MAIL AGGRESSION

Letters

Madonna Madness

Madonna in a pinafore contributes to the general eroticization of children in this culture ["Madonna in Wonderland," by Maureen Orth, October], Is Madonna so ambitious that she is unaware how she feeds the kinds of fantasies which lead to child sexual abuse? Didn't someone on your staff object? The taboo against acting on sexual fantasies with children keeps child abuse in check. What if even one child is sexually abused because of the message sent out by this feature?

VIRGINIA SPELTZ MULLIN, Ph.D.

Practicing psychotherapist

Los Angeles, California

Madonna has made a dash of talent go a very long way, like stretching a Chiclet to the moon.

MARK GAUVREAU JUDGE

Potomac, Maryland

Why charge an outrageous $50 for Madonna's book? The family-values set isn't going to spend that kind of money; it's yuppie-chic America who'll dole out the dough (the rest will buy Penthouse and save the $45 for groceries).

KATIE BOWEN

Chicago, Illinois

I resent the Puritan-like fundamentalists and their ilk who keep sex in either the closet or the jails. Have you heard of the proposed measures in Oregon, Colorado, and Maine? Did you hear Pat Buchanan's speech at the Republican National Convention? It's scary that there are people like that in influential positions! This sexual person in Oregon thinks Madonna's a great choice as sexual spokesperson to the rest of the closed-minded little world.

KATHLEEN MATTSON

Wilsonville, Oregon

The one area in which I think Madonna is highly talented is comedy. All her sex stuff is actually a mockery of sex, of ethics, of the people who feel blessed by the goddess herself—an invitation to lick her boots.

ANNIE FINEMAN

New Orleans, Louisiana

It doesn't take great intellectual prowess to make the connection that transforming a sexually available woman into a sexually available child implies the alternative: transforming my child into a sexually available woman! I am enraged at this woman and this magazine for putting my child at risk. One in four men already sees her as sexual, innocent, and available.

COLLEEN O'NEIL

Bowen Island, British Columbia, Canada

Madonna does not seem to understand that there is a real world where people aren't driven around in limousines, and don't have bodyguards at their beck and call or homes equipped with the latest in intruder-proof devices. We in that real world have to walk home from work many nights and stand alone at bus stops. I love sex, but I do not flaunt my sexuality outside my home. I know one of the best ways to empower myself is not to make myself vulnerable. And to do all I can to help protect my fellow women.

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Continued from page 34

WHITNEY A. BECKWITH

Alexandria, Virginia

Family Therapy

The article about my estimable brother, Larry Kramer ("Kramer vs. Kramer," by Michael Shnayerson, October], is, in virtually all respects, right on target. One error, however, needs correcting. A long paragraph dealing with the Kramerfamily dynamics while Larry and I were growing up concludes with the sentence "For their entire adult lives, both sons have been in some form of therapy." My own therapy started and ended long ago, circa 1957 to 1962. Since then, for most of my adult life, I have been on my own.

ARTHUR B. KRAMER

New York, New York

Nuts About Bolton

EDITOR'S NOTE: In the last month, Vanity Fairhas received more than a dozen letters of the sort printed below.

You seem to be featuring quite a few women on your covers. How about their male counterpart, Michael Bolton? He has his own softball team (the Bolton Bombers), which plays radio stations to support local charities. He is also dating foxy Nicollette Sheridan, and there have been rumors of movie offers.

LYNN LEWIS

Canton, Michigan

What about featuring a favorite of mine, Michael Bolton—singer, songwriter, and great-looking guy? He came out first in a most-popular-male-singer poll recently. Even Oprah thinks he's terrific.

SALLY FREEMAN

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Mincemeat

I very much wanted to purchase Linda McCartney's new photo book ("Moll of Kintyre," by Zoe Heller, October]. But oh, well. Can't do it. I'm a meat-eater.

PATTY H. MURIE

Detroit, Michigan

Super Ego

Thank heaven for the King James Version of the Bible, Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; without these, Henryk de Kwiatkowski ["The Savior of Calumet," by Bob Colacello, October] would lay claim to everything.

