Violence against women

Re “Lab tech was last to see student alive, source says,” Sept. 17

The tragic death of Annie Le is yet another example of how little a woman’s life is worth in this society. After the sadness comes anger -- how could this have happened? When will our authorities, institutions and government finally take seriously the dynamics of power that exist in this country, where the lives of a little girl walking to school, a young graduate student and women taking an aerobics class may be horribly stolen at any moment?

Violence against women is an epidemic that plagues our nation. When will we act to change our paradigm of power, in which so many troubled men feel compelled to violate a girl or a woman, thinking erroneously that her life belongs to him?

Rizwati Freeman

Venice