Call me crazy

Dear Editor:
I am a longtime Tracy resident. Actually, I've lived here my whole life — 32 years. I saw the front cover of the Tracy Press and saw a woman with her breasts out for the whole world to see, and a little girl with her.

I am appalled at the fact that the Tracy Press would assume that this is a good representation of Tracy. As long as I have been here, I have never heard of Playboy being a glorification of Tracy.

I am completely embarrassed by what I saw. I am a mother of five, and I am not fat and stupid, as I saw people messaging on the Internet. I think it was a bad call on the part of the Tracy Press to write this story and will be be cancelling my subscription.

What else is Tracy Press going to put on the front page for my children to look at — porn? Wow is all I can say.

- Saddened in he Suburbs

Dear Saddened,

Thank you for writing. I've gotten phone calls and messages from many women since we ran the story about the Playboy model. Most of them didn't leave their names or didn't want to talk, so I haven't had a chance to write down my thoughts or express them out loud. So bear with me here, if you will.

I welcome the comments and the criticism of the story (and photos), but I am sort of surprised. Maybe I have become more tolerant since I've turned 50, but I thought the story was newsworthy. It's not every day that a Tracy mother of four becomes a Playboy icon.

Please know that I consider myself a feminist. I've worked hard to maintain my independence all my adult life. I majored in journalism and minored in women's studies in college in the '70s; my role models were Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan. The main reason I didn't go into TV journalism was that I didn't want a career that required good looks; I wanted one where I'd use my brain.

I don't consider the woman we pictured on the front page to be a representation of my hometown, nor do I consider the robbers who have agonized small businesses in north Tracy to be heroes. But sometimes their stories make the front page. And well, they all are part of our community.

News is a lot of things. It's what's happening, and it's what people are talking about. Sometimes news gives us something to talk about; certainly, it's not always serious. If my children were young and read the paper that pictured the woman wearing the low-cut shirt, I'd use the opportunity to talk to them about my values — and how they differ from this woman's. Depending on their age, I might talk to them about the history of magazines like Playboy. I might talk about women's liberation.

I never meant to glorify this woman — or to condemn her. I truly believe that, like everyone, she has a story worth telling.

One more thought. In 2007, we have all sorts of women to learn from and look to — for all sorts of things. We make choices about our lives. We can have children, or not. We can have careers, or not. We can show our cleavage, or not. We have a woman as speaker of the House of Representatives; soon we might even be able to vote for a woman for president. Or not.

Anyway, I'm sure you get my drift, and you may be shaking your head and thinking I'm truly the crazy one.

But I'd like to talk more about this — if you want.

Cheri