Promise Keepers: A Threat? Really?

So few men understand the deepest fears of women today. And yet, amazingly, on the basis of a tiny and informal survey, Thomas B. Cotton '98 ("Promises and Covenants," Oct. 3) has managed to get to the heart of the desires and insecurities of the whole female sex.

Cotton explains how he asked a few women some sample questions and, through their enlightening answers, was able to "unlock the secret to a woman's heart and soul." He discovered that women all fear losing a husband or lover, our greatest hopes are to find a husband and being a good wife and mother.

Indeed, all the women I know here certainly came to Harvard to meet a man to whom we can, in Cotton's words, "devote and sacrifice ourselves." And if we're lucky, these husbands we meet who fulfill our dreams will also be members of the Promise Keepers.

Promise Keepers gather in football stadiums across the nation, urging men to be faithful to their wives, to be nicer to them, and even to help do the dishes and diapers. Sounds wonderful to me! And all we women have to do in return is to be submissive and subordinate--such a small price to pay!

I'm sure that there are thousands of women across the country who, like myself, would love to sacrifice equal rights and egalitarian relationships to get some respect from men.

Unfortunately, there are also some women who don't see things the way Cotton and I do. Those crazy feminists, for example, just don't understand the Promise Keepers at all--they seem to believe the group is a threat just because it wants to place women back in a biblical, politically inferior role.

As Cotton states brilliantly, the National Organization of Women and other groups "apparently don't consult the deepest hopes of women." I agree--I think Cotton is more in touch with the sentiments of women today than any nationally-based women's group could possibly be. --Shauna Shames '01