To the Editors:
In her letter ("Bond within her rights to celebrate her vagina," April 10), Margo Clark '09 cites "hateful myths about the vagina, and women for that matter." She further states that Bond is celebrating "the one part of her body that we have been taught to be ashamed of and hide."
Which leads to the question of just who has taught such "hateful myths" and led her to be "ashamed of and hide" her vagina.
Was it her parents? Her friends? Her mentors? The academics who hold their positions solely on the basis of such presumed oppression? The leaders of the feminist movement who gain their power from such assertions? The therapists who earn their living addressing such neuroses, founded or not?
I submit that greater enlightenment might come from answering this simple question than from all the vagina-based cultural elements of our day. And I hope the two writers involved will report their answers from the real world when the Orient resumes publication in the fall; it is important that we all know from whom such hate and shame derives.
In the mean time, Ms. Bond should know that I am not in the least ashamed of my prostate ("Sex Matters: Power in the prostate: Exploring the atypical possibilities for male pleasure," April 24) nor do I harbor any insecurities about it that might spawn a study concentration, a safe house, a theatrical production, or an industry.
And I won't take any challenges to this position sitting down.
Sincerely,
Pem Schaeffer
Brunswick, Maine