Please put this Last

Too right I'm alienated! Last week (salient, 2 June) I read a letter by a person called Graeme, or Leslie, or whatever his/her name was.

It (the letter) suggested that while most non-Maoris would never contemplate telling Maoris "how to run their meetings" on a marae most men would not hesitate telling women how to "run their forums", especially the one on rape held recently.

By their very nature marae meetings and varsity forums are totally different (see "Wilde's Everyday Usage"). While the meetings are essentially closed meetings, forums are designed for informed discussion, to provide an opportunity for people to air their opinions. Unfortunately this particular forum did not take the ideal form of a discussion, with a distinct lack of emphasis on the "informative" side.

Secondly, (there's more where that came from), I take issue with the suggestion that it is wounded masculine pride which inspired me to write. My pride is not at slake simply because it is not founded on the same chauvinistic ideas as Graham/Leslie's.

The final point which I wish to take up is the pathetic image of the poor little girl threatened from left, right and centre by sex-starved potential rapists, ie men, I can certainly sympathise for, as a puny male, I have often fell susceptible to homosexual assaults.

That does not give me an excuse to lable every homosexual as a potential threat (which he is), or to saddle him with the responsibility for the few sickos that perpetrate these crimes. That is no way to win Friends (like "Peter") and influence people (like "Tina" and "Mary").