IT’S IN THE MALE

Why would anyone want a male ego? It’s an archaic frivolity, like a codpiece. Therefore, I refuse to take Margo Kaufman’s article seriously.

The male ego, like all Big Lies, is founded on a combination of truth, flattery and delusion. Women endorse it because we want to believe some people are predisposed to fight our wars, compete in the work place and deal with car salesmen. Men perpetuate it because it keeps them on top. Unsapped by the perpetual-motion energy drains of self-doubt, not to mention women’s work, men are free to dominate.

But, the male ego is very fragile--because all real men know it is a Big Lie. My mother raised four sons and a daughter with the belief that no sex is superior to the other, and everybody is right (and wrong) sometimes. Such a simple message, Margo, and I pass it on to you: We are all just brothers and sisters.

SUSAN WEINER, Pomona