LETTERS: SEX ISSUE IS AN AFFRONT TO WOMEN

To the editor:

What happens behind closed doors between two consenting adults is their business. If the act is adultery, it may also be a concern to the non-participating spouses. If the offended spouse is aware of the sexual liaison and does not bring charges against the transgressor in order to stop the activity, he or she is in effect giving assent to the activity, and the offender is absolved of wrongdoing by the spouse.

If allegations are true, Monica Lewinsky consented to have sexual relations with President Clinton. That is part of the equal rights women have fought for. A woman has the choice to have sex. To have the non-criminal sexual acts of the president publicly examined and exploited is an injury to me as a human being and as a citizen. I am incensed that American journalism, which I believe is witness to and defender of truth and objectiveness in the world, would manipulate or allow its goals to be manipulated by dirt-digging sensational factions. The newspapers have done better than television by far, but maybe that's just because they only hit you once a day instead of hourly updates.

It is obvious that this president had been under incredible, even inhumane, scrutiny and attack by Republican propagandists behind the gui4se of conservation factions, now spearheaded by that carrion buzzard, independent counsel Kenneth Starr and executed by mutinous staff.

Suddenly, the leading media in this country seem to have turned yellow. Headlines are intros to scuzzy talk shows. Meetings of world leaders are being made into circus sideshows. Other countries are laughing at us, not because our president may have had a consensual extramarital affair, but because we are making a three-ring circus out of it.

If the president had a consensual extramarital affair, it is between Mrs. Clinton, whomever else might be involved and God. Not the FBI. Not judicial committees. Not Linda Tripp. Not Kenneth Starr. Not every person in the United States and the world. If President Clinton told Lewinsky not to tell, that would make him a pretty regular person.

Women compete for top policymaking and administrative position. If they are to be successful, they must develop thick skins, which is not to say they should silently suffer sexual harassment, but understand we will be working closely with men, and sexual attraction may occur on either or both sides. As humans, we may respond to that attraction.

President Clinton has demonstrated outstanding fidelity to his duties and to the people of the United States. I believe he has upheld every vow he made as chief executive officer of this country. The federal deficit is a fraction compared to what accrued over the previous Republican 12-year reign under Reagan and Bush. Can you imagine what it would be today if those same policies continued?

A kind of external Watergate is currently manifest. And it is being ignored. Perhaps I'm wrong, but the basis of Watergate was that Republicans, with the knowledge of their highest officials, attempted to illegally obtain dirt on Democrats to advance the right-wing party's agenda. If the dirt digging, violation of privacy and obvious coercion of would-be witnesses that is happening today isn't illegal now, why was it 30 years ago? Someone should be held accountable.

This treatment of the president is immoral. It may sound odd that I would feel these acts are immoral and not the alleged promiscuity of the president. To me, purposely seeking to destroy an individual and a political party's reputation is much worse than wanting to have sexual relations with another consenting adult.

L.A. SLOAN

Marble Hill