Missing Points on ‘Missing Link’

In their April 19 article “The Missing Link” (Hot to Shop), Beth Ann Krier and Jeannine Stein make some rather sweeping statements about the way Americans shop.

Women, they say, buy clothes. Lots of clothes. Clothes that satisfy their compulsion to look beautiful. (Look, look, look at me.)

Men, conversely, buy cars. Expensive cars. Cars that impress. (My car is more awesome than your car. That makes me more awesome too.)

Well, the folks I hang with aren’t like that at all. Men and women alike buy affordable items that provide good service. Style, when important, is selected according to personal taste. We have neither the time, the money, nor the inclination to shop for items whose primary utility is to impress others.

NORMAN B. SIMMONDS III, Valencia