Readers React: The plight of all women

I applaud Sandy Banks for providing another perspective with which to view the Isla Vista tragedy. (“Isla Vista killer never learned that women are not commodities,” Column, June 2)

Banks is correct, I believe: We continue to be a sexist culture in which women have become “accustomed to accept the everyday indignities of a culture that is tuned to the wants of men.” This sexist mentality is at the heart of so many of the current social issues that plague our culture and others elsewhere.

The acceptance that women are not commodities would go a long way toward resolving many of the social ills that have existed for far too long.

Karl Strandberg

Long Beach

Thanks to Banks for shining a light on the way females are unfairly, and sometimes brutally, treated in our culture. It truly is another component in the Isla Vista tragedy in which a young man slaughtered six people.

We need to engender more respect for women worldwide and stop the violence directed at them.

Judy Melton

Pasadena

I want to say that the word “commodities” should be shouted from the rooftops when discussing women. It is the word that should always be used when discussing the position of women anywhere in the world — objects, trophies, chattel.

Banks’ note about young people preparing for college is the most telling: Females buy Mace, while males buy condoms.

Barbara Schiffler

Encinitas