’’, gain you are uninformed, Womyn in this movement 0 hot wage war against each other. We work coop-

eratively, each in her own way to achieve an end result. Some have opportunities and talents to be more vocal, others work quietly in the background in their own realm. Each womypn is as dedicated as the next, each bringing awareness and education tothe masses to make changes for future generations for we want a better world for the global population, not just for womyn. Now one could say it is the editor’s JOB to be controversial-calling on the readers to perk up and take notice. Well I did check my dictionary and no, it does not state specifically what an editor should write but I think an editor should be responsible and realize what he/she is putting in the public eye. Cur- rently we are going through an unprecedented wave of violence towards womyn. Participating in this vio- lence through ar. editorial such as this and the further ~ harassment of womyn inflicted on a weekly basis in this newspaper is blatant irresponsibility and asa member of this human population I am outraged! (P.S. My English prof, bless his soul, also taught me to proofread my work! )

Sincerely, Dawn Ambler

November 21, 1991

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