On Friedan and Feminism

It seems unfortunate that Betty Friedan (“A Feminist in the Late ‘80s,” May 17, by Bettyann Kevles), concerned as she is with the issue of aging, was profiled by someone so enamored of the “cult of youth” that she offers this description: “The smile transforms her, subtracting years.” Friedan deserves better. And Los Angeles Times Magazine readers need better, if we are ever to acknowledge that it’s perfectly all right for a 66-year-old woman to actually look her age.

Linda Whitehead

West Hollywood