Mike Tyson’s Conviction

Gloria Allred (Platform, Feb. 12) says that a woman is free to visit a man’s bedroom and to halt his advances there at any point with a word, and that Tyson’s conviction vindicates this view. Granting this freedom to women, however, does not mean that Tyson or any other man should be convicted of rape because he had sex with a woman in his bedroom.

Tyson was innocent until proven guilty, and he could not be proved guilty because there were no witnesses. Tyson was judged guilty because the jury found the alleged victim’s story to be more convincing than his. He was the victim of acquaintance-rape hysteria fomented by the Gloria Allreds of our society. Note also that the identity of the alleged victim and her mother were protected, but Tyson’s identity was not protected and his reputation was publicly degraded. Now, after this trial, any astute gold digger who can gain entrance to a celebrity’s bedroom can send him to jail and collect his money in a civil suit later, protecting herself from public scrutiny all the while.

Let us protect women, but let us protect men too.

ROBERT SEECOF

Oxnard