G-L-O-R-I-A

All too often phrases journalists select to describe women and men reflect a double standard--a woman is cast as “hard and unforgiving,” while a man is described as “forceful and determined.”

In this instance, perhaps Molina’s first mistake was her failure to pull a Spike Lee with The Times and insist that the newspaper send a woman-of-color journalist who, probably more than anyone else, would understand the relationships between race, class, sex and power, with anger being the motivating and mediating force among them.

MARY PARDO

PROFESSOR OF CHICANO STUDIES

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

GLORIA J. ROMERO

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

CAL STATE LOS ANGELES

Hector Tobar replies: Professors Pardo and Romero should note that it was a Latina activist who described Molina as “hard and unforgiving.” I merely reported what her detractors, both men and women, said about her.

Molina often loses control of her anger--she told me this herself. This “take-no-prisoners attitude” is what sets her apart from the run-of-the-mill liberal politician.

I felt it was my responsibility to describe and explore Molina’s anger, a central facet of her public persona. To do otherwise might have denied the reader an important truth.