Letters to the Editor

I am writing in response to Sonja Sharp's column ("Real Women Have Angles," Sept. 20). Personally, my vagina would love to wear a tutu, considering the last time I wore one was in a ballet when I was six years old. However, these days, usually I prefer Hanes.

I also enjoy tofu, but in moderation. However, just because I enjoy tofu, does not imply that I yearn to join a "tofu army." By the way, what is a tofu army? I Googled the phrase and came up with no direct hits.

Besides tofu, I also like feta, Greek salads, angel hair pasta with alfredo sauce, and milk chocolate. And somehow, I still consider myself a feminist. Some days I love having shaved legs. Some months I do not touch my razor. Regardless of whether I shave or do not shave, I still identify as a feminist.

I do not want to shove the "C" word because my cunt is already a part of me. Maybe you do not realize that the word "cunt" is not a recent development. "Cunina" was a Roman word Indians used and some still use the word "kundas."

Even lovely old Chaucer used a form of the word "quynte" in Middle English. Obviously, the word "cunt" has a long history as well as modern cultural relevance. Many feminists like to use the word as a form of empowerment.

I do not believe that manning the crisis hotline for Bay Area Women Against Rape is "largely irrelevant." In fact, irrelevant is the last word I would choose. Here's a fact from the Female Sexuality DE-Cal that might surprise you:

In a national study of college students, 27.5 percent of women reported that they had been victim of a rape or attempted rape since the age of 14. Only 5 percent of the aforementioned women reported these rapes to the police. Does this information appear irrelevant?

As for Ms. Sharp's obvious disregard for the "The Vagina Monologues," maybe she does not see the reasons why the performance is so useful and vital to audiences and casts. If people do not talk about their love for their vaginas and their experiences, how do you expect equality to come about?

If you do not want to be a feminist, that is fine. But please do not disregard feminism and place us under one stereotype. My recommendation would be for Ms. Sharp to take FemSex. I think that she might really learn a thing or two.

Iris Mallgren

UC Berkeley student

View of Campus as Liberal Haven Obscures Activism

In the article ("Activists Re-enact Photo to Protest Prisoners' Treatment," Sept. 20) about the World Can't Wait! protest in front of Boalt Hall against John Yoo, one quote from a law student stood out.

He said, "It strikes me as odd that they're speaking here, where 99 percent of people agree with them anyway."

As a participant in the protest, I have to respond: If we are preaching to the choir, when is the choir going to start singing?

UC Berkeley is a place where, little known to the outside world, the biggest student group is the Berkeley College Republicans. It is a place where forums on creationism fill up giant lecture halls. And it is a place where a man responsible for the Bush Administration's legal justification of torture teaches unopposed. Given all this, it is more clear than ever that the liberal contingent of UC Berkeley students need to mobilize, and soon.

With a government in power that has declared unending war on the world with the "nuclear option on the table," an administration that takes away women's reproductive rights and leaves poor black people to die on their roofs, it has never been more clear that we must act now because the future is in the balance. This is the stomping ground of Mario Savio, after all.

On Oct. 5th, we're going to be bringing that legacy back to UC Berkeley. Walk out of school and join World Can't Wait-Drive Out the Bush Regime in the streets of San Francisco at 12 p.m. in Justin Herman Plaza.

Mykael Ornbaun

UC Berkeley student

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