Editor:

I’m confused by Ryan Dark’s letter (“The Chronicle is too leftist,” Feb. 8). He expresses a lot of anger toward the concept of feminism, citing the lenient treatment of female killers and child molesters as the primary justification for his outrage. He basically asserts that these women escape jail time because of feminism.

I’m no expert on the subject, but I’ve always understood that feminism is not a philosophy for the preferential treatment of women, but one that views women as equal to men. Feminism would say that women should be rewarded or punished no differently than men.

So Dark’s woes cannot be due to true feminism, but to either a kind of hyper-feminism that views women as worthy of better treatment than men or an old-fashioned idea that mercy ought to be shown to women.??

Since Dark thinks men and women should have the same punishment for the same crime, we can only conclude that he himself is a feminist.

But if that’s too leftist a title for your comfort, Dark, we can just call you a grumpy bugger who likes to complain.

Topher MehlhoffJunior,?Film Studies