
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990                   TAG: 9004130887
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SOMEBODY GOT BEHIND IN WORK

IN REFERENCE to the March 29 article "Bottom line": Since when are mothers the only ones using disposable diapers? Is the author, Kay Bartlett, suggesting that fathers don't change diapers or that fathers use cloth ones?

She says that 85 percent of mothers use disposable diapers and explains that the "way a mother covers her baby's bottom" is a controversial topic today. It seems to me that the diaper changer referred to in this article should be a parent, not a mother.

I fail to see why "professional" writers today must perpetuate stereotypes like this one.

\ SHARON A. BRUSIC\ BLACKSBURG

Editor's note: In a newsletter that the features editor received before running the story, The Associated Press pointed out the stereotypical usage. Though an editor was instructed to make the change, he neglected to do so.

by CNB