On ugly trend

Mr. Narish Stock worries about an ugly trend (The Jakarta Post, Aug. 13, 1994) after seeing a photo of a woman who had cut off her husband's penis. He mentions the similar Bobbit case as evidence of the trend.

If he sympathizes with men who beat their wives, then perhaps he has reason to worry. Don't forget that in the Bobbit case, the husband had brutalized his wife. If the allegations are true (and the court which heard all the evidence believed it) then Mr. Bobbit deserved what he got. Any man who beats a woman is not truly a man and will get no sympathy from me regardless of what happens to him. Shari'a demands that the hand of a thief be cut off--well fair's fair, boys. Rapists beware!

And by the way, if you're looking for a truly ominous photo depicting a really ugly trend, look at the one on page five of the same issue showing a group of men, who supposedly follow a merciful god, screaming for the blood of a young woman writer.

GARY GENTRY

Jakarta