Editor:

I don’t know what happened to Chris Cantu for him to have such disdain for women, but whatever it was, he has my sympathy. There are quite a few flaws, though, in the arguments he used in his recent letter to the editor (“Men are oppressed,” Oct. 25).

First, the statistic used by P.E.E.R. may not have been completely correct, but there are plenty of other statistics that show how prevalent rape is. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 131,940 women were victims of completed rape each year between 1992 and 2000, and 135,550 women were victims of sexual assault each year. Only 37 percent of those victims of completed rape reported the incident to the police.

Cantu kept referring to what happens specifically at the U. Well, here are some statistics of college rape incidents: 25 percent of college women have been victims of rape, 8.5 percent of college men admit to sexually abusing women but don’t consider that rape; only 10 percent of college rape victims report the assault.

Every two minutes a woman in the United States is raped. There is a reason people are so outraged by this problem.

Cantu also stated: “According to the Department of Justice, men and women are equally likely to start a fight, so why are men more routinely punished?”

What he failed to mention is that the Department of Justice also stated that 90-95 percent of domestic violence victims are women and much of female violence is committed in self-defense.

Female violence also inflicts less injury than male violence, the chance of being victimized by an intimate is 10 times greater for a woman than a man and 70 percent of intimate homicide victims are female.

I understand that false rape accusations can be made, but how many accusations are real as opposed to false?

I also understand that men can be victims of abuse and domestic violence, and women can be the perpetrators, but it is more often the other way around. How often do you hear of a man whose wife beat him to death?

If Cantu would like to continue this discussion, he can feel free to contact me. My e-mail is on the campus directory.

Aubrey Jeppson

Junior, Secondary Education