Responsibility for One’s Actions

I agree in principle with the quote from Patricia Bellasalma, executive vice president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, regarding the burden of proof in rape cases still being mainly on the woman (“The Thin Blurred Line,” by Mary A. Fischer, Dec. 1). However, I do not agree with her final statement that “the public still operates on the old idea that if a woman didn’t go to a bar and drink, she wouldn’t get into trouble.” Well, duh!

At the heart of this debate are women’s rights and freedoms to do and say what they please. With those rights comes the attendant right to accept responsibility for one’s actions. Bellasalma’s statement seems to exempt women. That would be the most irresponsible action of all.

Shannon Wilson

Ventura

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There were a few times when I woke up from a night of hard partying to discover a woman in bed next to me. But I never had the option to claim that I was taken advantage of, much less to sue for compensation because of my own debauchery. It seems that women won’t be liberated until they are outraged by the conduct of women who behave in a nymphomaniac fashion, then turn around and cry rape because the man they were with turns out to be wealthy.

Frederick Cleveland

Hollywood