PETER M. MAYNARD

New York, New York

I remember being in White's tent at Royal Ascot three years ago, when Henryk de Kwiatkowski was holding forth with a number of his stories about how rich he was and how many horses he had syndicated, and an elderly gentleman sitting at a nearby table said, "I didn't get your name." De Kwiatkowski replied, "Henryk de Kwiatkowski." The gentleman retorted, "Oh, I thought it was Henryk de KeepQuietski-Please. "

HUGH JARDON

New York, New York

Perotnoia

I have read your article "Perot's Final Days" [by Marie Brenner, October]. In general, I feel that it was totally misleading and unjustly harsh. Specifically, the comments attributed to me about never reading a newspaper and never voting are not true. Not only do I read at least three newspapers a day, but I have voted in presidential, state, and local elections since I was 21 years of age. It is a shame that Marie Brenner did not come closer to getting the facts straight.

MORTON H. MEYERSON

Dallas, Texas

MARIE BRENNER REPLIES: Oh, come now, Mr. Meyerson. If this is so, why did you tell two of your guests one night at a summer dinner at your house, "I have never voted, and l rarely read the newspaper." And if it isn't so, why did you not return my numerous phone calls? I am pleased this is the only fact in my piece you take issue with.

Native Texans have been hearing Ross Perot stories for years; most of us never viewed his presidential campaign as anything more than a 1992 version of the "Emperor's New Clothes."

Continued on page 54

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MORNA K. REYNOLDS

Auburn, Alabama

If you think J. Edgar Hoover's furtive blackmailings and voyeuristic surveillances were wounds to constitutional liberties in America, just try to fathom the perversions this Napoleonic rodent would have brought to the United States. You won't have to look very hard for me, Ross, I'm in the book.

MARK W. MORGAN

Atlanta, Georgia

Palace-Guard Rail

You really don't need "a team of psychiatrists" to figure out George Bush and Jim Baker ["His Master's Voice," by Marjorie Williams, October]. They are simply the Leopold and Loeb of American politics.

ALEXANDER WALLACE

Portland, Maine

Closing Arguments

A close reading of Peter Collier's piece ["Blood on the Charles," October] reveals as much about its author's sexist perspective as it does about the schism of legal theory at Harvard Law School. To describe the controversy set in motion by the murder of law professor Mary Joe Frug, Collier characterizes the largely male cast of characters solely, and respectfully, in terms of their work and the contributions they have made in their respective milieus. On the other hand, Collier writes that Frug looked years younger than her age, wore miniskirts while riding a bicycle, made physical contact with her male students, and knew how to make men "comfortable" despite her position on feminist issues. For what purpose is this information offered? Tragically, and quite obviously, Frug is not alive to object to her trivialization by Collier any more than she was able to respond to the parody of her posthumously published article in the Harvard Law Review.

JORDAN TAMAGNI

New York, New York

As a basically conservative woman who is decidedly not in agreement with feminists who claim to represent all women,

I am relieved to discover, via Alan Dershowitz, that not all liberals have bleeding hearts and a herd mentality! If Harvard students and faculty would focus less on the packages professors come in (weren't blacks telling whites this not so long ago?) and more on hiring people of substance and intelligence, such as Mr. Dershowitz, the university would once again be the Harvard, rather than the Beirut, of legal education.

CHRISTINA MUENNING

Chicago, Illinois

Unfinished Business

In comparing "The Trail of a Hustler," by Ann Louise Bardach, and "Dan's Big Plan," by Sidney Blumenthal [both September], I find it interesting that the names of the big Hollywood people are withheld, while the politicians' names are frequently used. Does this mean that Hollywood bigwigs have more power than politicians, or instill more fear in the writers? I personally think we readers have a right to know the names of these people.

SUSAN CHRISTENSON

Fort Wayne, Indiana

The bulk of the letters on your Luke Perry article ["Wild About Perry," by Kevin Sessums, July] seemed to be concerned with either handguns or cigarettes. I really don't understand the role-model problem. Luke Perry, like James Dean, is a creature of fantasy and desire. Get real, people, and loosen up. Reality died in this country about the same time movies were invented.

MICHAEL MAGER

Sonora, California

What? You called Demi Moore's nanny "plump" ["Demi's Body Language," by Jennet Conant, August]? You vicious, fascistic swine! How do you people sleep at night?

ALAN PATERSON

London, England

And Another Thing...

Did you notice that whichever way you position your October cover, Madonna is always staring right at you?

CLAIRE JAGGER

Jacksonville, Florida

Letters to the editor should be sent with the writer's name, address, and daytime phone number to: The Editor, Vanity Fair, 350 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10017. The letters chosen for publication may be edited for length and clarity.