Response to Elliot Levy-10/29/02 column

Dear Editor-

I am writing in response to Elliot Levy’s editorial on women needing to accept the full responsibilities and consequences of equality. It is unquestionable that women often receive special treatment just for being attractive or “flashing a little skin,” but it is completely ludicrous to pass all of them blame off on the women of the world. While I assure Mr. Levy that I completely understand his frustration and in fact agree with most of his major points, I believe his argument is lacking the answer to one question, who is giving out the special treatment? I do not believe that men are without blame in this matter. We all are hormone driven creatures and some people, or an entire gender, may perhaps just be better suited to control these hormones and not let their hormones control them. If the officer on Buswell St. gave the ladies a break simply because they were attractive, isn’t that as much his fault for giving special treatment as it is theirs for accepting it? I am not saying one is worse than the other; I am just simply stating that life is a two-way street and it has to go both ways. Now, Mr. Levy also implies that he continues to hold open doors and give up his seat on the T for fear that women may perceive him to be rude otherwise. He goes on to suggest that females should demand equal treatment and in the case of the females on Buswell St, they should have begged the “officer to pull out the handcuffs immediately,” but isn’t it possible that by females refusing male generosity that we too would be perceived to be rude? Mr. Levy refers to the “hardcore feminists who are outraged if a man tries to open a door for them,” as being the model which we “middle of the road feminists” should follow, but my question then to Mr. Levy is, how “popular” are the hardcore feminists with you? Perhaps when men find it more aesthetically pleasing for women to bite their heads off every time they try to extend a common courtesy to them, then we will truly live in this equal society in that Mr. Levy speaks of. Additionally, being in the military myself, I think it would only take a few minutes with any of my fellow female military personnel to erase the doubt in the minds of any man as to their qualifications and capability to take quick and decisive action in a time of crises. It should be stated though, even the military demands women to be given an honorary role. For instance, at our Navy/Marine Corps Birthday Ball coming up on Nov. 1, when being escorted women should always walk on the inside and when a lady leaves or comes back to the table, all gentlemen must stand. We females don’t make up these rules; we are just happily obliged to abide by them. Finally, a presidential election may be character debate, but it should certainly not be a feuding of stereotypes and I fear any election that is, for I believe we can agree stereotypes don’t often ring true. Therefore, I believe that when society is ready to decide on a presidential candidate based on the true character of the person and is ready to take on a female president, a female president will be ready and capable to take on society.

Sincerely, Shoshona M. Pilip-Florea 3/C MIDN, USNR CGS ’05