I have been watching the progress of this NOW organization with some misgivings, and feel I must speak out against some of your activities.

“Persuading” Jordan Marsh to open its Mens Grille to women strikes me as highly ridiculous, and very unwise.  This is the kind of move that simply gives rise to resentment among men, without being a significant gain to women.

There are many areas of life in which separation of the sexes is desirable – I very much enjoy the female atmosphere of a beauty shop, and feel men are entitled to their Barber Shops to themselves.  With four sons I have had occasion to intrude on this little masculine world, and much prefer to do some shopping or otherwise occupy myself while the boys are having their hair cut.

I have attended the Elaine Powers studio, and all of us were discomfited when an electrician was working in the studio – not that we were so modest, just that that is a woman’s place.

Now I realize that eating lunch is not something which requires separation of the sexes, but men ENJOY being special, just as they enjoy their all-male poker games and hunting trips.  Why should we try to snatch this away from them?

A parallel situation would seem to me to be the relationship between parents and their growing children.  There are things my children do which I simply find no pleasure in, front lawn football games, loud rock music sessions, even slumber parties.  There is no reason why I must intrude myself on their pleasures, nor why they must intrude on my more quite pastimes.  We are Different, with different tastes and different interests, and we can both benefit from time spent apart, pursuing our separate lives, discussing with our own friends the things that interest us.

While I myself have never felt that I was treated as an inferior by men, I realize that there are probably some injustices in hiring practices (though I can even see reasons for much of that – I wouldn’t want to be a jockey, or try to fulfill some other traditional male role, and a female minister simply leaves me cold).

The point I am trying to make is just this:  we should not confuse discrimination with a mere and harmless desire on the part of men to be separate and a little special.

      Sincerely yours,
      XXXXX XXXX
      Mrs. XXXXX XXXXX