College News Letter

Two students submitted this letter to The College News in 1990 in response to an article in another student publication, The Howl. In this letter to the community, Diana Hortsch and Liz Talley call out the authors of the Howl article for writing a misogynistic attack against a Playboy model, Kimberly Conrad-Hefner. They use feminism to defend Conrad-Hefner's right to pose for Playboy without being subjected to others assuming things "about her intellectual and moral makeup based on the way she looks and what she does with her body".

Hortsch and Talley assert that feminism is for all women, and that the Howl should be ashamed for implying that Mawrters are somehow above other women: "Does The Howl think that we, as college students, know more about feminism than a model for Playboy? Feminism is not only for educated women, rich women, and women who choose to keep their clothes on."

While this letter is supportive of women's choices, however, it seems that at this point gender identities outside of the binary are not yet being discussed or included. Midway through the letter the authors state that our patriarchal society "is composed of both men and women". There is no recognition of other gender identities.