From Our Readers

On Tipping

I was deeply disturbed by your articles on tipping. (June 22, 1986) I have always felt that tipping was an option if a customer felt that the service was exceptional. To feel it is demanded makes me never want to eat out again. The prices in the menu should include the services of the server.

J. C., United States

One may feel that restaurant prices and prices for other services should include the full labor cost of the personnel rendering the service, but this is generally not done. Waiters and waitresses in restaurants, and many rendering other forms of service, depend on tips as part of their wages, and they are often taxed for tips whether received or not. Anyone receiving a form of service should naturally expect to pay for such service, whether the amount is charged in a bill or customarily paid as a separate tip.​—ED.

Thank you for your articles on tipping. The articles helped me to appreciate the reasons as well as the importance of doing so, not only in this country but in other countries as well. Those articles have changed my view on tipping.

E. B. M., United States

Inviting Rape?

In “Watching the World” (July 22, 1986) you referred to a judge who sentenced a rapist to probation because he considered his raping a girl a “normal reaction” to her suggestive dress and actions. Maybe the judge did not reason that murder is a normal reaction for the one being raped, and would he be so lenient if the woman being raped would kill the rapist?

E. B., United States

The item in “Watching the World” suggested that women invite rape and that you agree with that. To say that women invite rape through dress and actions is like saying that a person made someone so mad that he had to murder him. Obviously that is ridiculous!

J. D., United States

We most certainly do not agree that rape is a normal reaction to a woman’s suggestive conduct, any more than any other act of violence is a normal reaction to a situation. Neither do we agree that the argument that a woman by her dress or actions “invited rape” should ever be allowed as a defense for the rapist. But we do believe that modest dress, speech, and actions on the part of a woman may often serve as a protection to her. A man who continually flourishes a large roll of $20 bills will draw the attention of muggers, and a man who stirs up anger will reap violence. Also, a woman who draws undue attention to herself by her suggestive dress, speech, or actions may be more likely to become a victim of sexual violence than one who dresses and acts modestly.​—ED.

Reading Romance Novels

I have benefited greatly from the article “Are Romance Novels Harmless Reading?” (November 8, 1983) I was a romance novel “addict” from the age of 13. I am now 21. When your article first came out, I finished the novel I was reading and decided (reluctantly) it would be my last. Then a few months ago I got hooked again. I could feel I was being influenced by what I was feeding my mind upon. Meditating on your article again, I have now kicked the habit (right in the middle of a novel) and am getting rid of all the novels in the house.

J. G., South Africa