Right to Be a Bimbo

Tammy Bruce and other like-minded National Organization for Women supporters are critical of Howard Stern and, by extension, of the women who voluntarily decide to become part of his “misogynist and sexist” ventures (“NOW Shock Waves,” Morning Report, Oct. 22).

Isn’t the whole point of the women’s movement that all women should be allowed to choose their own role in society, not that which others formulate for them? This means, of course, that if a woman wants to become a doctor, astronaut, baseball umpire, construction worker or homemaker, she should have the right. She should also have the right, if she so chooses, to become a Stern “bikini bimbo” or willing playful-spanking partner.

I vehemently disagree with those who say men who lust after appealing, oft-times scantily clad women are putting these women down. Quite the opposite. The average man who fantasizes about Miss October or one of Stern’s girls knows full well that he doesn’t stand a chance with a woman like that--a woman, for whatever reasons, he will never meet, much less get involved with.

Your typical heterosexual male worships these women, just as he would a famous athlete or an exotic car. Stern’s male listeners and viewers are simply living vicariously through their media hero.

Stern is not Bruce’s enemy. If she wants to enact a boycott that seriously addresses women’s perceived second-class status, why not choose targets such as the Republican Party, major league baseball and various orthodox churches? These are some entities that are keeping women down.

TIMOTHY MARSH

San Bernardino