The slaying of Imette St. Guillen
''FEARLESS IN the city" (Page A1, March 9) raises beliefs that women drinking, being sexually active, and being out late in bars is relevant to the murder of Imette St. Guillen. Can we now expect an article about men who dare to wear Armani suits and Rolex watches being at fault if they're robbed?
As the mother of two daughters who were raised, as St. Guillen was, in Mission Hill, I am enraged and insulted by the direction your coverage of this murder has taken. It seems the Globe finds it important to deconstruct, not the violence of men, but the supposed self-imposed risk at which women put themselves.
Having worked for years with perpetrators of domestic violence and sexual assault, it saddened me to read an article put forth the same rationales as did my former clients, themselves adjudicated for counseling, without a mention of the rampant worldwide problem of violence against women.
I thought we locked up perpetrators, but apparently some believe it's time to lock up the victims.
RANDY SUSAN MEYERS, Mission Hill
THE DAILY updates on the murder of Imette St. Guillen have filled the local community with sadness and anger. Sadness at the troubling death of this intelligent young woman, and anger that her assailant could commit so heinous a crime.
What is most troubling is that we see young women like St. Guillen every day. We hear young people on the T discussing their late-night escapades. I know it is a ritual of the young to test their limits. But drinking alone in a dingy bar at 3 a.m., driving drunk, and getting wasted are not tests. They are invitations to trouble.
Hopefully, St. Guillen's death will help remind people to look out for their friends, to make sure they are not left alone to find their way home in the wee hours. It is a common fallacy of youth that they can take care of themselves. The truth is, no matter what your age or sex, we all need to lean on our friends.
OLIVER CUTSHAW, Brookline
YOUR ARTICLE ''Fearless in the city" is an example of the bind girls and women find themselves in all the time. If they achieve in school, their success is denigrated as a sign that the school system unfairly rewards girls for being ''good." If they are attacked, the violence against them is portrayed as a natural consequence of being ''bad." We punish girls who act within the range of behaviors we allow them, then we punish those who, perhaps picking up on that message, act more like the boys and men whose ''daring" behavior earns more respect.
LUCILLE STOTT, Concord
THIS LETTER is directed at the news media regarding the coverage of the murder of Imette St. Guillen. In no way is it directed at St. Guillen, her family, or her memory.
It's a sad commentary on our society and on the media that if she had graduated anywhere besides Boston Latin, was black and not attractive, and was less talented and popular, the news coverage would not have been as intense.
The same is true of Natalee Holloway, the young blond woman who disappeared while on vacation in Aruba.
When are we going to realize that news coverage of minorities around here is not on a level playing field?
GENE LEE, Quincy 
