Missing The Point

It seems apropos that Aaron Mesh chose to quote Henry Higgins, musical theater's most misogynistic character, in his patronizing review of the movie

(

).

Mr. Mesh refers in condescending terms to the main character as "plucky," to the film as "so goddamn touching it hurts" and to the working class as a "close-knit community of pretty poverty." It was precisely the lack of patronizing and distancing assumptions about class and gender that made this film outstanding. In the film, the working class is not portrayed as ignorant about the fashion revolution that overtook Britain (and the Western world) in the '60s, and the issue of fairness and equality for women in the film extended beyond class and workplace. The women were portrayed as intelligent and unapologetic about their femininity. They were portrayed as undaunted by male domination and assumption of superior worth.

We women in America could learn from the community of women portrayed in the film; we still only earn 77 cents to the male dollar, and the Equal Rights Amendment is still, decades after our sisters in Europe have gotten similar legislation passed, languishing in the limbo of "not now, not yet" that was the defense in this film.

Karen Alexander-Brown
Hillsboro

wweek.com readers comment on: “Portland police shootings pile up,” Jan. 3, 2011

"Perhaps it is time to take guns away from the police, who no longer seem to have any restraint." —FDR

"The suggestion that Adams is bringing a unique level of incompetence to the management of the Police Bureau is unfair and inaccurate. It is a matter of public record that Adams handles all of his professional responsibilities with a consistently high and universally applied level of incompetence, and there is simply no evidence that the Police Bureau is getting special treatment in that regard." —pl

"'Perhaps it is time to take guns away from the police who no longer seem to have any restraint.'

And how would you handle a situation where you were approached by people with knives or guns that have already assaulted and/or threatened others?" —123