Letters et cetera

Home/Work

Two readers respond to the article on Steven Rhoads and his book, “Taking Sex Differences Seriously.” 

I hope this is just one of many responses that you received on the “Home/Work” article in the January ’05 edition of your magazine.  I think that economic pressures, not the women’s movement, are what keep many women in the work place when they would prefer to stay home.  In addition, I can’t believe that in 2004 a University professor would decry the impact of Title IX for “reducing men’s opportunities to play sports” when superior athletic opportunities for men often came at the expense of little to no opportunities for women.  I can only imagine the anti-woman public policy changes that Professor Rhoads would have public officials consider.

Denise Koch
(Environmental Sciences ’95)
Juneau, Alaska

With all due respect to Professor Rhoads’ data, we are each traveling to the beat of our own drummer. To formulate public policy based on perceived differences between the sexes does a great disservice to us all and fails to consider the role of society and public policy in creating those differences. Professor Rhoads cites data showing that women derive more enjoyment from all aspects of child care without considering whether societal pressure and guilt have influenced women to report enjoyment that they don’t genuinely experience. He seems to believe that the desires of fathers who want generous paternal leave to care for their children should be ignored. Most crucially, while your article mentioned Professor Rhoads’ argument against Title IX, readers should also know that young women who play competitive sports are less likely to become pregnant unintentionally, perform better academically, are more likely to graduate from high school, have greater self-confidence, and are less likely to suffer from depression. In contrast, studies have found that male team athletes are more likely to commit sexual assault and to be involved in other types of violence, and are also more likely to subscribe to the “rape myth,” that rape is provoked by the survivor and the aggressor is blameless.  It would appear that competitive sports play a greater role in exacerbating aggressive impulses than in taming them.

Amy Elizabeth Brown  (Cognitive Science ’02)
Emory University School of Medicine,
Class of 2007, Atlanta, Ga.

Cause for celebration 

Echols Scholars program now 40 years old — good article. Two insights. I was resident adviser at Echols House when it all began and worked very hard to have the group called “scholars,” not fellows, the original designation, which I thought would not work well at all. Second, following an early football game, several Scholars were heckled by other students because of their status. This led to hot words, shoving, and perhaps a few blows. But the Scholars stood their ground and, as far as I know, that was the last altercation of that sort.

John H. Moore
(MA, History ’53, PhD ’61)
Columbia, S.C.