Ricardo Barros

In Response to: Becoming Joy

Thank you for the well-written, inspiring profile of our fellow alumna Joy Ladin *00 (feature, April 6). Professor Ladin is particularly graceful in responding to a question about her body: “Ladin declines to say whether she has had gender reassignment surgery: ‘Part of dealing with transgender people as people is giving them privacy, and in our culture, we don’t generally discuss genitals in public.’ ” Her eloquent answer explains one of many reasons why the question should not and need not be asked.

Dan Hantman ’03
Brooklyn, N.Y.