LETTERS : THE FRIEDAN FOCUS

The tribute to Betty Friedan (“The Unsinkable Betty Friedan,” by Michele Kort, Oct. 10) is well-deserved and comprehensive but contains a misnomer that bothers me. It’s right there in the inside title: “Portrait of the Feminist as an Old Woman.” Why not substitute the word mature , or even older , but surely not old .

Friedan will continue to be the energetic pioneer that the article describes so graphically. She has survived “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and will surely inspire us with her wisdom in her book, “The Fountain of Age.” It seems to me that another Shakespearean quotation suits her better than the word old : “Age cannot wither, nor custom stale, (her) infinite variety.”

SHERRY TERZIAN, Los Angeles

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If Friedan is such a “self-aware human being,” why does she still berate the rich--”There were a few rich people, but they didn’t bother us. But now there are so many rich people!”--when she is one herself? If having three places to live--”Friedan divides her time among her Sag Harbor home, a river-view Manhattan apartment and a Santa Monica condo”--isn’t rich, please tell me what is.

NANCY JORDAN RANDAHL, Los Angeles

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Before 1960, women who wanted careers outside the home could have them, while others could still be full-time mothers and homemakers by choice. Motherhood was regarded as important, and the mainstream standard was for men to be chivalrous. But after women’s libbers proclaimed that women do not want chivalrous treatment, the incidence of harassment and assault increased.

Motherhood is no longer respected. Women are now pressured to get out of the home, attend to their careers and neglect their children. Children lacking the love and attention they would get from full-time mothers turn to gangs, loveless sex, drugs and violence.

I hope Friedan doesn’t mess things up for the elderly the way she, and others, messed things up for women.

JUANITA MATASSA, Santa Ana