LETTER: What They Deserve

A man who rapes someone should be condemned. Most rapists are now getting what they deserve. However, it does not follow that a man who has sex with several someones should be condemned, as Mr. Lehman seems to indicate in "Mike, Magic and Machismo."(DP 2/18/92) Mr. Lehmann writes that promiscuity entails a misogynist attitude, that if one "obliges" many women, one must be unwilling ". . . to see women as anything but sex objects." Furtermore, he labels promiscuity as blatent sexism. Why? In Magic's case, he forced nobody to bed with him; we hear no rape allegations. We have bo evidence he promised more than he gave, namely a lot of fun (Allow me to point out that if he infected somebody with the HIV virus, this was the result not of sexism but of ignorance or stupidity on the parts of both participants.). A desire to have sex indicates not vindicativeness, but rather the search for a good time. Remember, the women who had sex with him were being promiscuous too. If Magic is a misogynist, are his partners men-haters? We should now question whether or not promiscuity, in and of itself, is morally reprehensible. Morals are not necessarily that which our parents have taught us. I don't feel particularly evil if I fail to attend services on a weekly basis; likewise, most Americans won't lose sleep if they don't retain their virginity until marriage. So pre-marital sex, in today's society, is not grounds for condemnation. And if sex with one person isn't grounds, why should sex with many? We are not speaking of cheating on a partner, but of two consenting adults giving each other pleasure, and then going their separate ways. I fail to see any display of sexist or misogynist attitudes. Mike Tyson committed rape. Magic Johnsin had sex. Tyson violated the right to privacy in the most basic way possible. Johnson created a little Magic, for himself and several others. Tyson goes to jail. Do you really think, Chris, that Johnson deserves his fate? ARON GREENBERG College '95

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