Having been raised in a southern family that instilled in me the importance of gentility and a respect for women, I was troubled by Steve Brown's perspectives in his Sept. 20 article "Sit Down For Your Rights."
He attempts to justify his choice to not give up his seat on the bus to a young woman by claiming he was reaffirming that females are just as capable as men. Yet by implying that he was doing her a favor by refusing her request, he wrongly implies that he has brilliantly deduced the answer to the deeper question that her supposedly feeble female mind could not have discovered.
This implied lack of respect for the intelligence of women is startling and offensive; particularly to those women who are intelligent enough to understand that chivalry and gentility are not an attack on their capabilities, but rather a kind gesture from gentlemen who respect them.
Alec Macauley
Trinity '07
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