Letter to the editor, the Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1998:

"Not the V Word" (Feb. 11) by Josh Getlin was a delight to read. Eve Ensler has taken a path most women would be too shy to travel. That is until now.

Ensler's path reminds me of the consciousness-raising phase many women like me went through in the early 1980's, the result of which was to no longer suppress our feminine identities and to wish and well as act wholeheartedly for equality. I look forward to Ensler's Los Angeles appearance.

I remember an evening in 1961 when I was playing scrabble with several people. As the remaining letters became few and all but a male friend and I were still playing, I discovered that I had six letters left—V  A  G  I  N  A—and if I used them I would win the game. I debated for a minute then decided, "Oh, what the heck," and placed them on the board after which I fled the room feeling embarrassed as well as elated. I had won but at what cost?

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