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I FELT GREAT PRIDE IN SEEING AMERICA'S First Lady, Hillary Clinton, speak to that huge gathering in China. I was proud to be a woman in 1995 and to have such a fine spokeswoman for all women, especially American women. JANET GOULD CHILDRETH Hillsboro, Oregon
TOO FEW FEMALE-FRIENDLY SPOTS
BARBARA EHRENREICH, IN "FOR WOMEN, China Is All Too Typical'' [ESSAY, Sept. 18], complained that the position of women is bad all over the world, including in the U.S., and that there are "precious few female-friendly spots" where the women's conference could have been held. Instead of criticizing, wouldn't it be better if American feminists found it in their hearts to work for harmony between the two sexes? Then people like me might feel more sympathy when feminists complain about the lot of women in those countries where their treatment is genuinely bad. ROHIT PARIKH New York City
BRAVO! FINALLY A VOICE OF REASON. Women: mothers, toys, slaves, punching bags. What a sad story. ROBERT A.M. COPPENRATH Guttenberg, New Jersey
EHRENREICH'S ESSAY SHOULD HAVE BEEN titled "Stop the World! I Want to Get Off.'' Apparently she can find no place on it fit for women. WESLEY C. HARALDSON Cascade, Montana
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF HER VIEWS ON abortion, Ehrenreich quite nicely shares many of the same values as her enemies, the "religious conservatives.'' In America at least, her views on wife abuse, sexual harassment in the workplace, trafficking in sex slaves, the demeaning of a woman's worth and discrimination against women are no different from what is preached in thousands of conservative Christian churches every Sunday morning. If there are differences, perhaps it is in the way we fight. We conservative Christians battle on the individual level, trying to get people to change. Ehrenreich fights on the political level, trying to force people to change. We conservative Christians have been struggling for the past 2,000 years and have a lot of experience combating the injustices of this world. We really aren't Ehrenreich's enemies, after all. STEVE DRESSELHAUS La Paz, Mexico
AN OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY TALE
GET REAL--OR RATHER, GET UNREAL. TO Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar is a movie [CINEMA, Sept. 18]. Remember what that means? Fantasy. Make-believe. Fairy tale. A genre that is not always designed to inspire moral judgments or politically conscious statements. It aims to entertain, which To Wong Foo does delightfully. What if the story line is predictable? Name a fairy-tale fantasy in which it isn't. What if three drag queens drive into a small, dreary heartland town and add style, brighten lives and create miracles? We believe because we want to think miracles can still happen. Save yourself from passing judgment. Let audiences go see a film, laugh and enjoy a good old-fashioned fairy tale for a change. JERRY AYERS Waxahachie, Texas
FALLOUT IN PARADISE