WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

It seems to me that the letter from the Committee of Women clearly "reflects the reality" that there is a certain segment within the Harvard community which tends to take itself all too seriously and which seems to have nothing better to do with its time and energies than to try to turn a harmless social event into a harrowing social issue. The Committee of Women, through its overreaction to the radical idea of an East House raffle, is perpetuating an image of Radcliffe women which has worked even more against good male-female relations within the University than the raffle ever could. It is my personal hope that the East House Bake Sale and Party helped break down the widespread stereotype of Cliffies as academic and intellectual snobs who don't know how to have a good time or when to "stop being a whiz kid." Radcliffe may perhaps justifiably be thought of as a haven for National Merit Scholars who wear their grades pinned to their sweaters. But on the other hand, there exist along with them Cliffies who can enjoy a Bake Sale and a party, organized for the dual purposes of fund- and fun-raising. And there are many, many other Cliffies--such as the seven girls who volunteered to participate in the raffle--who are secure enough in their intellectual and sexual identities not to have to organize into a committee to remind themselves that they are women, and that they don't have to be consigned to second-class status on the basis of that fact. I hope that the Harvard people who showed up for Friday night's festivities left feeling that the 'Cliffe can indeed be a warm, friendly place and the Cliffies can laugh at themselves just as well as they can intellectualize. To the Committee of Women, I can only say "methinks thou doth protest too much." Or better yet--COW is full of bull. Rita Fletcher '71   President   East House