Osias on Gender Gap in ’96 Election

* In “Women Are Still Voting With Their Libidos” (Commentary, Nov. 18) Rosalie Osias is insulting to her own gender. Women did not vote for Bill Clinton because of his position of power--they voted for him because of his intelligence and their own ability to recognize it.

Intelligent women know that an affair doesn’t detract from a man’s intellectual ability, nor from his love for his wife and his daughter. Hillary is intelligent--she knows that.

Intelligent women voted for Clinton because his ability to analyze difficult situations is far greater than his opponent’s and his fair and level head at no time allowed him to stoop to defending himself against the attacks from the Republicans.

Intelligence, not libido, motivated the women’s vote for Clinton.

JEAN SOHL

Thousand Oaks

* I was disgusted by Osias’ assertion that Clinton got back to the White House simply because we feeble females swooned at his projected power. We “ignored” Clinton’s foibles because we found them less offensive than Bob Dole’s and other Republicans’ mean-spirited, selfish, power-grabbing tactics that display little true concern for most Americans’ lives and struggles.

We voted for Clinton with our brains, not our loins, and to assert otherwise reveals a profound disrespect for female intellect. You might as well take away our vote, Osias seems to say, because we’re just so durn stupid we’ll vote for any pretty face that promises to feed poor children and find ways to make their futures brighter. And shame on The Times for even publishing such garbage--freedom of speech should always be leavened with editorial taste.

ANNE LEAR

Seal Beach

* When Osias states that the 54% of women who favored Clinton over Dole were “still voting with their libidos,” the lady doth protest too much, methinks.

The only reason many lifelong Republican females like myself voted for Bill was because Bob was anti-choice. If Rosalie missed that biggie while presiding over a foundation that bears her name and purports to study feminist issues, she ought to find something else to do with her spare time. Like get a different photo to accompany her article. The coquettish one that appeared, replete with trendy sunglasses in hand, portrays her as the perfect poster girl for the “swooning woman” stereotype she professes to decry. Along with her words, it does a gross disservice to women who legitimately struggle against Osias’ misguided conceptions every day.

BEVERLY DELOTT

Pacific Palisades

* Do I have this right? According to Osias, if I can exude more power and charisma, I could score more hot, entry-level babes? Hey, thanks for the tip!

TIM BRADLEY

Altadena