Letters for January 31, 2019

Re: “Father, refigure” by Rachel Mayfield(Essay, January 17):

Oh, please: Dads have been afraid of what kind of boys their daughters will meet since … forever. Mostly, our biggest fear is that she’ll be surrounded by boys that were just like us: No real knowledge of girls except that they want one desperately, and full of hormonal changes that they don’t know how to handle.

Don’t assume that “listening to women’s experiences,” “learning how sexist attitudes and gender stereotypes contribute to a world that’s largely unsafe for women” and “talking with other men about toxic masculinity” will grant the needed experience and maturity to a boy or young man who has no real frame of reference of what his new hormones are doing to his body, mind and self-esteem. Put simply, until you’ve been a father, please don’t presume.

Christopher White

Sacramento via newsreview.com

Thank movement elders

Re: “Them Fem Dems” (15 Minutes, January 17):

“Angry, bra-burning ladies?” Linda Tenerowicz is insulting the founders of the modern feminist movement, to whom she owes so much, and reveals herself to be either dismissive of our roots or ignorant of our history. By using this trite, feminist-bashing label, she is not only buying into the decades-old attempt to humiliate the movement, but she is also denigrating the many brave and tenacious leaders whom she should be thanking.

As to “bra-burning ladies,” she needs to study some feminist history and learn why the lady label is offensive, and to help us seasoned feminists destroy the mythical bra-burning narrative once and for all. That might assist her in her new role and help her realize that pandering to men by using cheap shots is a betrayal of what she should be standing for.

Dorothy Eller

Carmichael via Facebook

Public banks can help

Re: “Could California succeed where Wall Street fails?” (Capital Cannabis, January 17):

Public banks are proposed for many communities, not just the state, but are opposed by the same Wall Street financiers whose frauds led to the Great Recession. Generally, banks can make loans that exceed their deposits. In the case of public banks, their loans can fund what Wall Street’s short-term profit imperative refuses to underwrite. Neglected infrastructure could get a boost from public banking, as could the financial health of our communities.

The discount they offer in financing costs could be significant, too. For big infrastructure, financing costs can be as much as half the entire project. The U.S. has a long history of publicly financing large public projects, including many New Deal projects such as the Tennessee Valley Authority and the first Bay Bridge. California’s Infrastructure Bank did not finance the Bay Bridge rebuild; Goldman Sachs did.

Mark Dempsey

Orangevale via email