Age and Sex Appeal

In her July 27 review of “Presumed Innocent” Sheila Benson writes: “Surely no reader (of the book) is going to quibble that . . . Carolyn Polhemus has dropped a dozen or so years and a teen-age son to become Greta Scacchi--not when that actress’ measured glance and apricot-colored skin could spark lust from granite.”

Well, this reader surely does object. The character in the book was a complex woman in her 40s, unlike Scacchi’s vacuous sex kitten.

I can recall virtually no American movies in the last five years in which an over-40 female character had even a modest love scene. (Actresses like Fonda and Hawn skirt the issue by playing “ageless.”) In contrast, male characters in their 50s and even 60s routinely are given love interests young enough to be their daughters. Let me see if I understand this, Hollywood: Men are inherently desirable no matter what their age, but women turn sexless after 40.

This double standard is misogynistic poppycock and says more about the insecurities of the filmmakers than it does about the women they’re ignoring.

SARAH LOWDER

Los Angeles