READERS

RESPOND

"Issues of THE LADDER are improving with each rung and make me glad that I renewed my subscription.

"I was very flattered to see reprints of some of my 'ViceVersa' material included in the March and April issue 8. I realize that a thorough proofreading of THE LADDER must be well-nigh impossible when your DOB activities are so many and so diverse. However, I wish there were some way I could explain to readers that I'm really not so insensitive to rhyme and meter as the altered version of my poem, 'The Elder' would indicate. The line 'Abuse and Prejudice have placed them there' was omitted in the third verse.

"I also hope they don't give me the credit for misspelling the word 'aging' on my 'No Exit' review (page 11 of THE LADDER, last line in paragraph 3)."

E.E., Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Sorry. In the hustle of getting to press these things do happen. We try, though. -ED.

"I cannot at all understand J.S.'s aversion to the term 'Lesbian' and believe THE LADDER would suffer immeasurably from loss of individuality were our 'Lesbiana' discarded in favor of a more 'acceptable' synonym. Perhaps I shouldn't say I can't understand the aversion since I experience a similar though apparently less intense feeling in regard to 'Butch' and 'Femme'. However, do not believe we should advocate revamping or conventionalizing our vocabulary simply because certain words may 'rub us the wrong way'. Why not instead ask ourselves why we experience such reactions and then go to work to overcome them. We will probably find that the 'unpleasant' connotations arise from our own acceptance of faulty generalizations, or else are due to bitterness in connection with past experiences for which we have not as

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