These powerful men failed to follow a societal pact

Stephen Marche’s Dec. 3 Forum article, “The Brutality of the Male Libido,” makes something that is pretty simple unnecessarily complex. He proposes that the male libido’s nature makes necessary “accepting our monstrosity and reckoning with it.”

One could say similar things about another primary drive — hunger. To live in a civilized society, we agree not to steal food from someone weaker just because we have greater power; that pact allows sharing food with others and giving food to others to provide tremendous pleasure to the giver as well as to the receiver.

The men who are now being identified as taking what was not freely offered to them, on the basis of having greater power, simply did not comply with the basic societal pact of not taking something that was not freely offered to them. What those men were actually missing was not some “acceptance of their basic monstrous ids,” but an acceptance of the societal pact of asking for what you want from another person, and complying with the person’s response. (In fairness to men, the parallel capability that women in our society must be sure to cultivate is the ability to clearly and unambiguously say “yes” or “no” to such an “ask.”) S.R. ORENSTEIN, M.D.

Indiana Township

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That’s a lesson that has stayed with me all these decades later, and I don’t believe that applying that lesson today has anything to do with changing norms.

My views may put me in a minority, but I’ll bet it isn’t a very small minority. RAYMOND WOJSZYNSKI

Plum

David M. Shribman’s column last Sunday was right on: We are not commoners (Dec. 3, “Common Sense: Meghan Markle Is Not a Commoner and Neither Are You”). I’d like to add that we should also resist the temptation to bestow our own titles of nobility.

We don’t use the terms of king, queen, prince or princess in describing our American nobility. We do, however, continue to use the terms of president, senator, congressman and secretary long after the officeholder has left office. Our intent may be to show recognition and respect for our former officeholders. But, in doing so, we are creating ourown American nobility.

Instead, let’s use the courtesy of addressing former officeholders as Mister, Missus, Ms., Doctor — anything, but the political title they once held. H. SCOTT CUNNINGHAM

Marshall

As a teacher who read the Post-Gazette’s heart-wrenching stories regarding the culture of vengeance that plagues our city’s youth (Dec. 3, “All We Want Is to Make It to 18”), I was dismayed to see Steelers player JuJu Smith-Schuster’s illegal block and subsequent taunting of the Bengals’ Vontaze Burfict in the NFL game last Monday.

The last thing our city needs is our favorite role models, the Steelers, behaving in a vengeful, over-the-top fashion in such a public forum. We have a right to expect more from Mr. SmithSchuster and his teammates, such as a clean play and a hand up to Mr. Burfict, regardless of Mr. Burfict’s past behavior.

Pittsburgh’s students deserve to see class so that they may emulate it themselves. ERICA KAIN

Sewickley