July 17, 1997
Dear Tammy,
Your letter raised so many interesting points I have one I would love to discuss. I agree with everything you say and I love that quote of Terences, "Ive often walked along the streets where people live all in a row, and one house is exactly like another house, and wondered what on earth the women were doing inside . . . Im sure if I were a woman Id blow someones brains out . . . ." This really sums up women and men to me. Women live day in and day out, wishing that we could be educated, that we could leave home and get a job to support ourselves. We wish we had the opportunities that men have. But men, on the other hand, when confronted with the life of a women, say that they would blow their brains out if they nad to be us. But they are the ones who have put us here. History shows us hundreds of years of female subjugation. So when you say (about Terences quote), "Here he is not only empathizing with women, he is asking Rachel how she feels about it all," I understand what you mean, but have to think that, over the last thousand years or so, if men have been unable to empathize with us enough to end our subordination, then is Terence really feeling for women, or does he merely think that he feels for us? I mean, he is not offering any solutions to Rachel on being a woman. He is merely commenting on how awful it must be for her to be who she is. Earlier, he thought that Rachel, "became less desirable as her brain began to work . . . ." I believe that he likes her inferior to himself and would not wish her to be anything else. I dont think that Terence has any notion of womens lives or any empathy for them. But thats just my opinion!
Enjoyed your letter,
Katie
Tammy's Letter